Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1035.
Using a self-checkout machine.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1035.
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This episode is a dialogue between Claudia and Raul about buying things from a store without ever really talking to anyone.
Let's get started.
We're done, right?
Let's get in this cashier line.
I don't know.
I think it would be easier going through a cashier line.
Using the self-checkout will be much quicker.
Let me show you.
There are no barcodes on fruits and vegetables.
All you have to do is put them on the scale and find the product on the touch screen.
Wait!
You're supposed to wait until everything is scanned before removing items from the bagging area to put in bags.
Oh no, now there's a see attendant message on the screen.
What do we do now?
We wait for the attendant to clear the error and void the transaction.
Then we start again.
Great.
You're right.
This is much faster.
It is if you know what you're doing.
I'll tell you what.
I'll take half of our groceries and stand in line, and you use the self-checkout.
We'll see which is faster.
That's a sucker bet.
I have no doubt that I'll be done before you are.
I'm not worried.
The last one out the door makes dinner.
You're on.
Just remember that I like my steak well done.
Claudia begins our dialogue by asking Raul, we're done, right?
Meaning we agree that we are done now, or I understand that we are now finished.
Is that correct?
Correct, let's get in this cashier line.
A cashier c-a-s-h-i-e-r is someone who takes your money at a store when you want to buy something.
A cashier line would be a line of people waiting to buy things from the store.
People who are waiting for the cashier to finish, with the person in front of them, so they can then purchase what they came to the store to buy.
However, Raul says no need, meaning we don't need to stand in the cashier line.
This store has self-checkout machines.
The verb to check out means to give your money to someone from the store in order to buy what you want to buy.
Self-checkout is a new system in many American stores where you don't have to give your money to a cashier, a person, a live human being.
Instead, you can give your money to a machine.
You basically stand in front of the machine and the machine reads the information from the packaging and tells you how much you have to pay.
Claudia says, I don't know.
What Claudia means here is she's not sure she wants to use the self-checkout machines.
She is hesitant.
She's doubting whether this is a good idea.
She says I think it would be easier to go through.
Raul says using the self-checkout will be much quicker.
Let me show you.
Let me demonstrate how you do this.
So Raul now is going to show Claudia how the self-checkout machine works.
He says, all you have to do is scan the barcodes on each grocery item.
Claudia and Raul are in a grocery store.
A grocery store is a store that sells food.
A barcode, B-A-R-C-O-D-E, is a little square with a bunch of black and white lines on it that is used by a computer to... identify the specific thing that you are buying most things in American stores including grocery stores have these little squares that have lines that are black and white and usually some numbers on the bottom we call these barcodes what do you do with the barcode well you have to put it in front of a machine and the machine will scan it.
To scan S-C-A-N basically means the machine looks at the code and quote-unquote reads it to determine what you are buying.
However, there's a small problem with this system at a grocery store, and Claudia lets us know what that is.
In the very next sentence she says Because each person picks his or her own fruits and vegetables, there aren't barcodes on the bags.
You put them in your own little bags.
And you take them and usually the cashier will look at it and then put in the right item and amount.
However, if you're using a self-checkout machine, you need to do something a little different.
And Raul tells us.
He says all you have to do is put them on the scale.
And Notice that Raul starts this sentence by using the phrase.
That's what he said earlier in the dialogue.
It's a very common phrase when you are explaining something to someone and indicating that it isn't difficult.
It's very easy.
It's not complicated.
Raul says you need to put the fruits and vegetables on the scale, S-C-A-L-E.
A scale is a device, a machine, that tells you how heavy something is.
It weighs the thing or the person.
The verb we use when a person weighs himself is step on.
He stepped on the scale to find out how fat he was or how skinny.
Let's be optimistic.
Raoul says that after you put the fruits and or vegetables on the scale, you have to find them on the touch screen.
The touch screen is a flat computer screen that when you touch it, something happens.
It's sort of like what we now have tablets like iPads, where you can touch the screen and something happens.
They have these touch screens with the self-checkout machines in order to make things quicker.
You don't have to type anything with a keyboard.
Claudia says, you look, meaning you look for the name of this item.
I'll start bagging.
To bag, B-A-G, as a verb, means to put things into a container, which is called, confusingly, a bag.
A bag can be made of plastic or paper or some other material.
And we use bags to carry things around in.
When you go to a grocery store in the United States, they'll usually give you either a paper or a plastic bag.
Sometimes they charge you money for the bags.
However, so many people bring their own bags from home.
So, to bag means to put something in a bag.
Raul says, wait.
You're supposed to wait until everything is scanned before removing items from the bagging area to put in bags.
The way the self-checkout machines work is that you put things on a flat surface like a little table called the bagging area.
After you scan something, you then put it on this small table.
But the table itself is connected to the machine and it can tell how much weight you are putting on the machine.
It's a way, I guess, for the grocery store company to make sure you're not cheating.
You can't Put things into bags until you've finished scanning all of your items.
That's what Raul says.
He says, oh no, now there's a see attendant message on the screen.
An attendant A-T-T-E-N-D-A-N-T is a person who works for, in this case, the store, to help customers find things.
The attendant here is helping customers use the self checkout machine.
So yes, although you don't talk to anyone, you do everything yourself in self checkout.
There will be an employee from the store, an attendant, who will help you if you need help with the machine.
What happened is that Claudia made a mistake and the machine stopped and put a message on the screen which said see attendant meaning you have to talk to the employee.
Claudia says, what do we do now?
Raul says, we wait for the attendant to clear the error and void the transaction.
Then we start again.
To clear C-L-E-A-R means to delete or to erase something.
To void, V-O-I-D, a transaction means basically to undo a sale.
Make something as though it had never happened.
So let's say you're buying something at the store and the cashier makes a mistake, or you make a mistake.
You give the cashier the wrong thing.
You can then say, oh, no, no, I don't want that.
The cashier can void the transaction.
A transaction is just, in this case, another word for the sale of something.
The cashier voids the transaction as though it had never existed.
You delete it.
You get rid of it.
You erase it.
Claudia is not very happy that she now has to wait for the attendant.
She says, great, you're right, this is much faster.
Claudia is being sarcastic here.
She's making a joke.
She doesn't think it's much faster.
She thinks the self-checkout is taking them longer than it would if they had used a cashier.
Raul says, it is, meaning it is faster if you know what you're doing.
Raul is saying that had Claudia not made a mistake...
It would have been faster.
Claudia says The expression I'll tell you what is an informal one used to present or propose an idea to someone.
You are giving someone an idea, usually that has some sort of if you do this, then that will happen.
I'll tell you what, if you give me $20, I will give you a free English lesson.
I tell you what is a way of introducing a proposal, something that I will do for you if you do something for me.
Here, it's about Claudia and Raul each doing something different.
Claudia is going to go to the cashier, the human being, to buy half of the groceries, half of the food that they are purchasing.
Raul is going to take the other half and go through the self-checkout machine.
Then they'll see who gets finished first, who gets through the line, if you will, or who checks out first.
Raul says, that's a sucker bet.
I have no doubt that I'll be done before you are.
A sucker S-U-C-K-E-R bet B-E-T is a gambling offer that only someone who perhaps is inexperienced or not very intelligent would accept.
The word sucker is used to describe someone who is a fool, someone who is easily deceived, someone who other people we would say, take advantage of.
A sucker bet would be a bet that only a stupid person would accept.
Claudia says, I'm not worried.
The last one out the door makes dinner.
The last one out the door means the person who finishes last.
The person who gets through the checkout process last has to make dinner.
Raul says, you're on.
When you challenge someone to do something or you bet someone, one common way of replying is is to say you're on.
So I say to you, if you give me $20, I will teach you English.
You say to me, you're on, meaning yes, I'll do that.
Normally, however, it's when you're betting about something.
Raul says, just remember that I like my steak well done.
Raul is assuming that he's going to win the bet, and he's already telling Claudia how he wants his steak cooked.
He wants his steak, which is a thick piece of beef well done, meaning there isn't any redness inside of the meat.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
We're done, right?
Let's get in a cashier line.
No need.
This store has self-checkout machines.
I don't know.
I think it would be easier going through a cashier line.
Using the self-checkout will be much quicker.
Let me show you.
All you have to do is scan the barcodes on each grocery item.
There are no barcodes on fruits and vegetables.
All you have to do is put them on the scale and find the product on the touch screen.
You look.
I'll start bagging.
Wait!
You're supposed to wait until everything is scanned before removing items from the bagging area to put in bags.
Oh no.
Now there's a see attendant message on the screen.
What do we do now?
We wait for the attendant to clear the error and void the transaction.
Then we start again.
Great.
You're right.
This is much faster.
It is if you know what you're doing.
I'll tell you what.
I'll take half of our groceries and stand in line, and you use the self-checkout.
We'll see which is faster.
That's a sucker bet.
I have no doubt that I'll be done before you are.
I'm not worried.
The last one out the door makes dinner.
You're on.
Just remember that I like my steak well done.
Our scripts are always well done.
That's because they're done by the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development
