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Comment by mlang23 | Hacker News Reader

Although not quite the same, this reminds me of a very simple trick many blind people are taught during training on how to navigate the city: Never ever ask "Is this line 4" if you want to know which tram just arrived. Ask "which line is this?" Simply because the first version will make many people answer "yeah yeah" without even looking. The second version forces them to actually answer your question with something other then yes/no.

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This is a rule I heard for dealing with coworkers from some other backgrounds as well. In some cultures, the established norm is for junior staff to answer all boolean questions in the affirmative.

As in:

"Have you completed the task?"

"Yes!" -- no matter what

If instead you ask for a project completion sign-off document, you're forcing them to provide the answer you were actually looking for.

Always ask string return questions, got it.

"Yes!"

I've always found "what's your progress on X?" or "how much have you gotten done on X?" to be better questions than "are you done with X?".

Also applies to buying used cars and other high value things.

Has it been regularly serviced?

Where do you take it for service? What date was it’s last major service?

Can confirm from around 10 years of customer support experience. Never ask close-ended question (yes/no), but open-ended ones. That is "what is the color of the motherboard" instead of "is the motherboard blue?".

As you and others pointed at out, this is a very general principle. It comes from the fact that close-ended questions sort of puts words in someone's mouth (the trick is sometimes used when you want a poll to yield a specific result).

Oh wow sounds terrible to lie to a blind person but makes totally sense.

It’s not much a lie, it’s more of a way to quickly get someone to sod off. Still a shitty move.

It's also misunderstanding the question, either due to being stuck in thought of due to ambient noise. Absent-mindedly understanding the question as "is this the train?" or something would not surprise me.

A lot of people are also too afraid to say they don't understand or hear you, and will just go "yeah yeah". It's aggravating, but it's both real and no real ill intent behind it.

Requiring a little effort makes quite a difference.

Case in point: https://youtube.com/watch?v=n3AGpvV7KLI

Also if there is no PA on public transport vehicles that announces which line it is as it’s approaching the stop, and it’s a city, not a small town or village, it’s quite a shitty city to be living in. Consider moving elsewhere.

If they can’t get their accessibility shit right, no way they’re going to have working snow plows in winter. Also the underground canals are gonna be so clogged that a mildly heavy rain will create fucking lakes and rivers on the streets.

I get your attitude, but I can't confirm. For one, I am not sure if you actually realize how much work it is to learn to navigate your environment blind in a city. Even if there is no PA, asking is a million times simpler then moving to another city, because, you know, if you move, you have to start all over again and will need at least a year until you can somewhat move freely in that new city again. Also, where I come from we are pretty used to snow. Its not quite far up north, but our snow plowing infrastructure works, and flooding isn't a common event either. So yeah, in general, I am on your side, I'd love to have a PA. But the truth is, in the two most largest cities in my country, there is none, so I have to resort to either knowing which line arrives where, or simply ask someone. I've gotten used to that. Also, I have a certain feeling that involving random strangers in accessibility issues is actually doing something for the society. It forces people to deal with the issues disabled people have.

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