Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Series 1

Ulrich:
You are telling me this man has worked here almost three weeks without credentials?

Dennis:
Oh he's got credentials, Herr Ulrich. But, er, as a bricklayer. One of the best, mind, I can vouch for that meself.

Ulrich:
But he is working here as carpenter. How can this be?

Dennis:
Well, er... I can only presume it was some sort of administrative cock-up.

Ulrich:
Wass? (What?) [As this goes on, site secretary Dagmar is listening in to their conversation from the other side of the office.]

Dennis:
Well, a mistake. A blunder, like.. With the agent.

Ulrich:
I think not. [To Dagmar] Bringen Sie mir die Arbeitsbedingungen deshalb vom Erster September. (Bring me the workforce requirement from 1st September.) [To Dennis & Neville] My requirement is always exact. I cannot believe the agent would make a mistake.

Dennis:
Well, he's handlin' people for all over Germany, I mean there's 30,000 of us workin' here. [Dagmar gives Ulrich the paperwork.] There's bound to be the odd error, like.

Ulrich:
Herr Pfister is most dependable. [He goes over the paperwork] Ja. Here is my letter to Herr Pfister dated August 4th - my requirement is exact. Carpenters - three, plasterers - five. He sent four only - one comes today. Bricklayers... two only. There is no "cock-up".

Neville:
[To Dennis] Ask him if there's any chance of a vacancy coming up.

Dennis:
He speaks English, Neville.

Neville:
Ah, but you always put things better than I do, Den.

Dennis:
[Sighs] Look, Mr. Ulrich, I've worked in your country three times before. Now, you can ring round all the Stompenfuhrers you like, they'll all confirm that I'm straight, right. Now you lot asked me to bring people back. That's why I brought this lad here, because he's top rank. Now, as he was under my wing, so to speak, wa didn't want to split up. Now I'm sure the occasion is gonna arise shortly when you need another bricklayer. But in the meantime, he'll do anything you like. He can shovel. Fair enough?

[Grunwald, who was working in the office next door, enters and approaches Ulrich, who gets out of his seat.]

Grunwald:
Was habt ihr Problem? (What is the problem?)

Ulrich:
Dieser junge Mann sagte, er wäre Zimmermann. Es hat sich aber herausgestellt, dass er Maurer ist. Ich habe keine freie Stelle für solche. (This young man said he was a carpenter, but it turns out he's a bricklayer, and I have no vacancies for such.)

Grunwald:
[To Neville] This is true? You are bricklayer?

Neville:
Yeah.

Grunwald:
What if there had been an accident? You would want compensation, ja? But the fault would be yours.

Neville:
Oh, I never thought about that.

Grunwald:
Ja. [To Ulrich] Sie müssen das selbst ausmachen. Ich bin schon fünf Minuten später. (You'll have to sort this out, I'm already five minutes late.) [Grunwald leaves the office]

Ulrich:
[Sits back down. To Neville] You do not work today. I must think.