Real-Life Communication
As a self-employed database administrator (DBA), you regularly sign
contracts to perform DBA work for various clients.
Many of your clients
are not too familiar with technology, computers and databases. When working
with their database, they often make errors that cause the database to malfunction.
Sometimes
when this happens, they blame you and tell you that you have not been maintaining
the database properly. Sometimes they don't blame anybody in particular, but
become very frustrated.
Either way, you have to explain to the client
that their error caused the malfunction. You have to explain to them what
they should do to prevent this from happening again in the future.
This
calls for diplomacy and tact. You cannot offend your clients, but you have
to show them how to avoid repeating the mistake.
To make things more
complicated, much of the communication happens by e-mail. Misunderstandings
in e-mail are commonplace because people sometimes become too informal and
break the rules of "Netiquette."
Today you receive an e-mail from your
newest client. He writes angrily:
"This database is messed up AGAIN.
I have entered new records from my Personal Admin page but they don't show
up later when I search for them. I EXPECT YOU TO FIX THIS DATABASE PROPERLY!"
When
you read the e-mail, you immediately know the problem. The client has been
entering the records from the wrong location. You have showed him several
times that records must be entered from the Corporate Admin page, but he has
forgotten again and used his Personal Admin page.
How do you respond
to his e-mail?
Here are three possible answers. Pick the best one and
explain why you selected it over the other two.
1. The database will
work fine if you ENTER THE RECORDS FROM THE CORPORATE ADMIN PAGE LIKE I TOLD
YOU!!! You have to remember this or else you will keep on having problems
with the database.
2. Oh, I am so sorry you are having problems. I
think that if you enter the records from the Corporate Admin site instead
of your Personal Admin site it will work better. Please do that and let me
know. :)
3. I understand that it can be frustrating when the database
doesn't work properly. However, as we discussed before, the database records
will not save correctly unless you enter them from the Corporate Admin site.
Would you like me to come by and walk you through the procedure again?