Communication Breakdown

This past summer, I worked in a golf shop at a country club. One of my responsibilities was to head the club repair service our shop offered. Re-gripping clubs was the most common form of club repair service that we did, but we also did re-shafting and lie/loft alterations. With the old system, when a customer wanted to have a club or set of clubs worked on, the employee assisting the member would tag the club with a little index card and set it aside in the back room for the time being. It would be the club repairer's responsibility to seek out these clubs with the tag, so he knew what he needed to do with the club. However, this index card tag often did not explain fully what needed to be done to the club. So, there was often a miscommunication between myself and the customer if I was not the employee assisting the customer (I had other duties and responsibilities and was not always there to assist the customer first hand). Sometimes, I would see a club that needed to be repaired with an index card tagged on, but I was unclear of what had to be done. Then, I would have to somehow try to decipher who wrote the note, or seek out the member to ask what needed to be done. The latter alternative is very unprofessional and a waste of time. Also, there were some times in which the club would "disappear" in the back room, and since I could not find the club, I never knew that something had to be done. This made a couple of customers very upset when their clubs were not repaired on time, and we had to perform the service free of charge and incur a loss. All of this being said, something in the process had to be changed.

So, I thought long and hard about the situation and reached a solution. I decided that we needed to have a log of all the incoming clubs that were being repaired. On this sheet, it said exactly who needed the repair, what needed to be done to what clubs, when it needed to be completed, the location of the clubs (in the pro shop, club repair lab, or bag room), and who helped the customer. The who helped the customer section was one of the most important sections because if there was any confusion or problem, I could approach the employee who helped the customer with any questions I had for him. These club repair forms were kept in a binder behind the pro shop counter, so anyone working the counter had access to the book. It would be my responsibility to look through the book every day to see what needed to be done. The forms were also very convenient and useful in the billing of the repairs. We could see when the repair was completed, then bill it, and then staple the sales receipt to the club repair form and file it away. Overall, the club repair service was much more efficient and the number of complaints due to miscommunication were almost non-existent.

communication breakdown, it's always the same, having a nervous breakdown, drive me insane!

My favorite mistay-yee-ake

If you could not figure the title of this post, it refers to a song written and performed by Sheryl Crow. Sheryl's favorite mistake has been rumored to be either Eric Clapton or Jakob Dylan (FUN FACT!)

I'm not sure how the title relates to the blogging topic, but we'll tie it in somewhere. And besides, I like making allusions, especially to pop culture, so it fits in somehow. Anywho... as we didn't finish our presentations until after I submitted last week's blog, I was not fair in picking my "favorite" ones. BUT, I will now include one more presentation. I thought that Erin's topic on basic CPR was wisely chosen and well communicated. Her story of personal experience was very real and had a wow factor. It definitely kept me rapt in the rest of the presentation because I knew that the information was very important. Overall, the topic was very relevant and gets my vote as one of the best.

E-portfolio. The word itself makes me mildly nauseous. I do not even know what this is. I remember making a website during my freshman level biology. I believe we used Mozilla to create the website where I could upload "artifacs." The experience I had with Mozilla was actually pleasant. Don't get me wrong, my stomach turns over every time I hear those dreadful words, but I feel that once I know what I am doing, it will be "fun." In order to ensure the completeness of my portfolio draft, I am going to need a reminder how to create this portfolio. I am comfortable with the artifacts to be included in the portfolio, but I do not know how to properly use the interface. I suppose my favorite mistake is that mistakingly, I actually enjoyed creating my biology portfolio even though I can not even stand hearing that-which-shall-not-be-named.