CELPIP Listening Part 1 Practice Test: Tile Store

MAN: This came off my bathroom wall. The whole floor's the same. The wall by the tub is going too.

WOMAN: Nineteen-forties, that glaze. Am I close?

MAN: Close enough. It all comes out tomorrow, and I've no idea how many boxes to order.

WOMAN: The colour's settled, then. Keep that tile in your bag for the order desk. It won't give a quantity.

MAN: I pulled a few loose ones off this morning with my work gloves, so I know what's underneath.

WOMAN: That helps your installer, but it won't get a number. Have you measured anything?

MAN: I paced the long wall. The tub's in an alcove, and I left that corner out.

WOMAN: That corner's a third of the job. It goes back in.

MAN: There's a ladder and a tape in my car. Should I bring it up for the top row?

WOMAN: Leave the ladder — your installer can reach over the tub. Bring the other one and measure every wall, alcove included.

MAN: Round up a bit?

WOMAN: Ten percent, not five. Walls that old are never straight, so half your rows end up cut down.

MAN: Ten percent. I'll do it properly.

WOMAN: You got your numbers, then?

MAN: Fourteen boxes, alcove and all. I did it twice. Now I can't decide which tile.

WOMAN: What's the shortlist?

MAN: The glossy white on the clearance rack. Four dollars less a box, and it's the closest thing to my old one. The same tile comes in a textured finish, but that's full price.

WOMAN: I'd think about where it's going. Wet feet coming out of the tub onto a gloss floor — that's a skating rink.

MAN: I'd throw a mat down.

WOMAN: A mat covers a metre. The rest is soaked every morning.

MAN: Hm. My dad's in and out of that bathroom, too.

WOMAN: The finish doesn't change the size, so your fourteen stands either way.

MAN: That's something. Fifty-six dollars more, then.

WOMAN: There's another catch. Clearance is whatever's sitting on it — they won't bring more in, and it's final sale.

MAN: So if I'm two boxes short on the day, I'm stuck with twelve I can't take back.

WOMAN: Right. It isn't the four dollars that would sting.

MAN: No, it isn't. Fine. Textured it is. I'll miss that price, but I'd rather not gamble on the boxes.

MAN: The textured's a problem. Nine boxes in the back, and I need fourteen.

WOMAN: What did the desk say?

MAN: Hold the nine, add five off Thursday's pallet. I'd have them by Thursday afternoon.

WOMAN: Off a different pallet, though. Tile's baked in batches, so those five would sit a shade off your nine.

MAN: On a bathroom floor, would anyone see that?

WOMAN: You would, every morning. Get them to pull all fourteen from Thursday's pallet instead.

MAN: They'll do that for a deposit, and the desk is open till six. That part's fine. It's the delivery — the truck only runs Friday.

WOMAN: Then don't wait for the truck. How far out are you?

MAN: Fifteen minutes. I'll load them myself Thursday. Which leaves my installer standing in an empty bathroom tomorrow at eight.

WOMAN: Couldn't he take the old floor out tomorrow and lay it later?

MAN: He offered. I said no — I'm not walking on bare concrete for three days. He's got Friday morning free, so I'll take that.

WOMAN: Sensible. And don't let anyone talk you back into the gloss just because it's by the checkout.

MAN: After all this? Not a chance.