Legal, Policies, and Ethics

              Often times we do not read everything we agree to when signing up for a particular service. I know I don’t read them fully. Many people don’t even bother looking at it. Just imagine how much information you have given to strangers for signing up for something online. How are they going to protect that information? Or are they? It’s a scary thought. Not only online but to businesses you give a lot of personal information to, such as buying a car/home, banking institution, etc. Those all require a lot of personal information. This caught my attention when I worked full time at Xfinity. People would come in to the local store and sign up for service. When signing up for service I would point out what that means at the bottom of their receipt and then they would simply sign. Not one person would actually read what it says. It simply goes over the 30 day guarantee; customers are liable for all of the equipment issued to them; they are the only ones able to make changes, etc. I worked there for a little over a year, and no one ever took the time to read it. It shocked me that they would just sign a paper without going through and reading everything.

                One day I set this new couple up for service. They seemed like a normal couple that had many things they had to do that day. They were kind of rushed, but at the same time took their time in making sure everything about the order went smoothly. I set them up with cable and internet, and issued them all of the necessary equipment. It was just a typical customer I thought. I then printed off their receipt and mentioned the terms and agreement about the service mentioned at the bottom of their receipt. This is where the typical customer idea changed. The lady read through the agreement before she signed it. She asked me questions about it, and if there was a time frame. These questions caught me off guard. I had never been asked them before. Her husband or her boyfriend I’m not sure their relationship started laughing and said, “Give me the pen I’ll sign it so we can get on to the other things we have to do today.” The lady then got upset with him saying, “You don’t know what you’re signing up for! Did you read the fine print?” I was thinking to myself, oh man this is not how I imagined this interaction to go. The lady then looks at me and explains how in the past she had been “screwed over” for not reading the fine print. I simply smiled and said “Don’t worry about it. You’re the first one that has ever read over these terms in the year that I have worked here. Thank you for asking questions to make me learn more about what it really says.” She was content with what she was agreeing to and signed the paper and was on with her day. That interaction only took an extra few minutes, but she knew what she was getting into.

                After that experience I try and read everything before I sign up for things. To be honest I didn’t read the terms and agreement/ privacy page when signing up for Facebook. I doubt anyone has, besides the people who have written it. Facebook sells your information to businesses. They make money off of you and provide you with personalized ads. Which is kind of cool, but all this information is for the public to see. If you didn’t want that then you should have read the agreement.

                I think we need to be more aware of what we are signing up for. Do you read all of the papers you get when you buy a car? Or buy/lease a home or apartment? I sure hope so. I know it may take a few minutes to read through everything. If you don’t want to read everything read the sections that you think will be important. It will help you know what you’re getting yourself into. Just be more aware, and if it’s new to you take a few extra minutes to go over. Many companies don’t change these very often, and when they do they let you know if you’re already involved with them. It may not always be convenient, but it will benefit you in the long run. Just be careful and know what you’re signing!

Let me know if this blog was helpful in any way. I’d love to see what you thought!