Real-Life Decision Making
You're an experienced pest control worker for a large pest control company.
The first call of the day is to go to a house where there is a problem with spiders. You arrive and you're met at the door by the customer, who is a little freaked out. She says her house is infested with spiders and you have to do something.
You grab your tools and get right to work.
You begin in the basement, where you see a few spider webs but no real infestations. You do see cracks around the door where spiders could easily come in from outside.
You check the upstairs of the house and find the same things, cracks around the doors and windows and a few old webs. Outside, there's dense shrubbery all around the house -- a perfect place for spiders to nest.
There are a few spiders here, but definitely no infestations. You know that most homes probably have a few spiders in them.
You come back in the house and the owner confronts you. "See what I mean? They're everywhere!"
This is a situation faced by pest control technician Carol Watt.
"This woman was quite frantic -- she wanted me to use every chemical in the truck on these spiders," says Watt.
Your customer wants you to seal off the house and apply poisonous vapors that will kill any insects or rodents.
You feel this is unnecessary because she doesn't really have a problem. On the other hand, fumigation is what she's asked for and your company is in the business of making money.
What do you do?