While working as an employee in a manufacturing concern, I used to keep my lunch in the
department fridge so that it would remain fresh. One day during the lunchtime I saw my
lunch as missing. I assumed that the housekeeping staff must have taken it and I was really
upset about it. Later my colleague told me that he had taken my lunch as he was feeling
really hungry since he had fasted the previous day. I could have used my critical thinking
and realized that the housekeeping staff requires prior approval before gaining access to the
department fridge.When I got promoted in the Finance department of my company, I had to
report to a new manager that had just joined the company. I had heard rumors that she was
really strict and uncooperative. I was hesitant to work under her as I assumed that she would
restrict my growth in the firm. But after working with her on my first project I realized that
she was highly professional, formal and reserved. I could have used my critical thinking
before judging someone based on false rumors. Later on, she became one of the best
managers under whom I have grown significantly in my career. I get into arguments with
customers at work almost every day. I work as an auto mechanic so I get a lot of customers
who look up what could be wrong with their vehicle before they bring it to the auto shop I
work in. When they come in they always think that they know what is wrong and what
needs to be fixed. I have the hardest time trying to convince those customers that the internet
has not actually looked at their car and can not actually tell them what is wrong with their
vehicle. But they are the customer and if they want the wrong parts fixed or replaced, it is
my job to do what the customer wants.
Another argument I have a lot is with a coworker who has been working on cars for over 30
years. The argument that we get into is that I will be in the middle of doing something on a
vehicle and then he will come over and tell me to do what I am already in the middle of
doing. Then he will just start doing it himself like I do not know what I am doing. He thinks
that just because he has been woking on cars a lot longer then me, that I do not know what I
am doing. Even though I have more ASE (Automotive Standard Equipment) certifications
then he has ever had. I can think of several instances where I used fallacies to get someone
to do something. My job is to oversee the maintenance of my buildings that have over 1.5
million square feet of space. We continually battle what is important and what "is not'
important and we can hold off on completing. This is all based on staffing and on "the
squeaky wheel." Consistently I am forced with having to get my staff to do things, that they
don't want to do (for whatever reason). That is the battle with Unions. Quite often I am
tasked with telling them to do things that "customers" have complained about and how we
need to get it done ASAP - all the while knowing that I'm the one who wants it done and no
one has really complained. This is a constant that I must do to get my union subordinates to
work and accomplish tasks they feel are out of there realm. Usually they complain, state
they are going to file a grievance, but end up doing it and not filing a grievance - I feel like
I'm the boy who cried wolf sometimes. But I need to get things done and sometimes telling
fallacies is in my best interest in getting things done. I can only think of one story about
where fallacy was used against me, but it contains two different types of fallacies.
When I was working at a call center a few years ago I got diagnosed with cancer. I was able
to get the time off that I needed for the treatments, but the recovery time was long, about 6
months. When I came back to work after I finished therapy I wasn't able to come in to work
as much as I wanted. after about 2-3 weeks my coach at the time was constantly chewing me
out because I wasn't able to come in to work every day, my coach knew why I wasn't able to
come in. He tried an inappropriate appeal to authority.
The second part is on my side when he gave up on the harassment. I thought the problems
were over then, but about a week later he came to me and pulled me aside and started to
explained why he was putting so much pressure on me. He said that my call-in's were
affecting his bonus. At that point, I had assumed that he wouldn't understand what I was
going through, and the next day I quit the job and started looking for a new job to pay the
bills. I would say I'm not much of an argumentative person so thinking of some arguments is
tough. However my roommates and I have gotten into some pretty stupid and simple
disagreements. For example, there was a huge debate over whether a hot dog is a sandwich
or not. There was a slight majority for the side that claimed it was not a sandwich. There
was no reasoning or evidence brought up defending that side, just that "it's not a sandwich
and that is just how it is". Since there was a majority on that side, they convinced an
opposing debater to agree with them just because of the numbers they had. I would say the
person who flipped was biased in the argument because he just didn't want to be a part of the
"losing" side. Another example would be a disagreement I had at work with a coworker. The
coworker and I were both working to resolve an issue when I came up with a solution. My
coworker disagreed and said that my solution wouldn't work and when I tried to explain why
it would, she tried questioning my experience. She tried assuming since she had worked
there longer that she knew what was best. She also transferred in from another store and did
not know what my experience truly was. In the end, my solution was right and just because
she had worked in the company for two months longer (yeah that's all), she didn't know any
better than I did. In both situations, better communication could have helped us come to an
agreement rather than having split decisions on both matters. Through my work experience
as a server I have learned to make assumptions about my customers wants or needs while
they are in the restaurant because more times than not they will fail to tell me what they
need beforehand. A few weeks ago a customer ordered a salad by saying "I'll take a grilled
chicken salad with greek dressing". On our menu we have two salads similar to what she
asked for, one being a grilled chicken salad and the other a greek salad that chicken would
be added on to. By the way she ordered her salad I assumed that she wanted the grilled
chicken salad, however I turned out being wrong. I should have confirmed exactly which
salad she was referring to in order to properly order her food.
I feel like theres many "little white lies" you're told as a child that once your parents say it
thats just how it is, no questions asked. Like any kid my parents would tell me things like it
is illegal to have a car light on while you are driving or if you swallow gum then it will stay
in your stomach for seven years. Really once I got older I could have done my research to
see if small things like these were true or not, but I choose to blindly believe them. I actually
still thought for the longest time that having a light on in the car while driving was illegal. I
work for a truck dealership and specifically in the body shop. One of the technicians is
generally under the impression that his coworkers, management team, and the Company our
not looking out for his best interests. Just a few months ago, he stormed into the office and
handed me a repair estimate that our estimator had written for him. He didn’t agree with the
repair time on the estimate and thought it should be higher due to more damage being found
on the vehicle under very close inspection. The collision center that we work in is a flat rate
shop. Essentially, the more repair hours that are included on the written estimate increases
the pay for the technician, commissions for the office staff, and drives revenue for the shop.
He accused the estimator of both being lackadaisical when he had initially inspected the
truck and also dishonest, insinuating that he was trying to cut the customer some slack on
the bill. He assumed these two things. If he had simply asked the estimator questions
regarding the estimate he would’ve realized that this particular truck had never actually
shown up on site. The customer asked for an estimate by pictures only. The technician also
found out that the customer had agreed to pay more for whatever we found and only was
looking for an initially ball-park figure. Some reasoning could’ve done the trick here.On
another occasion, I witnessed two of neighbors arguing loudly on the neighborhood’s trash
pick-up day. Apparently, there had been a history of arguing between them which was the
catalyst here. Neighbor one had moved neighbor two’s bin from street the morning of trash
day and was wheeling it up the owner’s driveway. Just as he was nearly finished, neighbor
two walked out of the front door and briefly thanked him, grabbing the can. After peaking
inside, he noticed the large cardboard box that had been in the can was still there, and the
garbage truck had already passed. He blamed neighbor one of moving his can off of the
street just as the garbage truck passed in order to purposely return a full can. It took my
security camera to show that the truck did in fact attempt to raise the can and empty the
contents; however, given the light weight of the box inside the can and the way it was
lodged in, wouldn’t allow the box to come out. Again, reasoning, critical thinking, and some
questions could’ve lead to a much more peaceful exchange. One example in which someone
tried to use bias to persuade me is when deciding to go to online school many people were
not supportive. The people who I told about my decision wanted me to go to a big university
from my state, just like them. Many older people already had the bias that physically going
to college is the only way to get a degree. They do not understand that times have changed,
and many people are getting online degrees opposed to going to big universities. I think that
if the bias was removed and people who were opposed to online school investigated it and
the benefits, they would have saw why it was a good choice for me. Another example of in
which someone tried to use bias to persuade when I decided to get a Chevy. A lot of people
from my hometown work at Ford. Everyone around me drives Ford cars and encourages
people to drive what they make. I found my Chevy for a reasonable price and really fell in
love with the car. If bias was removed from this situation, I think that people would have
been more open minded to other options, besides Fords. They would have understood that I
picked my car because I liked it and not because of who made it. When I decided to get
married, several people within my family advise not to do it because we were too young to
make the right decisions and that we were going to regret it because we were too young. At
the time my wife was 18, and I was 20 years old, this was an argument made based on
assumptions only because of our age. Thank God 20 years later, we are blessed happy
parents of 4 kids if the argument would have been made based on facts and not only feelings
or emotions they would of use critical thinking. Another example is when I bought my car
out of the auction friends told me not to do it because I was going to have a lot of
mechanical problems. However, I did some research before doing it, and it helped because I
was able to get a car for over seven years with no significant issues argument was made
using bias my friends have bought their cars on dealerships if any have had any previous
experience with auction cars it argument would have been more impactful.
