Spelling & Grammar

[NormChris]

Spelling and grammar seem to have become a lost art. I have seen a growing number of spelling and grammar errors in several major news sites lately.

Customers notice such errors in our service work orders and tickets. Such mistakes make us look unprofessional. Customers begin to think that if we can't communicate clearly then how can they be sure we actually performed quality workmanship?

Do you want an uneducated person servicing your equipment?

[Yuma]

Norm;
I agree with you.
But,a lot of people migrate to the hands on trades as a way not to have to learn the skills of writing.
My self included.. But I have enrolled in courses to get my A.A. so I am taking English classes again.
Back to your point, Yes if a tech works on a house of some academic type person and his (her) writing skills are bad, it makes the tech look bad also. Period!
Schools just are not teaching proper English any more. Ebonics are more important to some districts.

Keep up the crusade....

Yuma,

[NormChris]

Originally posted by Yuma
Norm;
I agree with you.
But,a lot of people migrate to the hands on trades as a way not to have to learn the skills of writing.
My self included.. But I have enrolled in courses to get my A.A. so I am taking English classes again.
Back to your point, Yes if a tech works on a house of some academic type person and his (her) writing skills are bad, it makes the tech look bad also. Period!
Schools just are not teaching proper English any more. Ebonics are more important to some districts.

Keep up the crusade....

Yuma,

Yuma, I appreciate the support! There is a real need for all technicians to improve their writing an communication skills.

Norm

[hi-tork]

Originally posted by NormChris
Spelling and grammar seem to have become a lost art. I have seen a growing number of spelling and grammar errors in several major news sites lately.

Customers notice such errors in our service work orders and tickets. Such mistakes make us look unprofessional. Customers begin to think that if we can't communicate clearly then how can they be sure we actually performed quality workmanship?

Do you want an uneducated person servicing your equipment?

How many times did you reread your post before you clicked on "submit"?....

[mattm]

In a round about way you are making fun of me cause I can't spell. Thanks, now I'm gonna drink.

I fully agree with you though. In the real world where it matters I make sure my writing is well worded and everything is spelled correctly. I work with a guy that drives me crazy because he wont even bother to learn to spell, and on top of that he puts slight ebonics into his writings.

[bb]

Not only are proper grammatical skills necessary but also the ability to fully document services performed and notes about the system layout for future use.

[texan30]

Not sure how many times he reread it before clicking submit, but he used 'an' in place of 'and'. Very unprofessional workmanship.

[NormChris]

Originally posted by texan30
Not sure how many times he reread it before clicking submit, but he used 'an' in place of 'and'. Very unprofessional workmanship.

I am quite willing to own up to and correct my own mistakes but I fail to see what you are attempting to point out.

Norm

[rob10]

I'm able to write much higher dollar tickets quite simply for the fact of being able to interject hyper engineerese into the context of the body of a service report. In other words, higher BS ability does equate to a higher paycheck. Thanks again Norm for bringing this to the forefront!

[Edited by rob10 on 01-22-2005 at 10:55 PM]

[karsthuntr]

I once wrote a note to a customer and a couple of the words I did not spell correctly. So I wrote a note at the bottom saying "sorry for the mis-spelling but my pen doesn't have a spell check."

She called into the office saying she got a kick out of the side note.

[texan30]

Norm, you stated;

There is a real need for all technicians to improve their writing an communication skills.

This should read as;

There is a real need for all technicians to improve their writing AND communication skills.

I just could not pass that up. My evil twin inside me leaks out from time to time.

[NormChris]

Originally posted by rob10
I'm able to write much higher dollar tickets quite simply for the fact of being able to interject hyper engineerese into the context of the body of a service report. In other words, higher BS ability does equate to a higher paycheck. Thanks again Norm for bringing this to the forefront!

[Edited by rob10 on 01-22-2005 at 10:55 PM]

Rob you are right. I have yet to be able to read my doctors writing. If it works for him it should work for us.

[NormChris]

Originally posted by texan30
Norm, you stated;

There is a real need for all technicians to improve their writing an communication skills.

This should read as;

There is a real need for all technicians to improve their writing AND communication skills.

I just could not pass that up. My evil twin inside me leaks out from time to time.

Just a typo error is all.

[dec]

Originally posted by NormChris






Do you want an uneducated person servicing your equipment?

If he is well educated At repairing and servicing my equipment I would have no problem with his spelling or grammer. If he had great grammer and spelling ability but didnt know a thing about what I hired him for I would be pissed. Im not sure why this is getting to be such a sticking point but I guess I had better think about picking up the technician certification exam guide and see how many chapters there are about grammer and spelling being thats seems to be a major thing.

[Collin]

Originally posted by NormChris


Spelling and grammar seem to have become a lost art. I have seen a growing number of spelling and grammar errors in several major news sites lately.

Although technically correct, I would prefer to see what you wrote as:
"a growing number of spelling and grammatical errors"

[ozone drone]

I no watcha meen norm.

[tinman]

Norm, I agree, short of going back to high school what would you suggest as training?

[simpleman]

Again the only people that have this problem or teachers.

I have yet,to lose a customer because of grammer or spelling.

If spelling and grammer was a issue,then explain why there are more mexican in the work force then ever before.

I bet some of you elites,still have your silver spoon as well.

[twosticks]

Saw an ad in a trade journal. Picture of two guys, one
was bent over a piece of equipment wearing jeans and a
tee shirt, kinda dirty, bubba type. The other was in a nice
uniform, creases, carrying an invoice book. Point of the
ad was which would you prefer working on your equipment.
I remember thinking I only saw one person working.
Appearances (vans, clothes, speech, grammar, spelling, etc.)
may make one "appear" professional or not. Appearances can
be deceiving.

[NormChris]

Originally posted by tinman
Norm, I agree, short of going back to high school what would you suggest as training?

Proper written communication, spelling and grammar do make a difference to customers reading service invoices!

When I was a service manager I reviewed every service ticket and made a list of the errors. I then held several service meetings and worked on the worst ones.

I also provided each technician with a spelling list of commonly misspelled and misused words to carry in their trucks. They could easily look up any word they were unsure of.

It looks pretty poor when a technician can't spell condenser or compressor correctly or uses "there" when he should have used "their" for example.

It is all about professionalism.

Norm