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Compute labor cost per unit with overtime and compare to last week

  • For Managers and team leads
  • You practice Catching mistakes and made-up facts
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Intermediate

About this exercise

Write a prompt for plain text with exactly five lines: "Regular:", "Overtime:", "Total:", "Per unit:" and "Change:". Show hours x rate on the first two lines, the sum on Total, and total divided by units shipped on Per unit (three decimals not needed; use cents). Change compares with last week as dollars and a percent with one decimal. Under 90 words.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Dropping overtime. The AI follows the supervisor and uses regular hours only. Try: Say: "Overtime counts; include it in Total."
  • Percent against the wrong base. The AI divides the change by this week's cost. Try: Say: "Percent of last week's $0.46, one decimal."
  • Wrong lines. The AI writes a narrative. Try: Quote the five labels in order.
  • Getting markdown back. AI adds bold, headings and bullets 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 over the limit. Try: Cap each part instead of the total, for example "each line under 15 words".

What a strong prompt includes

  • Quotes the five labels
  • Asks for hours x rate
  • Includes overtime
  • Defines the change
  • Asks for plain text

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