New ways to do common errands
I learned something small but new this Wednesday night: how to use an ATM.
I stopped by a CSB ATM after dinner, and because I'd been planning on walking myself home, I'd gotten my phone out with the headphones to listen to a podcast. So, with the headphone cords still a-dangle, my eyes fell on the ATM's headphone jack and I decided to try it out. Yeah, why not!
So this is what I learned:
A) when using headphones you have the option to blank out the screen. Nice! Gets you privacy for your balance, without wasting a paper printout.
B) it's easy to follow the verbal instructions because ATM interactions are well known, but the recording guy/system designers really ought to have done a better job at constructing their lists. For instance it will say: press N for foo; press M for bar; to blah, press X; to cancel, press Y ... but the differences between commas and semicolons are not indicated by pauses or clear pitch contours on the phrases. Why switch relative order of key vs action, mid list? Why?
On the plus side, I liked that the verbal instructions tell you the "the 1 key is on the upper left of the keypad" at the start of your session.
C) The last item in the list of actions is always "to repeat, press the repeat key". Did you know there was a repeat key on an ATM? I did not. Turns out, it's that unmarked fourth key below the Enter, Clear, Cancel keys!
I'd wondered about that extra key before, and now I know.
... Still no hint of what the two blank keys in the numeric keypad ( on either side of the 0) are for.
I stopped by a CSB ATM after dinner, and because I'd been planning on walking myself home, I'd gotten my phone out with the headphones to listen to a podcast. So, with the headphone cords still a-dangle, my eyes fell on the ATM's headphone jack and I decided to try it out. Yeah, why not!
So this is what I learned:
A) when using headphones you have the option to blank out the screen. Nice! Gets you privacy for your balance, without wasting a paper printout.
B) it's easy to follow the verbal instructions because ATM interactions are well known, but the recording guy/system designers really ought to have done a better job at constructing their lists. For instance it will say: press N for foo; press M for bar; to blah, press X; to cancel, press Y ... but the differences between commas and semicolons are not indicated by pauses or clear pitch contours on the phrases. Why switch relative order of key vs action, mid list? Why?
On the plus side, I liked that the verbal instructions tell you the "the 1 key is on the upper left of the keypad" at the start of your session.
C) The last item in the list of actions is always "to repeat, press the repeat key". Did you know there was a repeat key on an ATM? I did not. Turns out, it's that unmarked fourth key below the Enter, Clear, Cancel keys!
I'd wondered about that extra key before, and now I know.
... Still no hint of what the two blank keys in the numeric keypad ( on either side of the 0) are for.