Going to the Post Office

۲۹ مهر ۱۴۰۲ B1

Going to the Post Office.pdf
Going to the Post Office.mp3

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 14 – Going to the

Post Office.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 14. I'm your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in

beautiful Los Angeles, California.

On this podcast, we’re going to go to the post office. Let's get started.

[start of story]

For me, things never go very smoothly at the local post office. I've learned that if

you want to mail a letter, you'll have no problems. But if things get more

complicated than that, well, watch out!

Yesterday I went there to mail a small package and pick up a book of stamps. I

wait my turn in line, and when I get up to the window, the clerk says, "What can I

do for you?" "Well," I say, "I need a book – no make that a roll – of stamps. And I

need to send this package priority to San Francisco." "You want insurance with

that?" he asks me. "Uh, I don't know, what do you recommend?" "Well," he says,

"you can send it priority with tracking if you want to see when it gets there, you

can send it insured if the contents are valuable, or you can do both."

"Okay, I'll take the insurance." "Then step aside to fill out the insurance form," he

says, "and bring it back up to me when you're finished." With that, I was waved

aside to fill out my form. "Next in line!" the clerk calls. When I finish filling out the

form, I wait patiently until the gentleman being waited on in front of me is

finished, and then step back up to the window. "Sorry," the clerk says, "I'm on

break now. She can help you at the next window."

Maybe it would be quicker just to drive my package to San Francisco.

[end of story]

In talking about my trip to the post office I said that, “Things never go very

smoothly.” “To go smoothly” (smoothly) means to take place without problems.

For example, if someone asks you, “How did your visit to the doctor go?” You

could say, “Oh, it went smoothly,” meaning I didn't have any problems.

Everything was just fine.

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I said that, “If you want to mail a letter at my post office, you'll have no problems.”

“To mail a letter” means to send a letter. A letter is typically a piece of paper

inside of an envelope. “But if things get more complicated,” I say, “well, watch

out.” “Watch out” is an expression we use to mean “be careful.” What I'm saying

here is that if you want to do something other than mail a letter, which is a very

simple thing, then you might have problems.

I continue the story by saying, “Yesterday, I went there to mail a small package

and to pick up a book of stamps.” There are two terms we use in talking about

stamps. One is a “book of stamps” and the other is a “roll (roll) of stamps.” A

“book of stamps” is a small, little book, although it's not really a book. Basically,

it's a small package of about 20 stamps. A “roll of stamps” has a hundred

stamps, but all of the stamps are connected to each other and they’re wrapped

around until they're in a small circle, what we call a “roll.” I said that I wanted to

pick up or buy a book of stamps. I also said I want to mail a small package. A

“package” (package) is something you are sending that is bigger than a simple

letter with an envelope. A package is usually in a box, a small box, a large box –

any kind of box. You send a package when you are sending something, usually

larger than can fit into a small envelope. Then I began to tell the story of what

happened exactly at the post office.

When we tell a story in English, we many times, use something called the

historical present, which is the present tense of the verb, even though you are

talking about something in the past. “Historical” comes from “history” – something

that has happened already. Even though I'm describing something that happened

in the past, in this case, it was yesterday, I still use the present tense in telling the

story. The idea is that, it gives it a little more immediacy. It feels like it's

happening right now.

So, in telling the story, I begin by saying, “I wait my turn in line.” “To wait your

turn in line” means to wait for the person in front of you or the people in front of

you, to go first. If there is a line, you have to wait for the people in front of you

who arrived before you did. I say, “I wait my turn in line and when I get up to the

window, the clerk says to me, “What can I do for you?’’ The “window” here is not

a window on the side of a building or a house that you look outside through. A

“window” here just means the place where the person working for the post office,

the clerk, stands in order to help you. You go up to this person who’s standing

usually behind what we would call a “counter.” It’s basically a large, narrow desk.

You have one person on one side, the clerk, the employee of the post office and

you're on the other side doing what you are there to do – buying stamps or

sending packages and so forth.

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So, I walk up to the window and the clerk asks me “What can I do for you?” This

is just a nice way of saying, “How can I help you?” I say “I need a book – no,

make that a roll – of stamps.” The expression, “make that” means change what I

just said. So, when I say “I need a book – no, make that a roll – of stamps” I

mean that I just made a mistake. I didn't mean to say a “book of stamps.” I meant

to say, a “roll of stamps.” So, it's a way of correcting yourself as you are

speaking.

I say that, “I need a roll of stamps and I need to send this package priority to San

Francisco.” “Priority” is one way of sending a package in the United States. It

depends on how fast you want your letter or package to arrive somewhere. There

are many different ways of sending letters and packages. The faster it gets there,

the more expensive it is. The most common way of sending mail is what we call

“first class mail.” There's nothing special about it. It'll get there, oh, depending on

how far away the place you are sending it to, in a couple of days. If you sent

something Priority, usually, that means it will arrive in two to three days, even if

it's on the other side of the country. For example, if I send a package from Los

Angeles to New York first class mail – regular mail, it may take up to a week to

arrive. But, if I send it Priority Mail, it will arrive in two to three days. The fastest

way of sending mail is “Express.” “Express” usually arrives the next day. I'm

sending this package Priority to San Francisco.

The clerk then asked me, “You want insurance with that?” Notice the informal

way he asks this question. The correct, grammatical way would be, “Do you want

insurance with that?” At least that would be the more formal way of phrasing the

question. He instead says, “You want insurance with that?” And by raising his

voice at the end, you know he's asking a question. I say “Uh, I don't know. What

do you recommend?” – meaning, “What do you suggest?” He says, “Well, you

can send it Priority with tracking if you want to see when it gets there.” “Tracking”

(tracking) means that you are given a special number and you can go online, you

can go on to the Internet, and check to see when that package arrived, when the

post office employee, who delivers the package – we would call that person the

“postal carrier” – he will enter the day and time that he delivered the package and

you will get that information on the Internet, if you want it. I say we call the person

who delivers the mail the “postal carrier.” We used to call it the “postman,” but

people didn't like the word “man” because there were both men and women and

so they've changed the term to “postal carrier” (carrier).

So, the clerk asked me if I want to send it Priority with tracking or if I want to send

it insured. “To send a package insured” (insured) means that you buy a special

kind of insurance policy. So, if something goes wrong – if the post office loses the

package – you will get money back for your package. You only want to do that if

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the contents of your package are valuable. “Contents” refers to what is inside of

the package, what you are actually sending. It could be a bottle. It could be a

shoe. It could be a computer. “Valuable” means that it is worth a lot of money. “I

decide that I'll take the insurance,” meaning I will buy the insurance.

The clerk then says, “Step aside to fill out the insurance form.” “To step aside”

(aside) is a two-word phrasal verb, meaning to move to one side of where you

are standing right now, so that someone else can walk up and be helped. We

would use this expression in a situation like this where you have a line of people

waiting to be helped by a clerk or an employee of some organization. So, I

stepped to one side. I move away from the window, in order to fill out or complete

the insurance form. The clerk says, after I finish filling out the insurance form, I

should bring it back up to him. “To bring it back” means to return it to him. The

clerk then waves me aside. “To wave (wave) someone aside” is another two[1]word phrasal verb. It means to move your arm, move your hand back and forth,

to indicate to the person that you want them to step aside. It's not a very polite

thing to do typically, but it is not uncommon.

I say that “I'm waved aside and then the clerk says, ‘Next in line!’” The clerk is

asking for the next person to walk up to the window in order to be served, in

order to be helped. Then, I finish filling out the form and I wait patiently until the

gentleman – the adult man being waited on in front of me – is finished. “To be

waited” on means that someone is helping you. So, there is a person in front of

me at the window who is being helped by the clerk. I'm waiting for this man to

finish what he needs to do so that I can then be helped when he finishes. I step

back up to the window. That means I walk back up to talk to the clerk. The clerk

says, however, “Sorry,” meaning I'm sorry, “I'm on break now.” “To be on break”

(break) means that you are not working anymore, that you are taking 15 or 20

minutes to relax. In most jobs, if you work more than four hours, you get a break.

You get to stop work in the middle and relax a little. That's what the clerk is going

to do.

He says that the person next to him, at the next window, can help. I end the story

by saying “Maybe it would be quicker” – maybe it would be faster – “just to drive

my package to San Francisco.” I'm saying that it's taking so long to mail my

package, it would be quicker just to drive it from Los Angeles to San Francisco,

which takes about six or seven hours. I’m making a joke, of course.

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