I had a tough time explaining this concept to a client recently.  They were ordering 42 year searches and marking most of them with "RUSH!".  When a "RUSH" came in, we bumped it ahead of their other searches.  After about a week of this, we had a few that were not ordered with "RUSH" that were late.  When they called, upset that they had not received the earlier orders, I explained that when they ordered the other searches marked "RUSH" we moved them ahead of the other ones. 

They told me that they were marking "RUSH" on all of their orders to get them back faster.  I told them that if they are ALL marked "RUSH", they aren't going to get them back any faster.  We can only do so many searches each day and when they all say "RUSH" we can't prioritize the ones they really need. 

How do explain to a client that we are already working as fast as we can. Simply writing "RUSH" on an order doesn't mean we can get more work done.  We have to put off something else (like their other orders) to get that "RUSH" order back to them sooner.

Some people just don't get it.

Best,
Robert A. Franco
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