For those who provide 24-hour service, it can feel like a blessing or a curse, depending on how you look at the situation. I'm writing this at 11:54pm, so what better time to look at the different aspects of 24-hour service. Irate clients, mid-drive cancellations, false alarms, sleepless nights, and more!

The Situation: Irate Client
Solution: Deal with it. They don't want to be up dealing with the problem any more than you want to be there. It's usually their own frustration at the problem. Showing up on site, most clients will calm down when they see a live, breathing body.

The Situation: Mid-Drive Cancellation
Solution: Life happens. It's not very nice of the client, but there's not much you can do about it. Call the client to find out what happened. Inform your dispatch center so they can do a follow-up call.

The Situation: False Alarms
Solution: This one ties into the mid-drive cancellation above. Schedule a visit for the next day to ensure that there's no problems, and it wasn't a false alarm.

The Situation: Sleepless Nights
Solution: Coffee. Lots of coffee. When the calls are there, take advantage of them. You never know what you're going to be doing the next day.

The Situation: Making other techs look bad
Solution: Ignore them. Set the bar for service. Technicians who aren't doing their job and ignoring calls are lazy. You don't want to make them look bad. It's going to happen all on it's own.

The Situation: Bump and Run
Solution: Slow down. You're only one person. So what if there's still two more calls. Call them and let them know that you'll be late. Depending on the emergency, they'll wait. No other company even offered to come out tonight.

The Situation: No Calls
Solution: Get some sleep. There will always be nights when nothing happens. Use it to your advantage and catch up on the sleep you missed yesterday.

Which of these solutions do you face most frequently and how do you deal with it? Please share your thoughts below in the comments.