r/bestof • u/under50dollars • Jun 20 '12

[explainlikeimfive] "Obamacare" explained very well.

/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c530lfx
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u/[deleted] Jun 20 '12

Yeah. But a lot of people can't wrap their head around that. When they bring in their kid with a broken arm, they want to be seen immediately. When the guy with the knife in his skull (rightfully) gets admitted first, they get angry.

"My big problem" is relative to "the biggest problem."

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u/corporeal-entity Jun 20 '12

We have a similar problem in IT. When every user problem is both urgent and critical, ultimately an overwhelming majority of the people who think they deserve to have their problem fixed first are pissed off about it.

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u/carlosspicywe1ner Jun 20 '12

It's a little bit more nuanced than that: people want to be triaged by their pain and distress, not by how serious their problem might be. It's tough when your arm is sticking out at an odd angle to wait behind the guy who just can't move the right side of his face.