Tricky Scenerio Questions
Do you think you have what it takes to answer situation questions correctly?....answer this one (in less that an hour). What would you do as a rookie FF? Your Captain asks you to come inside his office to review your final evaluation of probation. You notice a smell of alcohol on his breath?
Reply:
This is a perfect example how you can be fooled on a scenario question. I believe there are only 30 oral board questions. They can be disguised in hundreds of different ways. This is one of the disguises for drinking on the job.
Here is a simple way to break a disguised question down. Dissect the question down to its simplest term, one word, of what the question is really about (i.e. stealing, drugs, drinking, etc.). Once you have removed the disguise, you can place it in one of the 30 plus oral board questions you already have answers for. This is one of the simple tools we have to un complicate the oral board process. One way to help you do this is picture a piece of paper with a line drawn down the center. On the left side of the line are issues dealing with ethics, such as stealing, drugs, or drinking. With ethical issues, you ask appropriate questions to determine what you suspect. If true, you don't deviate . . you go straight up to a supervisor. On the right side of the line is anything to do with getting along with others; you will go to great lengths to work it out before going to a supervisor. If you can decide what side of the line the question belongs, you have a better chance of knowing how to answer the question.
So take off the disguise of that this is your captain. Dissect the question down to its simplest form; one word. What is this about? Right, drinking. What side of the line is this on? Right or left. If it's on the left side of the line what do we do? Drinking is not tolerated. Right again, ask questions to determine if your suspicions are correct (are you drinking?). If so, you go straight up ( why don't we go to our
supervisor) no matter who or what rank is on the other side of the table; and stick to your answer no matter what.
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