Honor Bright

The milkman gets as far as the back step, the salesman may have to talk with his foot in the door. But the television repairman gets a personal invitation, five or six times every year, to step right into the U.S. living room. For the 50,000 TV repairmen who keep America's 27,150,511 television sets in tune, every call is a challenge to keep the client content and the repairman's honor bright. When special problems arise, solutions can be found in the TV Technician's Handbook on Customer Relations.

The handbook, compiled by Chicago's Central Television Service, Inc. (with the help of a psychologist) for its own and fellow TV technicians, has sold some 15,000 copies at $1 each. It assumes that repairmen normally meet housewives on their visits, and urges them to dress neatly, be cheerful and courteous, avoid body odor, wipe their shoes, show friendly interest in the customer (e.g., "This is a beautiful rug") and "always give the appearance of knowing what you're doing." The booklet sets up and knocks down some touchy problems:

P:"Isn't this set too big for my living room?" the customer asks. Answer: "Not at all. . ."

P:"My set was just in the shop, and it hasn't been the same since." Solution: "You must sell the customer the idea that her set is operating O.K. Be firm, but be tactful."

P: You call at the house and find the customer in negligee. Solution: ". . . do not enter the house." P: Customer is drinking and invites you to have one with her. Solution: "Under no circumstances should you accept such an invitation ... If you are in a house where the customer has been drinking, size her up and see how much she has had. If you think she has had too much, take a quick glance at the set and then get out of there in a hurry ..." P: There will be occasions when, in order to make time, you may inadvertently have a few small screws left over after repairing a television set. Solution: either put them in your pocket when the customer is not looking or mingle them with other items of the same type you might have in your tool kit.

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