Spelling & Grammar

[icemeister]

Do they even teach penmanship in schools today?

When I was in grammar school some fifty years ago, we were taught the Reinhart system starting with printing and then longhand writing styles.

Beautiful handwriting skills like my grandmother had is surely a lost art never to be seen again.

[Shophound]

Two extremes of service ticket writing styles:

1) A catastrophic failure of the inductive coil in the multiple pole power switching apparatus for the refrigeration circuit's hermetic compressor inductive alternating current motor led to a circumvention of the established parameters of specified interior climate control expected as reported by the building occupant.

After substituting the ailing component with another of identical configuration, proper functioning of the climate control system was reestablished after a thorough performance analysis was conducted in strict accordance with the most exacting standards held consistent by the HVAC industry.

2) Noa cooleeng. Cawntakter coyle blowd uhp. Stuk en noo cawntakter. Sistum run grate.


Somwhere inbetween there's a happy medium.

[NormChris]

Originally posted by lmtd

Originally posted by hi-tork

Hey LMTD, didn't you have to tell him how to spell technician on another website as well (technition - or something like that)? And now we'll add occurring...

LOL, yeah, seems whenever this issue comes alive he paints a target on his back so I pull the trigger!

You don't get a lot of shots at Norm, but I take em when I can get them. IMHO he is on target, but not unlike myself, lacks tact upon delivery.

I like you LMTD and am as open to correction as everyone one of us should be. Have at it! I am correctable. Attitude has a great deal to do with self-improvement.

Norm

[frozensolid]

A company must put forth a professional image, especially in its communication with Customers. Service tickets are a very small part of that image. Well-detailed tickets even misspelled ones put forth a positive company image. Having a mechanic who quickly, and effectively, finds and solves problems. Puts a very powerful positive company image in the minds of your customer. This guy is not invoicing and writing letters, he is turning wrenches.

It is the Ego of we perfectionist’s that is the real source of the pain here. We want it perfect all the time, more so even if we have put our name to it. We think this mechanic reflects negatively on our professional image. He does, but only a miniscule amount in comparison to the positive effect he has on your company image. Professional images are only a part of company image.

I believe education is an empowering, and important thing. I will always encourage a man to better himself. I do however live, and work, in the real world. I would never pass on a great mechanic with less than perfect word skills, they are very hard to find. Professional image means a lot, company image means much more.

[flowcheck]

I can slpell jsut fine msot guys can raed waht im takling aobut wehn they raed the tciket. lol.

[Diceman]

What about math? Ya add up the bill wrong ..and in Trump's words.............You're fired........

[hi-tork]

Originally posted by Diceman
What about math? Ya add up the bill wrong ..and in Trump's words.............You're fired........

Nope, you seem to be the only one with that problem...

[operator]

Originally posted by Diceman
What about math? Ya add up the bill wrong ..and in Trump's words.............You're fired........

who would do that...twice
have a palm with calc on it for the slow brain days

[ozone drone]

English is a difficult language when it comes to spelling.
Spanish has hard and fast rules for which letter to use for its vowells.

Phonetically (probably spelled wrong)

You could write the word "Fight" the following ways:

Fyte,Fite,Fighte,Feit,Feight,Phyte,Phite,Fyt,Pheyt ,Phiyte,Phyt,Pheit,Pfyte,Phight,Pfight,Pfeight ....etc etc ad nauseum.
It's almost like Chinese where you have a different character for every word.

[JasonHoustonTX]

Originally posted by 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.

BINGO!!!!

I can not for the life of me find a tech that can do either. Boy they can trouble shoot and fix anything, but fill out detailed paperwork is just too much to do.

Actually, my installers have proven time after time to be better at paperwork than any of my techs. Strange stuff.

[hvac r us 2]

Interesting study, believe it or not you can actually read this and fast...
>
>
> I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg
> The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
> Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a
> wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer
> be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll
> raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not
> raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
> yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt!

[framehvac]

WOW! That is amazing hvac r us 2 now I do beleive that spelling was a lost art.But it looks like we don't need it so they can put it back where they stumble upon it.

WOOW! Taht is amzaing havc r us 2 noow I doo bleeve taht spleling waas a lsot artt.Buut lokos lkie wee dn'ot neeed iit soo tehy cann puut iit bcak wehre tehy stmulbe uopn iit. Howw wass taht havac rrrrrrrrr uuss 222 ?

[lenb]

Wow tthas iresettnnig. As lnog as you dnot look at one wrod at a tmie and jsut sacn asocrs qkciuly, it is esay to utsnndred.

Ttahs pbbalory why wehn pfedaoronrig my own wtirnig I msis mktaciss, bcesuae it smees o.k. wehn jsut sninancg trhu it qkicluy.

[vanderbrook1]

(Imitating Rodney King)......"Why can't we all just get along?????" Hey guys, just want to offer my 2 cents on this debate. Seems as though Norm struck a nerve with this debate, but hey that's great!! First up, I'm a HVAC business owner/operator/technician/salesperson.......yes, I wear MANY hats in my business!!! So, I know where each and every one of you is coming from. ChrisNorm has a point - we ARE professionals (even though some of us don't act it!!), therefore we must PRESENT ourselves as PROFESSIONALS. Bottom line - if we don't, we are not PERCEIVED as PROFESSIONALS. If we are not PERCEIVED as PROFESSIONALS, people THINK we are not professional. If they THINK we are not PROFESSIONAL, they will CALL ANOTHER PROFESSIONAL. We are all in business to make money, yes? Don't shortchange the customer by charging them for a service and handing them an invoice that they can't even read!! I see it every day with some of my techs. The handwriting and spelling is HORRIBLE!! What do I do?? I don't know. Anybody have any great solutions?? I'm currently switching to Flat-Rate pricing, in hopes that all of the tasks will be written out and spelled correctly for the techs to COPY from. Whether you like it or not, the customer IS judging you on many factors - how are you dressed, how do you speak, how do you conduct yourself, how do you perform the repair, do you notice the little things on the job or do you just fix the one problem you were called out for, the list goes on......we are the results of our actions, so wake up and smell the coffee!! The customer does take your spelling and grammar into consideration. Ever heard the saying, "First impressions are everything"???? Think about it.......

[NormChris]

There are solutions and I have offered some.

When I was a service manager I held classes where we discussed and reviewed these problems. I reviewed over a thousand invoices, compiled a list of the most commonly misspelled and misused words and terms. I wrote them up in a list and provide the lists to my technicians. They carried them in their vans and used them to look up words they were unsure of.

We also reviewed how to write invoices properly, words to avoid, words to use in their place and complete sentences to fit common service applications. I also provided lists of sentences that they could copy to their invoices.

We discussed topics dealing with customer relations, customer retention and company image. It works but you have to keep on top of it.

This resulted in fewer invoices getting challenged by customers. It became easier to justify the hours on the invoice and what was accomplished. A detailed invoice clearly stating what was done eliminates the necessity of having to write off hours. It makes it easier for the service manager to defend those few invoices and hours that are challenged anyway. Profits increased and the actually billable time increased.

Our image is not only reflected by our written communication. It goes far beyond that and extends to clean uniforms, clean vans, good hair cuts, and a host of other things that customers see but may not actually be aware of. Added together these things make a huge difference. THEY ARE THE COMPANY IMAGE!

And, you do have control over these things!

Norm

[simpleman]

Norm,if you dont mind me asking,is there a chance I could
get that list?

I'm not to proud to beg!

[mardoman]

As a business owner I am bemused and amused by my employees and job applicants writing skills.

Not that I am an english major but I amazed by the resumes I recieve that have simple spelling errors [by the way does this site have spell check?]. Applicants e-mailing their resumes and they don't use spell check!
They state they are detail oriented but can't use the spell check on their computer, must be a bootleg version of Windows 98 or 2000 Huh?

I are a high school grad u ate and so are my employees. Most of these techs have had or completed college level courses but have a hard time filling out invoices.
I'm not asking for a term paper dude, just a "Reader's Digest" version.

In closing, Norm makes a good point and most of us could use some practice in readin, rightin and rithmatic.

[NormChris]

Originally posted by lmtd

Originally posted by NormChris


It goes far beyond that and extends to clean uniforms, clean vans, good hair cuts, and a host of other things that customers see but may not actually be aware of. Added together these things make a huge difference. THEY ARE THE COMPANY IMAGE!

And, you do have control over these things!

Norm

Haircut is one word.

LMTD, now you have two points.

Norm

[dec]

Well I know I dont have the best spelling and grammar but I do the best I can. Norm when are you going to put the Lama THE READING PROGRAM on your list of recomended books. I just noticed the listing of them on the lama site and I know you recomend a lot of those books so Im a little supprised that you had not brought them up yet. Just giving us a little ribbing on our spelling and grammar before you do bring them up? lol

[Edited by dec on 01-26-2005 at 07:02 PM]

[NormChris]

Originally posted by dec
Well I know I dont have the best spelling and grammar but I do the best I can. Norm when are you going to put the Lama THE READING PROGRAM on your list of recomended books. I just noticed the listing of them on the lama site and I know you recomend a lot of those books so Im a little supprised that you had not brought them up yet. Just giving us a little ribbing on our spelling and grammar before you do? lol

The reading program is not on the list because I have not reviewed it. I only recommend what I have actually read and consider the best.

I have several hundred HVAC books and have read them all. Only the few I consider the best made my recommended list.

Norm