Need Opinions: What would you do?

[BigDog91]

One of our techs went to a job yesterday and the door was answered by a young girl. Tech asked where the parent was. Girl said she was the only one home. Tech asked how old she was and was told 15. He turned and walked out back to his truck and called the office.

Customer was not happy that he would not service the system without an adult there. The tech is now getting a whole lot of grief from other techs for not just doing the call with the 15 year old girl there.

I agree with what the tech did. The way the world is now it just opens you up to to much. The other thing that gets me is that the parents thought nothing of having their daughter in the house with a strange man that none of them know. I would NEVER put my daughter in that situation.

I would really like to know what other people think?

[ControlsInMT]

Definitely right move! Leave and wait for adult. You don't know what you will be accused of with just an underage girl there.

[cuchulain]

If he was that uncomfortable, he should have called the parents and informed them and asked to reschedule the appt. when one of them would be home, or find out if a neighbor was approved to "monitor".

[BigDog91]

If he was that uncomfortable, he should have called the parents and informed them and asked to reschedule the appt. when one of them would be home, or find out if a neighbor was approved to "monitor".

We did call the mother. She acted like it was no big deal. We asked if the daughter could go to the neighbors house or if the neighbor could come over. Mother wanted nothing to do with rescheduling.

We agreed to do the service after mom said she would head home but she had to be on the phone with the daughter the whole time.

After mother got home and the tech explained why he did what he did she said "oh I never even thought of that".

It all worked out in the end but man it was to much to have to deal with when it is 98 degrees out.

[rojacman]

We did call the mother. She acted like it was no big deal. We asked if the daughter could go to the neighbors house or if the neighbor could come over. Mother wanted nothing to do with rescheduling.

We agreed to do the service after mom said she would head home but she had to be on the phone with the daughter the whole time.

After mother got home and the tech explained why he did what he did she said "oh I never even thought of that".

It all worked out in the end but man it was to much to have to deal with when it is 98 degrees out.

....you did the right thing , our cable co. will not go in a house if there is someone under 18 in the house alone...stick to it....once there was a call i made where the woman was to meet me but it was only a girl about 11 . so i killed time outside 'till mom came home apologized for being late , made me nice iced tea and all was well.....Jack

[shaygetz]

Kudos to him...been there myself. Got a call and found a very attractive 14-year-old there alone. Obeyed my gut feeling of "Leave now...!" and waited until mom was home. Several months later when they skipped out, I found a rather graphic diary the girl was keeping, the first couple pages were bad enough I immediately turned it over to the Sheriff's office, only to find out that they were very familiar with her.

I will always go with my gut and, from that point on, kept a regular time log with phone call check in/out with my manager for any resident I felt uncomfortable alone with...even making sure said resident was aware that I was in fact, making such calls by doing it while they were standing there. It's worked for ten years and I've never regretted it.

[Control Man]

He did the right thing

[BigDog91]

Thank you all for your replies.

I will be showing these responses at our next meeting to the techs who said no big deal, to try and get it through their heads it is a big deal.

[sprintmj19]

In the last year, my 72 year old mom, who lives in another state, had the following out to her house..

Cable tv guy

Tv repairman, not related to the cable tv guy

countertop company

carpet company

ALL of them insisted she be home (lives by herself). All of them said they do not work in unattended homes or homes where there is anyone underage.

This tells me we (hvac/r) are not the only ones that have these policies or have these concerns.

[StingrayHH]

He did the right thing. A company I used to work for had the policy that the home owner had to be there, if not we did not service the equipment. Here's where the big deal comes into play. An underage kid will and can lie about anything to get attention. All it takes it one time for a young girl to say she felt uncomfortable about the way the tech was looking at her, and he's in a world of hurt. Parents are even worse. They will try and get you to come out when they're not there and there kids are just so they don't have to pay the bill. If your fellow techs think this isn't a big deal, they need to think again.

[RoBoTeq]

Agreed, he did the right thing. I don't think this can ever be stated too many times by enough people. This should be standard practice for all companies and in this day of 15 year old girls who want to be treated as 21 year old women but the laws still prosecuting for under age 18, not a chance I'm walking into a home alone with a 15 year old girl.

[Twilly]

Agreed, he did the right thing. I don't think this can ever be stated too many times by enough people. This should be standard practice for all companies and in this day of 15 year old girls who want to be treated as 21 year old women but the laws still prosecuting for under age 18, not a chance I'm walking into a home alone with a 15 year old girl.

Call Twilly, no need to go alone

[NY2GA01]

One of our techs went to a job yesterday and the door was answered by a young girl. Tech asked where the parent was. Girl said she was the only one home. Tech asked how old she was and was told 15. He turned and walked out back to his truck and called the office.

Customer was not happy that he would not service the system without an adult there. The tech is now getting a whole lot of grief from other techs for not just doing the call with the 15 year old girl there.

I agree with what the tech did. The way the world is now it just opens you up to to much. The other thing that gets me is that the parents thought nothing of having their daughter in the house with a strange man that none of them know. I would NEVER put my daughter in that situation.

I would really like to know what other people think?

I would have done the same thing.

What if she made advances on me and I said no and then she turned around and said I raped her, I would be fired and arrested and so on, NO THANKS!

It does not even have to go that far, so what if she said I made advances on her, or said that I tried to kissed her, etc,etc.

I wont put myself in that situation..