Trouble tickets – don’t all tickets signal trouble in one way or another? Our police have an ad out on the radio these days. One guy is talking about his buddy who was supposed to go to a concert with him, but the buddy wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. The speaker says, “no, he didn’t get into a wreck. But he did get a ticket. Now he has to pay for that ticket instead of the concert ticket. Now I have to go by myself.” That ticket certainly was trouble!
Buying that concert ticket could have caused the fellow trouble too. When I buy such things they always cost a lot of money. How can a measly, hard-as-a-rock seat (or spot on the lawn) cost that much for two hours!? Then there are all the taxes that get slapped onto the the ticket – convenience tax (which is not convenient at all to me), taxes for visiting the place, sales tax, etc. And that does not include the trouble of standing in line for long periods of time or logging onto the web site at just the right time.
Another ticket that gives me trouble is the one I have to pull out of the little machine at the meat counter to tell the guy behind the counter I’m there (like he can’t see that) and that I came right after the guy in front of me (duh!). It’s like none of us can count or notice who was there when we arrived!
Then there are the tickets the airlines issue – oh, wait, they don’t issue tickets any more and that is part of the trouble. Yes, the same ones they don’t issue refunds on . . . the same ones that don’t include your luggage . . . you know the trouble I’m talking about.
True trouble tickets, though, signal that someone is having trouble and needs help. They should be automatically generated with that someone phones or e-mails that they have a problem. And they should log the day and time as well as recording the particulars about the problem. Then they should be routed to someone who can sort out a resolution or assign the problem to a technician. Each time someone looks at the trouble ticket or does something toward the resolution, the trouble ticket should track it.
Trouble tickets’ main purpose is to help solve complaints and problems in a quick and efficient manner. Secondarily, they are used to track methods and people that do a good job or a quick job of resolving problems. Ultimately, they create happy customers. Trouble tickets are good.