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I have a conversation in which the teacher asked one of student's mother to sign up for volunteer work in the class. It's quite simple but I don't understand the implication of the mother, so I'm confused a little bit.

T: You start the volunteer work tomorrow, don't you?
M: Well, let me check the schedule. I guess I could just get the mail at night.

Would you mind explaining the sentence "I guess I could just get the mail at night" for me? The mother only gets email at night? Or something else?

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    This needs more context. It could be a genuine option, or it could be sarcasm. Without more understanding of the conversation, we can't answer this.
    – Robusto
    Commented May 31, 2018 at 0:45

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It sounds like she looked at her schedule and saw that she had a plan to collect (get) some mail in the day tomorrow (at the same time as the volunteering) but decided on the spot that she could collect it afterwards (at night) instead.

Mail in this sense means physical mail, not email. Letters, parcels that sort of thing.

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  • I agree that this is a valid interpretation, and it’s the first one I thought of. But I also agree with @Robusto – earlier parts of this conversation might reveal alternate meanings.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented May 31, 2018 at 0:47

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