Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 678, Reporting Damaged Luggage.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 678.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
Go there today to download a learning guide for this episode to help you improve your English and live longer.
It's true.
This episode is called reporting damaged luggage.
Luggage is what you use to carry your clothing and other things when you go on a trip.
Let's get started.
I picked up my luggage off of the baggage carousel and noticed that the handle was broken and some of my clothes were falling out of the open zipper.
The bag looked like it had been mishandled, but could someone have tampered with it too?
I went to the baggage claim office to report what I found.
Next, how can I help you?
I retrieved my bag and found that it's been damaged.
What's the problem?
The handle is broken and I think someone has gone through my bag.
That was probably security.
They may have searched your luggage.
Yes, but my camera is missing and everything is in disarray.
I'm not sure if other things are missing.
Why don't you make a more thorough inspection over there, and then you can file a claim for anything that's missing or broken?
I really can't say.
I really can't say.
Next.
I knew a blow-off when I heard it, but I looked through my bag anyway and filled out the forms.
Who knows?
Miracles do happen, don't they?
Our story begins with Jordan telling us about the unfortunate problems she had on her trip.
She says I picked up my luggage.
I removed my luggage off of the baggage carousel and noticed that the handle was broken.
Luggage is the same as suitcases.
We might call them baggage.
They are the things that you put your clothing and other objects into when you travel, especially if you are traveling on a train or a plane.
You will typically bring some luggage with you.
Baggage is another word for luggage.
Carousel C-A-R-O-U-S-E-L is actually, in its original meaning, something that you would find at a fair or an amusement park.
It's a A round ride, a round game that moves in circles, and there are typically horses that go up and down.
It's a thing that you would bring a four- or five-year-old to.
That's a carousel.
It's also called a merry-go-round.
But here...
The baggage carousel is a round, typically round thing that has your luggage.
What they do is they have what's called a conveyor belt, which is a long piece of plastic or rubber that moves around and around.
They put the luggage on top of that.
It moves it.
It conveys it to the carousel.
And the carousel spins around.
And when you see your luggage, your baggage, you pick it up.
You take it off of the baggage carousel.
The handle of a piece of luggage is the part that fits into your hand. and is used to lift up the suitcase, the piece of luggage, the baggage.
A handle can be anything that you grab onto with your hand in order to move it or open it.
Most bags or suitcases have handles attached.
So Jordan notices that her handle is broken, it's not working correctly and that some of her clothes were falling out of the open zipper.
A zipper is something you use with a piece of clothing or a bag to close it, to bring two parts of the object together.
A zipper is made with two long pieces of metal or plastic that have many small what we call teeth, and the teeth, which are little parts that stick out, sort of like what you will see on a comb for your hair.
Anyway, these teeth come together and they stay together and they keep the two parts of the bag or the parts of your clothing where there is a zipper.
Men often have zippers on the top of their pants in the front, for reasons you probably can guess.
So Jordan has a problem with her luggage.
She says the bag looked like it had been mishandled.
She says, How could someone have tampered with it, too?
To tamper, T-A-M-P-E-R, with something is more than just mishandling it.
It's really different from mishandling.
To tamper with is to purposely, on purpose, intentionally try to damage or do something with an object that you do not have permission to do, usually with something that belongs to someone else.
She said The baggage claim office would be the place in the airport or train or bus station that takes care of problems people have with their luggage.
The clerk says...
Next, how can I help you?
You have to think that there is a line of people, several people waiting.
So when the clerk says next, he means the next person should come forward, should come and talk to him.
Jordan says To retrieve means to get back, to get something that you didn't have, and now you have it again.
In this case, you give the airline or a bus company or train company your luggage.
They put it in a separate area.
And then when you arrive at the place where you are going, your destination, you then retrieve it.
You get it back.
The clerk says, what's the problem?
Jordan says, the handle is broken and I think someone has gone through my bag.
To go through is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to open something and look through it very quickly.
It's what you would do if you were looking for something, trying to find something.
Jordan says that someone went through her luggage.
The clerk says that was probably security.
They may have searched your luggage.
To search is to look for something.
In the United States, for example, when you give the airline your piece of luggage your Sometimes they will look through it.
They will look at it even after it has been given to them and you are already on the plane.
Before the bags go on the plane underneath in the bottom part of the plane, there may be security officers who are inspecting it for any possible dangerous object.
Jordan says, yes, but my camera is missing and everything is in disarray.
Something that is missing is something that cannot be found.
Something that is lost, something that is no longer there.
Disarray, D-I-S-A-R-R-A-Y, means messy.
Things are not in their proper place.
Another word we might use for disarray is disorder.
The prefix dis is similar to the prefix un, U-N.
When put before a word, it often gives it the opposite meaning or disarray something that is not that thing.
So disorganization is the opposite of organization.
Anyway, Jordan is complaining that her camera is missing.
She says, I'm not sure if other things are missing.
The clerk says why don't you make a more thorough, a more complete inspection over there And then you can file a claim for anything that's missing or broken?
To inspect means to look at very carefully.
So an inspection is the noun, which is the act of looking or searching for something.
The clerk is telling her to go to another place to look through her luggage carefully and write down all of the things that she thinks are missing or damaged, and then come back to him to file a claim.
A claim C-L-A-I-M here means an official report describing something, usually something that you would give to an insurance agency or a company that Asking for money money for something that has been stolen or lost.
In this case, it's the airline that would be responsible.
But if you have an accident with your car you would file a claim with the insurance agency so they can pay you money to fix your car.
Jordan says, will I be compensated for the damage to my luggage and for my missing camera?
To compensate means to pay someone for a specific purpose.
It may be because they made a mistake and they have to give you money in order to basically apologize.
Say that they're sorry.
You can also use compensate to mean simply pay.
I compensate my employees.
I pay them a salary.
To be compensated means that someone will give you some money for the damage to your luggage and for anything that's missing.
Jordan asks if she will be compensated for these things.
The clerk says, I really can't say.
When someone says they can't say, they mean they don't know the answer.
It's another way of saying, I don't know.
It's a little more formal, perhaps a little more polite.
Jordan says, how long will it take for someone to contact me?
The clerk says again, I really can't say.
Next.
When he says next, he's saying to Jordan, I'm not going to talk to you anymore.
And he's asking the next person waiting in line to come forward.
Jordan says, I knew a blow off when I heard it.
To blow off is a two-word phrasal verb, an informal way of saying an excuse.
Usually when someone says something to avoid answering your question or to avoid dealing with a certain problem, perhaps because they don't think it's very important
I...
Jordan says, Or completed the forms, the pieces of paper, to file the claim.
Who knows, she says, miracles do happen, don't they?
A miracle is something that happens that cannot be explained by the normal laws of science or laws of nature.
The idea is that it is something supernatural, something that perhaps God has done or some higher power.
That's a miracle.
To blow off has some additional meanings.
You can find those in our learning guide.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I picked up my luggage off of the baggage carousel and noticed that the handle was broken and some of my clothes were falling out of the open zipper.
The bag looked like it had been mishandled, but could someone have tampered with it too?
I went to the baggage claim office to report what I found.
Next.
How can I help you?
I retrieved my bag and found that it's been damaged.
What's the problem?
The handle is broken and I think someone has gone through my bag.
That was probably security.
They may have searched your luggage.
Yes, but my camera is missing and everything is in disarray.
I'm not sure if other things are missing.
Why don't you make a more thorough inspection over there, and then you can file a claim for anything that's missing or broken?
Will I be compensated for the damage to my luggage and for my missing camera?
I really can't say.
How long will it take for someone to contact me?
I really can't say.
Next.
I knew a blow-off when I heard it, but I looked through my bag anyway and filled out the forms.
Who knows?
Miracles do happen, don't they?
Our scripts are not in disarray, thanks to our wonderful script writer, Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2011 by the Center for Educational Development.
