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Aswad -> RE: Compliance - the Film (4/13/2013 9:28:57 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Level
How fucking stupid do you have to be to do that?
Perfectly average.
I didn't see anything I haven't seen before. Around these parts, a known con man went ordering a mechanized infantry group around. None of the officers thought anyone could be bold enough to lie about something so serious. If you've observed people's response to claimed authority, you shouldn't have a problem being straight faced in anything, because you know they'll just bow to it anyway.
It's a major challenge we have to deal with in the security business. And, of course, management often makes it harder. They're the first you have to educate, because they usually want special consideration and privileges, many of which directly conflict with the security needs.
Scenario: You're a customer service rep in the call center of a major telco. The wife of the CEO calls, or so she claims to be. The account information is all blank, except for the VIP bells and whistles, including the flag you normally see for a client in the witness protection programme. She makes a request you absolutely have to verify her identity for. There's no information based on which to verify it. You know she will end your career if you say no and it's her. You know she will end your career if you say yes and it's not her. You probably don't know you'll face 6 years in prison in the latter case.
I've seen that scenario firsthand. Guess what the supervisor told the rep?
This principle generalizes everywhere: if you're willing to claim authority, you have it.
Just about anyone is going to fold if you try to coerce them, so long as you know the truth, which is that they will almost certainly comply with any request you make, so long as you make it credibly and urgently. The only time I saw an example to the contrary in someone that hadn't been drilled by a security engineer, was when a guard at a military base pulled a gun on the CIC and kept him in custody until his identity could be confirmed (he had forgotten his security card, and the guard hadn't met him before). The guard was severely disciplined for upholding his standing orders (cf. management makes things difficult).
I would absolutely expect to be able to replicate the events the movie was based on, and not because I've any special skill other than the awareness that the requests are perfectly legitimate (but difficult) from the perspective of the person on the other end of the line. There was nothing surprising in it, at all, and nothing that raised an eyebrow.
This is just how people work, unless educated otherwise, and usually even then.
Sad, but true, and a difficult part of the job to remedy.
IWYW,
— Aswad.
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