Not reading between the lines

One of my tasks at work right now is to pick up new cases that have been logged on behalf of our clients, and raise cases on our internal ticket system to deal with them.

Once such case was waiting for me when I got back from lunch today. The basics of the case were obvious, and I created a ticket for it. However, one of the specifics wasn’t at all clear to me, although it looked to me like what the client was intending was implied, but not actually stated

Not wanting to misinterpret what the client was asking for, I pushed the case back to the call handlers, and asked for clarification on the item I was unsure of. I got an immediate reply. It was almost rude.

The reply stated in no uncertain terms that the original information in the case clearly stated what was being asked for, and of course the client was wanting the item that I was clarifying. The email essentially said, “What? Are you stupid or something? Did you not read what was written?”.

And in retrospect I could see that perhaps it was obvious what was being asked for. The problem is that unless someone says, “This is what I want,” I find it difficult know just what it is that people are asking for. I’ll have an idea of what they want much of the time, but because I’m not sure, I’ll end up asking for clarification. This produces reactions of surprise and astonishment from people. How could I possibly have not understood what they were asking?

There is a degree of reading between the lines of what people are saying that is just lost on me.

Can you read between the lines?

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