Capítulo 3 de 19 · 2'23"
Matuschek wants to stock a cigarette box that plays 'Ochi Tchornya,' and asks his staff for an honest opinion. One employee flatters him, another hedges; Kralik gives real reasons to say no. But it isn't about leather and glue — it's about who may disagree with the boss. 'You just sell things and let me do the buying, huh?'
Kralik's Flat No to the Singing Box
Kralik Counts Twenty Cigarettes
In Matuschek's Budapest shop, the owner brings out a cigarette box that plays 'Ochi Tchornya' and wants his clerks' verdict. Vadas calls it sensational; Novak says anyone who smokes and likes the tune will approve. Kralik alone objects: at twenty cigarettes a day, the customer would hear the song twenty times a day, and the imitation leather will fall apart. Matuschek phones the supplier and cancels.
Matuschek asks for an honest opinion, but what he wants is agreement. He pre-empts dissent by announcing that he has been in this business for 35 years, and when Kralik argues against the box, he cuts him off: 'You just sell things and let me do the buying, huh?' The shop works like a small court. One clerk, angling for favor, calls the box sensational; another stays safely noncommittal. Kralik's objection is the only one built on facts — twenty openings a day, cheap glue, imitation leather — and the only one that costs him something. Matuschek hangs up on the supplier saying no, but the point is already clear: the opinions were never the question, the hierarchy was.
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
“Well, even if it played Beethoven's Ninth Symphony I'd still say no. No, I just don't like the idea.”
It concedes the most and still refuses: even the best case would not change my mind.
Informal
“It's wonderful the way you can make up your mind so quickly.”
Praise worn as a mask: the compliment is really a jab at how fast the other side dismisses things.
Informal
“Well, if that's the case, then I'll have to say no.”
A clean close that lays the decision back on the other side's own terms.
Neutral
“It's a perfectly terrible idea.”
Blunt and unforgettable: a perfectly terrible idea says it all in five words.
Informal
Siguiente · 04go through the whole routineLa escena: A Job Seeker's Sales PitchHe wants the decision to feel like the staff's, and he wants to hear agreement. The moment Kralik disagrees, Matuschek's line — 'You just sell things and let me do the buying' — shows the opinion was never really up for debate.
His reasoning is sound: a twenty-a-day smoker would hear the tune twenty times a day, and cheap glue on imitation leather would fail within weeks. The scene lets him be both right and out of line with his boss.
Miklos Brothers is the supplier offering the cigarette boxes, not a character in the shop. Matuschek calls them back, asks for more time, then declines the order — the box that nearly started an argument is never bought.
Matuschek asks Miklos Brothers for five more minutes, then bristles at being rushed. When the supplier presses him, he says no — the same impatience he showed Kralik, now turned against him.
