Because that's the REAL test of whether it's right

Call comes in to this support pilot fish from a production line at the manufacturing plant where he works: A thermal printer is down and no tags can be produced.

"A long walk out to this noisy, dirty and hot area reveals a young, 'technology oriented' production-line worker who insisted on fixing it," reports fish. "He has both his hands inside a very expensive thermal printer."

After ten minutes of watching, it's clear to fish that this guy shouldn't be touching anything. Fish gently nudges the guy out of the way so he can check it out.

A quick examination shows the problem: The printer has a dozen rollers for thermal and tag paper and can be configured for many different scenarios. Not surprisingly, somewhere along the line, someone has changed the way the papers feed.

One quick check of the printer's inside cover, a few painstaking minutes to get the feed right, and fish's work is done -- production is back on line.

Well, almost.

Employee: "That's not how we normally do it."

Fish: "This is the correct way. Notice how it works now?"

Employee: "I don't know -- I'll check with the supervisor."

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