Lazy person wasting staff time.
Discussion
Hi all. I think this is my first topic in the Pie and Piston and I have a slight moral dilemma.
I'm boss of a small Plumbers Merchant and last week some bloke came in looking for some information for a college course he is doing on plumbing/heating. Strangely though he knows NOTHING about his chosen subject. Not a thing! I supplied him with some brochures, price guides and printed him off a list of materials you'd use in a typical heating system, which I thought was fair enough.
Problem is he's been back in twice since then and I've just found out from the guys on the counter he's been asking what does this, that and the next thing and wanted it all printed off along with explanations. To be honest it looks like he's taking advantage of us to do his course work for him. Next thing he'll probably be handing his modules over for us to fill in.
So... Do we furnish him with all the knowledge he needs? Or do I give him a complete load of rubbish knowing full well he won't check any of it, hand it in and fail whatever he's doing miserably.
At the very least he will be thoroughly confused
I'm slightly undecided. It's possibly a bit cruel, but then again I have the notion he should be taught a lesson for being a lazy sod.
Q1: Name a type of combination boiler
A: Armitage Shanks Urinal.
etc etc
Whadya think?
I'm boss of a small Plumbers Merchant and last week some bloke came in looking for some information for a college course he is doing on plumbing/heating. Strangely though he knows NOTHING about his chosen subject. Not a thing! I supplied him with some brochures, price guides and printed him off a list of materials you'd use in a typical heating system, which I thought was fair enough.
Problem is he's been back in twice since then and I've just found out from the guys on the counter he's been asking what does this, that and the next thing and wanted it all printed off along with explanations. To be honest it looks like he's taking advantage of us to do his course work for him. Next thing he'll probably be handing his modules over for us to fill in.
So... Do we furnish him with all the knowledge he needs? Or do I give him a complete load of rubbish knowing full well he won't check any of it, hand it in and fail whatever he's doing miserably.
At the very least he will be thoroughly confused I'm slightly undecided. It's possibly a bit cruel, but then again I have the notion he should be taught a lesson for being a lazy sod.
Q1: Name a type of combination boiler
A: Armitage Shanks Urinal.
etc etc
Whadya think?
I think I'd have a word and say you don't mind helping with the occasional problem, but you want to see evidence that he has tried to do it first.
After all if he is successful on his course he is a potential customer, so you don;t want to upset him too much.
However at the same time he should be doing his own course work, and only seeking a helping hand when stuck.
After all if he is successful on his course he is a potential customer, so you don;t want to upset him too much.
However at the same time he should be doing his own course work, and only seeking a helping hand when stuck.
send him round the corner to one of your competitors, get him to ask the bloke in their to explain what a long weight does in the plumbing system an see how long he lasts round their, obviously get your competitor involved as well, he can obviously explain things better than you on that part of the heating systems !!
chrisgr31 said:
I think I'd have a word and say you don't mind helping with the occasional problem, but you want to see evidence that he has tried to do it first.
After all if he is successful on his course he is a potential customer, so you don;t want to upset him too much.
However at the same time he should be doing his own course work, and only seeking a helping hand when stuck.
I agree, I get people tapping me for information then buy stuff elsewhere. As soon as I get an inkling, that's when the info stops.
I get customers wasting my time every day.
At first I'm happy to oblige but when they start taking the p*ss I simply inform them, as politely as possible, that I am extremely busy (this is always true) and that I really can't afford to spend half an hour on phone trying to solve their problems, as there are other people and other things to attend to.
Seven times out of ten they're OK with it. Three times out of ten they threaten to complain, but never to any avail.
At first I'm happy to oblige but when they start taking the p*ss I simply inform them, as politely as possible, that I am extremely busy (this is always true) and that I really can't afford to spend half an hour on phone trying to solve their problems, as there are other people and other things to attend to.
Seven times out of ten they're OK with it. Three times out of ten they threaten to complain, but never to any avail.
Dougie. said:
So... Do we furnish him with all the knowledge he needs? Or do I give him a complete load of rubbish knowing full well he won't check any of it, hand it in and fail whatever he's doing miserably.
No, (and I am being serious), the next time he comes in tell him that time is money and that Plumbers and Plumbers' Merchants have a reputation to live up to. Then say that your labour rate is 100 quid an hour. And that he owes you for however much time he has used so far.
He'll either run, or pay you, but he will end up being a customer because of the valuable lesson you taught him that nobody in their right mind does anything for free.
I work on a financial applications and data helpdesk and we regularly get students and clients who call us pretending to need help with an application. We go through it with them but after a while it becomes apparent that they are angling to get us to do their work for them. You get the "Oh, I really don't understand, could you just create a spreadsheet/graph and send it to me so I can see the formulas?"
It's good to help people as far as you can but there's a fine line between helping them and doing their work for them. It sounds to me as though this guy is trying to get you to do his work, so I would put a stop to it and tell him you don't have the time to help any more.
It's good to help people as far as you can but there's a fine line between helping them and doing their work for them. It sounds to me as though this guy is trying to get you to do his work, so I would put a stop to it and tell him you don't have the time to help any more.
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