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Clean a refund queue with duplicate entries
Practice: Giving the right context. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
You're handing the open refund queue to finance. Several agents logged the same orders, one customer withdrew, and you already refunded order #4540 this morning (not in the log yet). Write one numbered line per remaining open order (there are 4), as #order - $amount, in order-number order, then one unnumbered last line: Total: a + b + c + d = $X. Plain text, under 50 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Not saying to merge duplicates. The AI lists every log row, so three orders show up twice. Try: Add: "Merge duplicates: one line per order number."
- Not telling the AI what you did. It can't know you refunded #4540 this morning. Try: Add: "Leave out #4540, I refunded it this morning, and #4533, which was withdrawn."
- Leaving the shape open. The AI copies names, reasons and team notes. Try: Add: "Only #order - $amount, then Total: a + b + c + d = $X."
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each line: "each line under 5 words."
- Forgetting where it goes. AI loves markdown tables and bold, which show up as clutter in a finance ticket. Try: Add: "Plain text, no bold, headings or tables."
What a strong prompt includes
- Asks to merge duplicates
- Mentions the morning refund
- Drops the withdrawn one
- Asks to show the math
- Asks for plain text
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