It's your busiest day and three customers need you at once: one furious, one with a quick question, one big account with a real problem. Walk me through your next ten minutes.

"How do you prioritize?" invites a framework recital; a live triage with a clock forces the actual calls — who waits, what each one is told, whether waiting customers are managed or just left. The telling signal is what happens to the two who aren't first.

• What do the other two hear from you, and when?
• What would make you change that order?
• What do you do once the immediate rush is over?

A defensible order with reasons — urgency and impact, not loudness — the waiting customers told honestly what to expect, help pulled in if it exists, and loops closed with all three by the end.

Loudest first by default, one customer silently abandoned, a refusal to choose ("I'd handle all three at once"), or the order turns on who might complain rather than who needs what.