In , a man named Harold sat in a doctor’s office in New Jersey. Harold had a pain in his stomach. The pain did not go away. The doctor looked at Harold. The doctor did not use a machine. The doctor used his hands.
The Green Liquid
The doctor told Harold that Harold had a nervous stomach. The doctor gave Harold a bottle of green liquid. Harold felt better the moment the doctor spoke. Harold felt better because the pain had a name. The name was “nervous stomach.”
The name was wrong. Harold had an ulcer. The ulcer was bleeding. The doctor was certain. The certainty of the doctor helped Harold sleep. The sleep did not fix the ulcer. The ulcer was a physical fact. The certainty was a performance.
The Performance of Productivity
I understand the desire for a name. I work at a desk. My boss walked by my desk yesterday. I did not have a task. I moved my mouse. I opened a spreadsheet. I typed numbers into the cells. The numbers were not real.
I wanted my boss to see a worker. My boss wanted to see work. We both felt better because of the performance. We prefer a clear lie over a messy truth.
The Blue Chair and the Alternator
A man brings a car to a shop. The car does not start. The car makes a clicking sound. The man is angry. The man is worried about money. The man sits in the waiting room. The waiting room has plastic chairs. The chairs are blue.
The air in the waiting room smells like old coffee. The man waits for . A technician walks into the room. The technician wears a uniform. The uniform has a patch. The technician tells the man the alternator is bad. The technician says the alternator costs four hundred dollars.
The man relaxes. The man does not like the price. The man likes the answer. The alternator is a specific part. The alternator is a metal object. The man can see a picture of an alternator on his phone.
The man feels the problem is solved because the problem has a name. The man does not ask how the technician knows. The man does not want to hear that the technician is still thinking. The man wants to pay for an alternator. The man does not want to pay for a technician to think.
In another shop, a different technician looks at the same car. This technician is careful. The technician connects a battery tester. The battery is low. The technician does not say the alternator is bad. The technician says the battery is low.
The price of immediate certainty versus the cost of investigative truth.
The technician says the battery might be low because the alternator is bad. The technician also says the battery might be low because a light was left on. The technician says he needs to charge the battery. He needs to test the system after the battery is full.
The man in the blue chair gets nervous. The man thinks the technician is guessing. The man thinks the technician is slow. The man wants the technician to be sure. The man thinks certainty is the same as competence. The man is wrong.
The careful technician is the one who is right. The careful technician is looking for the truth. The first technician is giving the man a gift. The gift is the end of the man’s anxiety. The gift costs four hundred dollars.
The Map and the Ground
“Groups follow the person who speaks first. Groups follow the person who speaks with a loud voice. The person might be wrong. The group does not care.”
– Laura K.L., Researcher
The group hates the silence of a mystery. The group likes the sound of a leader. We do this with our cars. We do this with our bodies. We do this with our lives. We reward the person who gives us a map. We do not check if the map matches the ground.
Diagnostics as a Process
Diagnostics is a process. The process has steps. I will describe the process for a charging system.
Battery Terminals
Checking for corrosion (white powder) that stops electricity.
Drive Belt
Ensuring the belt is tight so it doesn’t slip and fail to turn.
Voltage Drop Test
Measuring resistance with a multimeter to find hidden breaks.
A voltage drop test measures resistance. Resistance is a force. Resistance slows the electricity. The technician uses a multimeter. The multimeter has two leads. One lead is red. One lead is black. The technician touches the leads to the circuit.
The wire might look good on the outside. The wire might be broken on the inside. The technician cannot see the inside of the wire. The technician must trust the multimeter.
This process takes time. Time is what the man in the blue chair does not want to buy. The man wants to buy an alternator. If the technician spends an hour testing wires, the man feels cheated. The man thinks the technician is “just looking.”
Looking is the work. Finding the break in the wire is the cure. If the technician replaces the alternator but the wire is still broken, the car will die again. The man will be even angrier then. But in the moment of the diagnosis, the man is happy. He is happy with the wrong answer because the wrong answer is loud.
The Ten-Second Mistake
We pressure the professionals. We look at our watches. We ask, “What is it?” We do not ask, “How do you know?” We want the answer before the data exists. This pressure creates a market for lies.
A mechanic who says “I am not sure yet” loses the customer. The customer goes to the shop down the street. The shop down the street says “It is the alternator.” The customer stays there. The customer pays the money. The customer tells his friends he found a good mechanic who knows his stuff.
This is a mistake. I have made this mistake. I once had a laptop that would not turn on. I took the laptop to a repair shop. The girl behind the counter said the motherboard was dead. I felt sad. I also felt relieved. I knew what was wrong.
I bought a new laptop. Later, I found out the power cord was bad. I threw away a motherboard because I wanted a diagnosis in . I was the man in the blue chair.
Where the Truth Lives
Good service is different. Good service is honest. Honest service includes the words “I need to test it.” I look for shops that value the truth. I trust the people at
The shop is in Somerset. The shop does not guess.
The technicians at the shop use tools. The technicians use their eyes. They show the customer the problem. They do not just name the problem. They show the worn belt. They show the leaking fluid. They show the reading on the multimeter.
When a technician shows you the data, the technician is inviting you to see the car. The car is a machine. The machine does not have feelings. The machine does not care about your schedule. The machine only cares about physics.
If the voltage is low, the light will not shine. If the gear is broken, the wheel will not turn. A technician who respects the machine respects the time it takes to understand the machine.
We must learn to sit in the blue chair without fear. We must learn to wait for the battery to charge. We must learn that a technician who is “not sure yet” is the only technician we should trust. Uncertainty is not a sign of weakness. Uncertainty is a sign of a mind that is working. A mind that is working is better than a mouth that is talking.
The man in the doctor’s office eventually found a new doctor. The new doctor did not give him green liquid. The new doctor did not name the pain immediately. The new doctor asked Harold to wait. The new doctor looked at the blood.
The new doctor found the ulcer. Harold had surgery. The surgery was hard. The recovery was long. But Harold lived. Harold lived because he finally accepted a truth that took time to find.
Patience Over Performance
Our cars are simpler than our bodies. Our cars still require the same patience. We want to hear the word “alternator.” We want to pay the bill. We want to drive home. But we should want the truth more.
If the truth is a loose wire, we should want the wire. Even if the wire takes to find. Even if the wire costs five dollars. The three hours of searching are more valuable than the four hundred dollar part that does not fix the car.
I try to remember this at my desk. I try to stop moving my mouse when the boss walks by. I try to be still. If I have no work, I should be honest. The performance of work is not work. The performance of certainty is not expertise.
We live in a world of loud voices and fast answers. We must choose the quiet voice. We must choose the slow answer. We must choose the person who looks at the wire until the wire reveals its break.
The next time your car fails, watch the person who checks the car. Do they reach for a wrench immediately? Or do they reach for a meter? Do they look at you? Or do they look at the engine?
The person looking at the engine is the one you want. The engine has the facts. The technician is the translator. A good translator does not rush the story. A good translator waits for the end of the sentence. Only then do they speak.
We should listen to them. We should be quiet in the blue chair. We should let the technician work. In the end, the car will run. The car will run because someone was brave enough to be unsure until they were right.
