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De-escalate an all-caps ticket without shouting back
- For Customer support teams
- You practice Getting the tone right
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Beginner
About this exercise
Reply to the customer in plain text, under 70 words. Never use capital-letter shouting or the phrase "calm down". Your first sentence restates the problem in your own words. Offer one action with a time. Last line exactly "Tessa, Support".
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Echoing his numbers wrongly. The AI says he got 4 fittings. Try: Say: "He received 10 of 40 fittings (1 of 4 boxes)."
- Offering a vague fix. The AI promises 'we'll look into it'. Try: Say: "Offer the express courier: today, free, by noon tomorrow, confirm before 2 PM."
- Matching his tone. The AI uses capitals or tells him to calm down. Try: Add: "No all-caps, never 'calm down'."
- Getting markdown back. AI adds bold and headings by default, which show up as stray symbols where this is pasted. Try: Say "plain text, no bold, no headings, no asterisks".
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting and usually runs long, so a vague "keep it short" lands well over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".
What a strong prompt includes
- Asks for plain text
- Sets a length limit
- Gives the offer
- Bans shouting
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