Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 842 Computer Service and Repair ■ Dress professionally. Clean, neat slacks and a shirt with a collar are much more appropriate than a T-shirt with a slogan. Th is is especially true if the T-shirt has a controversial slogan or image printed on it. ■ Hair should be neat and clean. Hair with spikes or wild colors might be trendy, but it is unprofessional in the workplace. ■ Speak to customers as a professional. Never use profane or inappropriate lan- guage or terms, even as a way to emphasize certain points. ■ Do not eat, drink, or smoke while interacting with a customer. Many students feel that if they have exceptional technical skills, they will never be fi red. Nothing could be further from the truth. More employees have lost their jobs because of their unprofessional manner than from technical incompetence. An employer will tolerate an employee with average technical skills, but will not toler- ate an employee who conducts himself or herself in an unprofessional manner. When employers contact other professionals for hiring recommendations, they typically request someone who can work well with people rather than request the “smartest” or most technically able person. Th e most important thing to the employer is an employee’s image and personality. Employers rarely, if ever, call a second time if a nonprofessional person comes in for an interview. Remember, the required skills for the job can often be taught or trained. In most cases, professionalism cannot. Customers’ Confi dential Materials Computers are used by a wide range of people and contain a wide assortment of information. Customer devices may contain confi dential information, such as bank account numbers and balances, private e-mails and written correspondence, customer client lists, Social Security numbers, medical information, and business information. Customers and clients expect privacy. Violating their privacy is a breach of trust that will cause, at least, the loss of future business and may very well damage your business reputation. A breach of confi dentiality may also result in legal action. For example, patient medical records are considered confi dential and are protected by federal and state laws. Th e same is true for intellectual properties such as inven- tions, formulas, and some forms of business data such as customers’ personal and fi nancial information. Some businesses require computer support personnel to sign a nondisclosure agreement before working on business computers or before being hired as an em- ployee. Th e agreement provides for the legal protection of proprietary information such as customer lists, trade secrets, fi nancial information, business strategies, and intellectual property. Violating the agreement can result in job loss and fi nancial punishment. In short, a computer technician has no reason to be viewing customer or client personal information except if requested by the customer or client, such as during data recovery. Th ere are specifi c types of regulated data for which policies must be in place. Th e fi rst of these data are personally identifi able information (PII), which refers to any data that can identify a person. Th e next type of data that is heavily regulated is payment card data. Th e Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a regulation that details how businesses or organizations are to handle credit-card transactions and information. For companies that do business overseas, adherence to the European Parliament and Council’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) must be ensured. Th is is similar to the regulations regarding PII data. Lastly, companies must have policies in place to handle protected health information (PHI), which refers to a person’s demographic information, medical history, testing results, mental health information, and other healthcare information. Information that 1002: 4.7