Saying clearly what you want, in what form, and what to leave out. Being specific changes the answer far more than being polite to it ever will.
The drawing that proves the sentence above. It is the same card that is in the book.
Think of it as
describing the dish, not just saying you're hungry.
For example
You ask for "a letter" and get something vague. You ask for "a short polite letter to a landlord about a broken furnace" and get something you can send.
This is one card out of 275.
The hundred words you meet most are free — the whole set, animated, in one file that works with no internet.
Volume 1 has all 275 in fifteen chapters, with Staying Safe the largest chapter on purpose.