Unprofessional practices, unprofessional behavior
Some time ago we ate in a restaurant that had bad service. One customer within our hearing complained to the waiter, who was indifferent to his complaints. He then complained to the manager, who was equally indifferent to the complaints.
We finished at about the same time as did the more verbally cranky customer, and as we left heard the man tell his companion to make a fuss and distract everyone for a bit, which his companion did.
While everyone but us was distracted, we watched in some fascination as, the customer went over to the alarm keypads and started punching in codes. We happened to be with our alarm guy, who watched bedazzled as the customer accessed the panel using the factory default codes, and reset the panel so that the activation time was reduced to five seconds.
This behavior was petty (the manager would be unable to make it to the door before the alarm sounded, and would have to wait for the alarm company to reset the panel before he could go home), and unprofessional. Worse, it reminded us of how many companies do alarm installations – sometimes even sophisticated installations – yet leave in the default codes, much as the default codes are often left in computer installations. While the actions of the customer were as petty and unprofessional as the behavior of the restaurant staff, when default codes are not removed from any device they present a serious security lapse that goes way beyond the potential for mere pranks.
Because of this you should make sure that default codes have been removed on installations done for you. How do you do this? Ask the installers whether they have removed the default codes. If the response is negative, tell them to remove the default codes and then have them test the system to see that the removal was done properly.
