Personal Policies
Below is a list of Personal Policies that I try to live by. Things that sort of make me, me!
- All signatures shall be in blue ink.
- Any sensitive information shall only be transmitted via an encrypted connection. (Passwords, combinations, codes, etc.) This applies to telephone, email, text, etc. My preferred method of encrypted communications for this purpose is Signal or WhatsApp, followed by the encrypted function (RCS Chats) of Google Messages.
- I don’t attend any (online or in-person) MLM events.
- I try to not talk about politics or religion (and probably sports too).
- I am not much of a phone person if I can avoid it. That being said:
- If you are not in my contacts already, your phone call will be screened. Don't say anything during the screening? I'm not going to answer (nor will I return the call - and on top of that, the number will be blocked.) Try email, it works better.
- Texts are similar - if you aren't identifying yourself within the first message, consider yourself blocked. (I get too many spam "Hi, how are you?" texts.... and they get blocked immediately.)
- Please don't give my number / contact information to online services for "invitations" - chances are, if I want to use a particular service, I already do or have already decided not to. (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) In addition, it's generally a bad idea to give any online service your address book access / list for any reason. There's a pretty good chance that I am not the only person that you know who feels this way.
- If I agree when you ask me for help or assistance on something, I will not chase you down for it. When I agree to help, I will usually give you my contact info and tell you to reach out to me to get the ball rolling. If you don't, the request will most likely be forgotten.
- The occasional tech support "favor" request is fine, too many and you'll get relegated to "client" status and be told to use my business support ticket system so I can keep track of all these "favors". (I do tech support for a living, remember?) No, I don't really need to be owed extra "favors", I've got quite a few and some that I'll probably never be able to collect on anyhow, so why add to that pile? Money is a great motivator... (and "clients" usually pay me for my time!)
- Feel free to send reminder emails - I get a lot of emails per day - over 150+ and mostly spam - so things tend to get lost in the shuffle often. (This is the main reason for having a support ticket system.)
- Calling my cell phone for a "quick" tech support question without an appointment is bad form. Please don't. Email or my support ticket system is preferred.
- Texts are the same - a "quick" tech support question via text is also not cool. Too many, and I may blank out your notification tone. Did I mention it's not cool? It's really not. It tends to interrupt my day and might be rude to those around me, IE another client.
- Feel free to make use of my tech support ticket system on my business website. That is truly the best way to get help on something. Just put in a ticket (as a normal priority) and I'll take care of it and send you the bill. (Probably..)
- Putting in a support ticket as priority when it really isn't is also bad form. Don't do that either. (It will get re-classified...) If you are not sure, feel free to read the definitions of "priority" on my business website when you go to put the ticket in. Always remember the old saying, your failure to plan does not constitute my emergency.
- Most meetings / onsite visits shall be scheduled after lunch. Mornings are usually too busy and I need to catch up / put out fires first. Of course, if I have to, I will, but don't be surprised if I complain about it.
- Sundays are for me, family and God. It had better be really important for you to suggest getting together on a Sunday to work on something.
- In addition, most questions / requests on a Sunday will get you an answer on Monday, if my time allows. See above.
- If I say I am booked, then no, I will not "squeeze you in". That's not fair to those that already have my time booked.
- For my decisions, It's my definition of importance and urgency that makes a determination, not yours.
- Feel free to stop by, but don't be surprised if I keep working on what I was doing. I love the company, but sometimes I just can't stop what I'm doing and hang. I'll do my best to chat and work at the same time, but I have to keep working.
- Like I said, stopping by, great! Stopping by and having a "quick" tech issue? Not great. Don't be that person. Always make arrangements for tech issues in advance.
- I'll try to be a gracious host and remember to offer things, but if you want something, just ask. (Snacks, food, drinks, etc.)
- I am usually not amenable to lending things. You are welcome to use whatever it is where I have it, that's fine, but you can't take it with you.
- I use banks, I am not one. Please don't ask of me anything that might be covered by the banking industry.
- My policies are not for negotiation.