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Write an outage SMS that gives only the confirmed time
- For Customer support teams
- You practice Setting limits and rules
- Time about 5 minutes
- Level Beginner
About this exercise
Write an SMS to Elm Street customers. Start with exactly "Water update:" and end with exactly "Reply STOP to opt out". Plain text, under 45 words. Give only the restoration time the supervisor confirmed. Do not explain the cause.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Using the foreman's guess. Rico's 4 PM is in the log and the AI includes it as a range. Try: Say: "Only the supervisor's confirmed time."
- Explaining the cause. The AI adds the cracked pipe story. Try: Add: "Do not explain the cause."
- Missing the exact start and end. The AI writes its own opener and closer. Try: Give both exactly.
- 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
- Sets the opener and closer
- Picks the confirmed time
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