Page 50 - Making Instruction Work

chap 4 3/4/97 4:56 PM Page 38

38 making instruction work

isn’t going to help. Would it be OK for me to
talk to a couple of their troubleshooters?

Dean: I don’t see why not.

(Two days later.)

Inst: I think I’ve got a handle on this problem.

Dean: What did you find out?

Inst: Well, when troubleshooters call the hotline,
they’re likely to get some verbal abuse—sar-
casm—from the hotshot on the other end of
the line. Comments like,“What? You still
haven’t learned to solve that simple problem?”

Dean: That would hardly encourage anyone to call a
second time.

Inst: There’s more. If the hotline is called, and then
the troubleshooter fixes the problem alone,
the hotline gets credit for the fix.

Dean: Good grief.

Inst: There’s even more. Troubleshooters are
expected to stay on the problem until it’s
fixed. If they don’t fix the problem by the end
of the working day, they’re supposed to stay
with it until it is fixed. Of course, they get
overtime pay for staying late.

Dean: Some system.