A+: How to Treat Customers' Property

The old Aretha Franklin song said it best: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” Whether it’s the device you’re servicing (laptop or desktop PC, PDA, printer, monitor, or other peripheral), or the telephone, respect it. Here’s how:

• Don’t use customer equipment for personal tasks. Make personal phone calls with your own phone (you do have a cell phone, don’t you?).

• Don’t go poking around their hard disk or PDA folders unless it’s necessary to solve the problem.

• Don’t “test” the printer by printing personal information. Use your own printer to print your resume or a pinup of your favorite movie star, sports figure, or car. 

• If you need to reset the resolution on the display for testing, change it back when you’re done. Ditto with any other changes necessary for troubleshooting. 

• Don’t make the customers sorry they called you or your company for help. Customers who become ex-customers have a way of helping potential customers call somebody else for help.