The overarching problem today is that people are no longer taught to think. They're taught to follow instructions. People who think for themselves would likely realize right off what a poor bit of communication it is to call someone and not leave a message. No doubt the call center person just followed the script.
I've encountered this with a shocking number of fresh IT consultants - they just do precisely what they are told and spend little to no effort extrapolating the request I make into other actions they might reasonably be considered to take under their own initiative and good sense.
I think about my Dad's generation and how they could be told "go sort out the mess in the back room" and would sort, stack, sweep, dust, clean and polish before coming back for further instruction. Today? "which mess?"
The overarching problem today is that people are no longer taught to think. They're taught to follow instructions. People who think for themselves would likely realize right off what a poor bit of communication it is to call someone and not leave a message. No doubt the call center person just followed the script.
I've encountered this with a shocking number of fresh IT consultants - they just do precisely what they are told and spend little to no effort extrapolating the request I make into other actions they might reasonably be considered to take under their own initiative and good sense.
I think about my Dad's generation and how they could be told "go sort out the mess in the back room" and would sort, stack, sweep, dust, clean and polish before coming back for further instruction. Today? "which mess?"