Shadowing Practice: Tristan Jimerson | A Dish Best Served Cold | Minneapolis Moth Mainstage 2011 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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175 sentences
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Please give it up for Tristan Jimmerson, please.
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Tristan!
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When I first moved to Minneapolis, everything in my life went horribly wrong.
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I transferred to a small art school, and my girlfriend wrecked my car, said girlfriend became an ex -girlfriend,
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and the house I was living in was condemned.
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I was working for minimum wage in a comic book store during the day
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and going to my night classes at art school.
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It was not a high point in my life.
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But the only thing that kept me going was the thought of spring break.
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Just one week back home with my parents and friends and away from this life.
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And I'd been saving.
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I'd been saving for six months for this trip because when you make minimum wage, saving for anything takes a really long time.
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And so I finished my last final at school
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and I went home and celebrated my new bachelorhood by ordering a Domino's pizza, eating it off napkins and playing video games all night
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and two days later I was packed
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and I was ready to go home all
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I had to do was drop my last paycheck off at the bank
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and I went to the bank and I handed the teller my check
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and I got the receipt and I flipped it over
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and on the back my account balance was negative 536 dollars
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and I felt all the life just drain out of me because I just I couldn't catch a break.
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And so I asked to see my balance statement, and there they were, two $600 Western Union money transfers, a bunch of random delivery orders,
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and a $400 charge to a website called inmatecanteen .com.
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And so I sat down with the banker and she saw
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that the charges were false and went about trying to reverse them.
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And while she was doing that, I went and I sat in the lobby, and I started thinking about how unfair identity theft is because
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when somebody steals your identity they only take the good parts
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you know they don't they don't take the rat trap apartment
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and the depression and the shitty job no they just take the one thing
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that I had been looking looking forward to for the past six months.
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And while I'm mulling this over, the banker comes back and she tells me that the bank is gonna give me all my money back,
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but it's gonna take about a week of processing.
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And so I go home, and I can't get it out of my head, because the bank wasn't gonna do anything about this,
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and the police weren't gonna do anything about this, and these people that rob you, they don't get caught.
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Nobody cares enough, but this identity theft was different
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because this person had messed with the most dangerous type of person that exists, which is someone with limited options and a lot of free time.
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And so I decided to start my own investigation.
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And so I took my bank records and I started going through them
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and I called Western Union and they were no help
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and I went to inmatecanteen .com and I called the support number but it was
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disconnected and so all I had were these delivery charges
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and I noticed something which is that they were they were local
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and then it hit me the last charge
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that I had made on my own account was the last night of my finals the night
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that I ordered that Domino's pizza and I realized that
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when I read my credit card number over the phone the woman at Domino's must have written it down
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and used it again the woman at Domino's robbed me this was this was more upsetting
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because this was someone
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that could live six blocks from me who spoke to me on the phone and heard my voice
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someone who I trusted I mean I trusted Domino's out of all the people
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or things in my life that that could betray me, Domino's was not on the list.
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And lastly, because I spent years as a delivery driver, and this broke the code of ethics.
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So this wasn't just a theft, this felt personal.
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And so I had a suspect, and the next day I marched into that Domino's
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and I demanded to know who was working the night my identity was stolen.
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And the manager on duty passed me to his manager, who passed me to his manager,
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and eventually they told me to come back later and they would have the names for me.
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So I continued my investigation and I went to a place called the Green Mill, which was a restaurant where some of the delivery,
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the false delivery charges had taken place.
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And the manager there was really helpful because there was nothing else to do.
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And he gave me a week's worth of delivery tickets and I started digging through them looking for a match.
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And after about 30 minutes, the phone rang and he picked it up and started taking down an order.
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And then he picks up a piece of paper and starts waving it back and forth, and I come over, and on the paper,
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is a credit card number.
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And it's my credit card number.
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And the person who stole my credit card is on the other end of
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that phone and the manager is looking at me like, well, what do we do now?
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And I look him straight in the eyes and I say, give me a topper, a hat, and I will take that delivery.
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And he looks at me and he says, and that will get me fired.
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and I say okay maybe that wasn't the best idea tell them
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that your driver is out sick and that it's pickup only
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and so he does and he hangs up and he looks at me
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and he says they'll be here in 15 minutes and
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so I grab a newspaper and I sit down in a booth
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and I prop it up and I sit down for my very first stakeout
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and an agonizing 17 minutes later a car pulls in a woman gets out
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and comes inside and asks for her pickup order
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and i start writing down every detail the fact
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that it's a white lifted chevy tahoe the license plate number what she's wearing
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and what she looks like and meanwhile she's having a conversation with the manager
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and he's saying that the card was declined
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and he needs to run it again
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but she says she doesn't have it on her
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and it's in her car and she leaves the restaurant and doesn't come back.
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And so I asked the manager to do me one more favor.
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I asked him to star 69 the number she called from
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and I add that cell phone number to my growing list of evidence.
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A couple hours later I receive a call from a man who introduces himself as the head of Domino's security
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and he was calling to apologize, to thank me for my help in the investigation,
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and to know that once I filed a police report that Domino's had my back.
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He had also pulled the hours I wanted and had them waiting at the original Domino's shop.
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So I went back and I picked them up
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and I started asking questions there and I asked if anyone there drove a white -lifted
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Chevy Tahoe and the daytime driver said that a girl who worked the night shift did.
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A girl who matched the description of the person who came
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into the green mill who was also working the night that my identity was stolen.
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Lastly I took the cell phone number and gave it to the manager
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because I didn't want to call it myself and arouse suspicion
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so he called it and she answered and confirmed her identity condemning herself
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so next I next I asked to see her application
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because those places always keep those things on file
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and at first the manager was wary of the legal things with
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that but once I assured him that this was for the police report he relented and so
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So after I've copied down this information, now I have her first middle and last name, her date of birth, her social security number,
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her driver's license number, I know her car make and model and the license plate number,
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I know where and when she works and where she lives and her previous job references and her email address.
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And so I go home and I just, I'm in a frenzy and I can't stop.
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And so I Google her email address and when you do
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that you can pull up all of the accounts
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that you've created with that email address and
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so I found her eBay account and her Flickr account
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and her MySpace and her MySpace was set to public
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and I can see her pictures and her comments and her blogs
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and I realized that I am going crazy
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but the thing about going crazy is you can't stop and
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so I opened one of her blogs called 50 things about me and the very first question is what
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What is my favorite food?
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And she wrote, pizza.
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And so by the time I'm at the end of this list, I realize that I know more about this woman,
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probably than most of her coworkers and friends, and that this is a real person that I would be sending to jail.
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But she broke the code.
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And so I call the cops.
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And the next day, they send out a police officer to take my report and the fraud report starts out normal.
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It's just how much money was stolen and when was it stolen and is the bank reimbursing you?
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And then the last question, almost as an afterthought, was, do you have any additional information which might benefit the case?
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And I said, why, yes, I do.
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And I start listing things
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and the confusion on the officer's face turns to laughter once she hears the full story and she says that,
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well, you've done my job for me. and I agree.
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Later on that day I receive a call from the detective now working this case.
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He says that with all my information he cross -checked it with DOT records
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and the criminal database and that it all checks out and
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that by the end of the day there will be a warrant out for this woman's arrest.
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I tell him that she's going to work tomorrow at Domino's at 5.
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And after a pause, he says that he'll have a squad car waiting for her.
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And so lastly, I asked the detective if I can be there.
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Because I'd done a lot of work on this.
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And I kind of wanted to see the look on her face
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that same look of shock and horror that I had
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when I was standing in that bank and I flipped that receipt over and saw everything I'd saved gone.
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But he said that was impossible.
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He did say that if I happened to be walking across the street at around 5 o 'clock, that no one would probably be the wiser.
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So I got to go undercover one last time.
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And I found myself standing across the street from that Domino's at 5 o 'clock,
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squad car parked in back and two officers inside and I saw that white lifted
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Chevy Tahoe come around the corner and park and her get out
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and go through the front door
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and I could see her back arch up she froze
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and saw the officers because she knew she was caught
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and then they handcuffed her put her in the back of the squad car
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and they drove away case closed
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but then a couple hours later I received one of the most surreal phone calls I've ever gotten my entire life.
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The man on the other end of the line introduced himself as the CEO of Domino's.
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He was calling to personally apologize, thank me for my help in the investigation, and I assume avoid a giant lawsuit.
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And so he asked me how much money was stolen and told me that Domino's would reimburse me for everything.
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And I told him that the bank was already doing that and that it wasn't about the money.
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And so he asked me what I wanted.
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And up until this point I hadn't I hadn't really thought about it, but what do you say?
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I mean, free pizza for life?
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A pizza named after me?
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No, I'd lost my taste for pizza at this point.
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No, I told him I didn't want this to happen to anyone else.
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I told him that I wanted him to pursue this to the furthest extent of the law,
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and that every new Domino's employee that gets hired would hear this story, that if you fuck with credit card information of customers,
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that you will go to jail and he said he could do
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that and later I received two letters in the mail the first was a letter
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that said the woman had pleaded guilty to all charges
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and will be serving a short prison sentence the second a
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personal thank -you letter from the CEO of Domino's a check for the the exact amount of money stolen
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and 500 Domino's Bucks.
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And I realized that I actually did get everything back that was stolen.
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The money, yes, but for that week, I wasn't the pathetic, depressed art student.
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No, for that week, I was Tristan Jimmerson, Private Eye.
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The gumshoe that knows that revenge, like delivery pizza, is best served cold.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Tristan Jimerson”. This video has 175 sentences and 2307 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:22. The speaker talks at a natural 172 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| steal verb | /stiːl/ | To take illegally, or without the owner's permission, something owned by someone else without intending to return it. |
| pizza noun | /ˈpi.tsə/ | A baked Italian dish of a thinly rolled bread crust typically topped before baking with tomato sauce, cheese, and other ingredients such as meat or vegetables. |
| theft noun | /θɛft/ | The act of stealing property. |
| lastly adverb | /ˈlæstli/ | Used to mark the beginning of the last in a list of items or propositions. |
| wage noun | /weɪd͡ʒ/ | An amount of money paid to a worker for a specified quantity of work, usually calculated on an hourly basis and expressed in an amount of money per hour. |
| clock noun | /klɑk/ | A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day. |
| mill noun | /mɪl/ | A grinding apparatus for substances such as grains, seeds, etc. (Some are small and simple, and some are large and complex.) |
| detective noun | /dɪˈtɛktɪv/ | A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator. |
| flip verb | /flɪp/ | To throw so as to turn over. |
| apologize verb | /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/ | To make an apology or excuse; to acknowledge some fault or offense, with expression of regret for it, by way of amends |
| receipt noun | /ɹɪˈsiːt/ | The act of receiving, or the fact of having been received. |
| banker noun | /ˈbæŋkəː/ | One who conducts the business of banking; one who, individually, or as a member of a company, keeps an establishment for the deposit or loan of money, or for… |
| condemn verb | /kənˈdɛm/ | To strongly criticise or denounce; to excoriate. |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| meanwhile adverb | /ˈmiːnwaɪl/ | During the time that something is happening, often specifically in a different place. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come back verb | To return to a place. | |
| get out verb | To leave or escape. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| come around verb | /kʌ.məˈɹaʊnd/ | To change one's mind, especially to begin to agree or appreciate what one was reluctant to accept at first. |
| come over verb | To affect in a sudden, unprecedented or surprising manner; to overwhelm a person's ordinarily contrary impulse. | |
| drive away verb | To force someone or something to leave | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- What is my favorite food?
- Because I'd done a lot of work on this.
- I mean, free pizza for life?
- A pizza named after me?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was condemned · was stolen · was declined |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | exists, which is · something which is · someone who I |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've copied · you've created · you've done |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 37 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'd, wasn't, gonna. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: theft /θɛft/, ethics /ˈɛθ.ɪks/, pathetic /pəˈθɛtɪk/, booth /buθ/, afterthought /ˈæft.ɚ.θɔt/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shock /ʃɔk/, confusion /kənˈfjuːʒən/, assure /əˈʃʊɹ/, suspicion /səˈspɪʃ.ən/, gumshoe /ˈɡʌm.ʃuː/
- Long words — get the stress right: apologize /əˈpɑləˌd͡ʒaɪz/, undercover /ˌʌndə(ɹ)ˈkʌvə(ɹ)/, agonizing /ˈæɡ.ə.naɪ.zɪŋ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like steal, pizza, theft.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.