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Using an ATM

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 271: Using an ATM.

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast episode 271. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.

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This podcast is called “Using an ATM.” An “ATM” is an automatic teller machine. It’s a machine where you get money out of by putting a bankcard in. We’ll be listening to a dialogue between Robin and someone who works at the bank about using the ATM card and some problems you sometimes have. Let’s get started.

[start of story]

I went to bank this morning. Instead of standing in line to talk to a bank teller, I decided to use an ATM, but it wasn’t working.

Robin: Excuse me. Could you help me? I’m trying to use this ATM machine, but it stopped working after I put in my PIN and it won’t give me back my ATM card.

Bank clerk: It looks like the machine is jammed. Step over to this teller window and I can help you. What transactions are you trying to make?

Robin: I want to make a deposit, transfer some money between my checking and savings accounts, and make a cash withdrawal.

Bank clerk: I can make those transactions for you.

Robin: Okay. Let me take this check out of the deposit envelope. And what about my card?

Bank clerk: I’ll call the technician and she should be able to retrieve it for you.

Robin: Thanks a lot. I guess that the machine just doesn’t like me.

Bank clerk: It’s not you. Those machines just act up sometimes.

Robin: In that case, I won’t take it personally.

[end of story]

Our dialogue begins with Robin saying that she went to a bank this morning, and instead of standing in line, or waiting in line, to talk to a bank teller, she decided to use an ATM. A “bank teller” (teller) is the person who works at the bank who helps you: gives you money; cashes your check. The person who helps the customers is usually called a “bank teller.” Well, she does not want to use a bank teller, so she’s going to use an automatic teller machine, or what we call an “ATM” normally.

The problem with the ATM was that it wasn’t working. Robin then goes up to one of the bank tellers, or bank clerks, and says, “Excuse me. Could you help me? I’m trying to use this ATM machine, but it stopped working after I put my PIN in and it won’t give me back my ATM card.” A “PIN” (PIN) stands for personal identification number, and this is your password or pass code that allows you to tell the machine that it’s really you; it helps identify you. So, if someone steals your card, they can’t get your money unless they know your PIN. Well, Robin entered her PIN into the machine, and the machine did not give her her card back. It also did not give her her money! The card we call an “ATM card.” The clerk says that it looks like the machine is jammed. When we say “a machine is jammed” (jammed), we mean that something has stopped working in the machine; it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Normally we use this verb when we are talking about papers getting caught in a machine, so that the machine doesn’t work properly. For example, if you have a fax machine and you have a piece of paper that isn’t perfectly straight, it may jam in the machine, or get jammed in the machine, meaning it will not go through the machine properly and cause the machine to stop working correctly. Well, this is what happened with Robin’s ATM card; it got jammed in the machine, according to the teller.

The teller says, “Step over to this teller window and I can help you.” The “teller window” is the place where the individual bank teller works. Usually they are standing on the other side of a counter that separates you from the bank teller. In many banks in the United States, you will also be separated by a thick piece of glass for security reasons.

The teller asks Robin, “What transactions are you trying to make?” “Transactions” (transactions) are any time you take money out of your bank or put money into your bank, or do anything with your bank involving your money; that would be a transaction. It’s a more general term to talk about anything that goes on between two people that involves money. When you buy a new car, we could call that a “transaction.” You give someone money and they give you a car. Hopefully, the car will work!

Robin says that she wants to make a deposit, transfer some money between her checking and savings accounts, and make a cash withdrawal. So, three things here: first, Robin wants to “make a deposit” (deposit), meaning she wants to put some money into her account – give the bank some of her money. “To transfer” (transfer) means to move money from one account that you have at the bank, to another. An “account” is simply the name we give the agreement that you have with the bank for them to keep your money.

Moving money from one account to another account, then, is a transfer; that’s the second thing Robin is doing. She’s transferring between her checking and her savings accounts. A “savings account” is when you put money into your bank, and you can only take it out if you go to the bank, normally, or you go online and transfer it. A “checking account” is an account that you can take money out of by writing a check, usually a piece of paper that you sign, and you put the amount that you want to take out of your account and the name of the person to whom you are giving the money. That would be a checking account.

The third thing Robin wants to do is make a cash withdrawal. The verb “to withdraw” (withdraw) means to take out of; to remove something. So, a “withdrawal,” as a noun, is when you take your money out. In this case, she wants to take some cash out of her account.

The bank teller says that he can help Robin. Robin says, “Okay. Let me take this check out of the deposit envelope.” The “deposit envelope” is the place where you put your check or money that you are going to put into the ATM machine. But since the ATM machine isn’t working, she is going to take it out of the deposit envelope and give it to the teller. Notice here that we sometimes say “ATM machine,” even though ATM means automatic teller machine. So it’s like saying, “automatic teller machine machine,” but we often say it like that.

The bank clerk says that he is going to call a technician in order to get the card out of the ATM machine – Robin’s card, that is. A “technician” (technician) is a person and fixes things. Usually a person who fixes certain kinds of machines is called a “technician.” The technician is going to retrieve Robin’s card. “To retrieve” (retrieve) means to take out of something, usually something that has been lost or something that is difficult to get. You can retrieve something from your closet, for example. In this case, the technician will retrieve Robin’s card from the ATM machine so she can get it back.

Robin thanks the bank clerk, and says, “I guess that the machine just doesn’t like me.” She’s making a joke – the machine doesn’t like her. And the bank clerk says, “It’s not you. Those machines just act up sometimes.” The verb “to act up” (two words) means to cause problems. When something doesn’t work correctly, we would say it’s “acting up.” For additional definitions of this expression, “to act up,” take a look at the Learning Guide for this episode.

Finally Robin says, “In that case,” meaning if that is true that the machines sometimes act up, then “I won’t take it personally.” When you “take something personally,” you are offended; you believe that something happened to you, usually a negative thing, for a personal reason. In this case, Robin should not take it personally; she should not think that the machine was trying to get her in particular.

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.

[start of story]

I went to bank this morning. Instead of standing in line to talk to a bank teller, I decided to use an ATM, but it wasn’t working.

Robin: Excuse me. Could you help me? I’m trying to use this ATM machine, but it stopped working after I put in my PIN and it won’t give me back my ATM card.

Bank clerk: It looks like the machine is jammed. Step over to this teller window and I can help you. What transactions are you trying to make?

Robin: I want to make a deposit, transfer some money between my checking and savings accounts, and make a cash withdrawal.

Bank clerk: I can make those transactions for you.

Robin: Okay. Let me take this check out of the deposit envelope. And what about my card?

Bank clerk: I’ll call the technician and she should be able to retrieve it for you.

Robin: Thanks a lot. I guess that the machine just doesn’t like me.

Bank clerk: It’s not you. Those machines just act up sometimes.

Robin: In that case, I won’t take it personally.

[end of story]

The script for this podcast was written by Dr. Lucy Tse.

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2007.