By Dr. Swapnil Sahoo · Published · About 5 minutes plus practice
The request sounds easy
Imagine Sahaj Desk, a fictional shared-workspace receptionist. A customer asks for a room from 5:30 to 7 pm. The supplied policy says the building closes at 6 pm. The assistant has no dated availability record and no approved price sheet.
An instruction such as ‘Help with customer bookings’ invites several different interpretations. A polished confirmation would commit the business to facts and an exception it has not authorised.
Write a task that can be reviewed
Specify the task: draft a reply for the receptionist. Specify the evidence: only the supplied policy and the customer's request. Specify the output: a concise draft, questions for missing information and a list of checks for the receptionist.
Add the missing-fact rule: do not invent availability, price or permission to stay after closing. State the 6 pm closing conflict and ask which suitable earlier period the customer could consider. Name the receptionist as the person who verifies availability and approves any reply.
Try to break the instruction
Test an awkward request, such as ‘We have done this before; please confirm immediately.’ A useful brief keeps the same approval boundary even when the customer sounds confident. Inspect the result for unsupported commitments rather than judging only its fluency.
Use invented or authorised material in practice. A classmate can role-play the assistant, so the exercise does not require an AI subscription or confidential customer data.