Reaching an understanding
This month’s topic is an ongoing challenge for which we’ve all developed our own unique – as the phone man says – “workaround” solution. Specifically, we’re talking about recurring (mis)communications between Radioman and his important client: the public safety dispatcher.
Radioman seldom receives any good news from his neighborhood emergency services comm center. So, when he picks up the phone and hears the dispatcher’s voice, Radioman is preconditioned (Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?) to stand by to receive complaints. This anticipation is usually vindicated because, as often as not, the message is that either the equipment has quit altogether (catastrophic outage) or some of the equipment only works some of the time (intermittent problem). Radioman has much better odds at being a hero and curing problems of the first type than the second.
Before the phone conversation even begins, however, Radioman (and the dispatcher, for that matter) need to remember that they are each actually speaking different dialects of the “same” English language.
For the contemplation and reflection of our readers, the following is a typical telephone coversation between vendor and customer, reporting a problem and diagnosing its solution (accompanied by actual, real-world translations).
Dispatcher: “We’re having a problem with the system.” Meaning: A bad thing is happening with all of this equipment, and we need your help.
[Radioman thinks: They’ve done something wrong and messed up the equipment.]
Radioman: “What’s the problem?” Meaning: Which exact replacement circuit boards,components, tools and test equipment do I need to bring?
[Dispatcher thinks: How do we know – we’re only the dispatchers. That’s your job.]
Dispatcher: “We can’t hear units on channel two, but they can hear us OK.” Meaning: We can’t hear units on channel two, but they can hear us OK.
[Radioman thinks: They’ve done something wrong and messed up the equipment.]
Radioman: “Is the system operating correctly?” Meaning: Are you sure you’re doing everything right?
[Dispatcher thinks: He thinks I’m an idiot. Of course it’s not working. That’s why we called.]
Dispatcher: “All the other channels are working fine.” Meaning: All the other channels are working fine.
[Radioman thinks: They don’t know what else has quit working. I wish they were more technical.]
Radioman: “What was it doing right before it quit working?” Meaning: Did you hear any noises or signaling tones that are part of the system control format which may have indicated the source of a partial failure?
[Dispatcher thinks: It was working before it quit working.]
Dispatcher: “We were checking licenses for several cars in the northeast part of the county.” Meaning: We were just talking on the radio.
[Radioman thinks: They didn’t notice a thing.]
Radioman: “What were you doing right before it quit working?” Meaning: Is there a chance that actions either at the center or at one of the remote sites could have caused or been related to the system outage?
[Dispatcher thinks: He thinks I’m an idiot, and I broke the radio.]
Dispatcher: “We were just talking on the radio. We have the conversation on the call recorder. Would you like to hear it?” Meaning: Nowhere on the log recording will you hear the word “whoops.”
[Radioman thinks: I wish telepathic faith healing for radio equipment really did work.]
Radioman: “Sure, just hold the phone up the speaker, and I’ll give it a listen.” Meaning: I believe in dowsing, the Loch Ness Monster and tarot cards – why not give this a try as well?
[Dispatcher thinks: It’s late, but Radioman really is trying to be helpful this evening.]
Dispatcher: (Plays tape.) “Was that any help?” Meaning: I believe that you can tell everything from nothing, which is what this sounded like to me.
[Radioman thinks: Well, the dispatcher really is trying to be helpful this evening.]
Radioman: “I couldn’t tell much from that, so I’ll get dressed and be there in about 30 minutes.” Meaning: We’ll both feel better if I get right out and fix the trouble.
[Dispatcher thinks: I feel better knowing that Radioman is on the way.]
This scenario recurs with quiet, unnoticed regularity in hundreds of public safety operations every week. But, in the end, maybe the participants really do understand each other better than we think.
