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Everyday machines: where to begin
The card reader at the store, the cash machine, the self-checkout, the gas pump, the ticket machine, the recording that answers the phone: each one asks a string of questions, quickly, usually with other people waiting behind. Plenty of people were never shown: people who have been away for years, people who always paid in cash or always had someone else do this part, people in a new country or a new town. This page puts our six practice pages for these machines in one place, in an order. Begin with the machine that is coming up for you, and go at your own speed. Nothing here has a countdown.
The six machines, in an order
Each one is a page of its own, with a pretend machine and short lessons that ask for one thing at a time, in words, and then wait. The order is only a suggestion: skip any machine your hands already know, and start with the one you will meet first.
The card reader at a store checkout
Card reader practice · 6 short lessons · scarletbeast.com/card-reader-practice/
A pretend card reader, the small machine by the register. The lessons: the keys; tapping the card and putting it in; credit or debit, and the PIN; cash back; the questions you can say no to; and a whole checkout from the total to the receipt. No bank is reached and nothing is paid. The only PIN it takes is the made-up one printed on the pretend card.
It comes first because some of its questions (tap or insert, credit or debit, the PIN) come back at the other machines. Enough for now when lesson 6, a whole checkout, holds no surprises.
The cash machine (ATM)
ATM practice · 6 short lessons · scarletbeast.com/atm-practice/
A pretend cash machine. The lessons: the keys; the card and the PIN; seeing a balance; taking out cash; the fee screen; and a whole visit from putting the card in to walking away. No bank is reached and no money moves: the card, its PIN, the accounts and the fee are made up by the page.
A real PIN is never something to type on a website, this one included. Enough for now when lesson 6, a whole visit, holds no surprises.
The self-checkout at a store
Self-checkout practice · 6 short lessons · scarletbeast.com/self-checkout-practice/
A pretend self-checkout machine. The lessons: scanning and bagging; things with no barcode; the times the machine stops and a worker comes; finishing and paying, by card or in cash; the questions you can say no to; and a whole trip from the first item to the bags. Nothing is bought and nothing is paid: the basket, the prices, the weights and the cash are made up by the page.
There is nowhere on it to type, so no card, PIN or number of yours is asked for. Enough for now when lesson 6, a whole trip, holds no surprises.
The gas pump
Gas pump practice · 6 short lessons · scarletbeast.com/gas-pump-practice/
A pretend gas pump. The lessons: the engine, the cap and the grade; the nozzle; paying at the pump with a card; paying inside with cash; the questions you can say no to; and a whole stop from turning the engine off to putting the cap back on. Nothing is bought and nothing is paid: the prices, the gallons, the pump number and the cash are made up by the page.
A page cannot practice the weight of the nozzle in the hand. At a real pump, the signs on it are the ones to follow. Enough for now when lesson 6, a whole stop, holds no surprises.
The ticket machine at a train or bus station
Ticket machine practice · 6 short lessons · scarletbeast.com/ticket-machine-practice/
A pretend train and bus ticket machine. The lessons: starting, and the language; where to, and which ticket; paying with a card; paying with cash; adding money to a fare card; and a whole trip to the machine, from the first touch to the ticket in your hand. Nothing is bought and nothing is paid: the stations, the fares, the cash and the fare card are made up by the page.
Two of its steps only look up a price and then press Cancel. At many real machines that is an ordinary thing to do. Enough for now when lesson 6, a whole trip to the machine, holds no surprises.
The recording that answers the phone
Phone menu practice · 7 short lessons · scarletbeast.com/phone-menu-practice/
A pretend phone, for the lines that answer with “For this, press 1. For that, press 2.” The lessons: the twelve keys; a list of choices; hearing the choices again; typing a number and then pound; a second list; getting to a person and waiting; and a whole call from the first word to hanging up. No call is made: the phone cannot dial, and the three lines it pretends to call do not exist.
It is last only because it is not a machine you stand at. If a call is what is coming up, begin here. Enough for now when lesson 7, a whole call, holds no surprises.
This section prints on its own, as a short list with a square to tick beside each machine: use your browser’s Print. The page itself does not keep track of which ones you have done.
Words the machines use
The practice pages use these 30 words, and so do the screens and the people at the counter. They are in the order the six pages meet them.
- PIN
- The private number that goes with a bank card, often four digits. It is typed on the keys of the machine. It is not said aloud, and a real one is never typed on a website.
- Debit card
- A bank card that takes the money straight out of a bank account. It usually asks for its PIN.
- Credit card
- A card that puts the amount on a bill to be paid later. At a gas pump or a ticket machine it may ask for a ZIP code.
- Credit or debit?
- A question many readers ask. With a debit card, either answer may be offered; “debit” is the one that asks for the PIN.
- Tap
- Holding the card close to the reader for a moment, without putting it in. It works with cards and readers that carry the mark of four curved lines.
- Insert
- Pushing the card into the slot, the end with the small metal square first. Many readers want it left there until the screen says to take it out.
- Swipe
- Sliding the dark stripe on the back of the card through a groove, in one steady move. Some older readers and some pumps use it.
- ZIP code
- The five-number postal code of the address where the card’s bill goes. Some pumps and ticket machines ask for it with a credit card.
- Cash back
- Cash handed over at a store checkout and taken from the account on top of the price, when paying with a debit card. “No” is an ordinary answer.
- Balance
- How much money an account holds right now.
- Withdrawal
- Taking cash out of an account at a cash machine.
- Fee screen
- A screen on a cash machine that says what the machine will charge, and asks before going on. Answering no stops there.
- Receipt
- A slip of paper that says what was paid, taken out or bought. Many machines ask whether you want one.
- Enter, OK
- The key that says “that is all of it”. It is often green.
- Clear
- The key that takes back what was just typed, so it can be typed again. It is often yellow.
- Cancel
- The key that stops everything. It is often red. On many machines it also gives the card back.
- Barcode
- The block of black lines printed on a package. The machine reads the price from it.
- Scan
- Passing the barcode in front of the glass of the machine until it beeps.
- Bagging area
- The shelf or the bags next to a self-checkout. Many machines weigh what is put there, and stop when the weight is not what they expect.
- Look up item
- A button for things with no barcode, such as loose fruit. The machine asks which thing it is, and often weighs it.
- Help light
- A light over a self-checkout that goes on when the machine has stopped and is waiting for a worker.
- Grade
- The kind of gasoline, often named regular, plus or mid-grade, and premium. The car’s manual, or a label inside the fuel door, says which one the car takes. Diesel is a different fuel, for diesel engines only.
- Nozzle
- The metal spout at the end of the pump’s hose. The lever under its handle lets the gas flow.
- Pay inside
- Giving the cashier the number of the pump and the money before pumping. The pump then stops at that amount.
- One way, round trip
- One way is there only. A round trip is there and back.
- Fare
- The price of a ride. Many systems have a lower one, a reduced fare, for some riders; who gets it is each system’s own rule.
- Fare card
- A card that holds money or passes for rides, and is tapped or swiped at a gate or on a bus.
- Tray
- The opening near the bottom of a ticket machine where the ticket drops. The change and the receipt often land there too.
- Pound key, star key
- The two keys on a phone that are not numbers: # is pound, and * is star. A line often asks for a number “followed by the pound key”.
- On hold
- Waiting on the line, often with music, until a person answers.
Good to know
At a real machine
- The real machine is the one to follow. Its screens, its words and its order will not match the pretend one. Machines differ a great deal, and what these pages show is how it often goes.
- Reading the whole screen first is an ordinary thing to do, and so is letting the person behind go ahead.
- Most machines show the amount and ask before they take money. Until then, Cancel usually stops it.
- A worker can be asked. Many stores keep someone near the self-checkouts, and a cashier can often say what a card reader is asking.
- The PIN stays yours. Many people cover the keys with the other hand while they type it. Nobody honest asks for it: not a caller, not a text, not a stranger near the machine.
- Before walking away: the card, the cash, the change, the receipt, the ticket. They often come out of different places.
- When a machine keeps a card or money, the usual way is to note which machine and what time, and to tell a worker or call the number printed on the machine or on the back of the card. Sooner is better.
If you are sitting beside someone who is learning
- Their hand on the buttons, not yours. A hand learns by doing it.
- Say what to look for (“the green key, at the bottom right”) and let them find it, rather than reaching across.
- One thing at a time, and then wait. The practice pages wait too.
- A press that lands somewhere else is part of learning. On the practice pages it changes nothing.
- Their PIN stays theirs. At a real machine, let them type it, and look away while they do.
- Stop when either of you is tired. The lessons are short, and stopping loses nothing, because nothing is kept.
What this page does not do
- It is not a class and has no teacher. It is a list of six practice pages, in an order.
- It is not any real machine. No bank, store, gas station, transit system or phone company had a part in it, and none is named.
- It cannot practice the hands: the weight of a nozzle, a bill that a slot gives back, a card that goes in only one way.
- It does not cover every machine. A parking pay station, a laundromat machine and a pharmacy keypad, for example, have no practice page here.
- It does not keep which ones you have done, gives no certificate, and makes no promise about how any real visit, stop, trip or call will go. People differ, and so do machines.
- It has not been tried by people new to these machines or by teachers, or with a screen reader. A program tried the six pages with a mouse and a keyboard in one browser; they have not been tried on a touch screen.
Pages that go with these
- Count the cash: add up bills and coins, and count back the change.
- A bank account: a guide to opening one, and to the cards that come with it.
- Call script: know what you will say before you dial.
- Is this a scam?: for the day a call, a text or a stranger asks for a card or a PIN.
- New to computers: where to begin: the same kind of path, for a mouse, a keyboard and a screen.
- Coming home: a guide for the first days and weeks after jail or prison.
- Start here: up to three questions, and the pages on this site for what is going on.
- All the free tools, and how to save them on your phone.
This page and the practice pages it lists were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). There is no AI inside any of them. What this page says about machines is general knowledge, written plainly, and was not read from any bank’s, store’s or agency’s page; machines differ, and yours may not match every line. It has been checked by a program, not yet by people new to these machines, and the Spanish has not been read by a native speaker. It keeps nothing, so it has no line on My data on this device. Also in Spanish: Máquinas de cada día. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].