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an intuitive, but if they are needed into order to advance a scientific project, a Rational will attend to<br />
them. A Rational detective looks at the evidence of a crime with the same closeness as a scientist<br />
examining a specimen of interest.<br />
Among the NTs, the INTJs are the kings of detail. Monk's ability to notice details put him way<br />
ahead of other detectives. And not only did he notice details, he committed them permanently to<br />
long term memory. On one occasion, he accidentally knocked hundreds of tacks off of a map; he<br />
was subsequently able to replace all the tacks from memory. This ability to notice things is where<br />
"curse" part of his gift comes in. He noticed not only clues, but also tiny imperfections that needed<br />
to be fixed—specks of dirt, crooked books, off-center objects.<br />
In Monk's case, it is clear that OCPD constitutes a disability, albeit one with a significant upside.<br />
When we look at Hercule Poirot next, we shall see an example of how OCPD traits can be almost<br />
nothing but upside.<br />
Customer Loyalty<br />
In one episode of Monk, the writers correctly intuited one of the more fascinating aspects of the<br />
INTJ character. The gist of the episode is that Monk visits Mexico, only to discover that no one<br />
carries the brand of bottled water he likes, Sierra Springs. Friendly Mexicans offer him every other<br />
brand of bottled water, but he refuses them all. He goes for several days without drinking water in<br />
spite of terrible dehydration. Would you believe that Monk is exhibiting an exaggerated version of<br />
a normal INTJ trait?<br />
Customer loyalty can be defined as how long a customer maintains a relationship with a particular<br />
business. By this definition, INTJs are the most loyal customers of all. A study tracked how long<br />
customers of each type had maintained a business relationship with an automobile dealership (read<br />
here). 282 It turned out that the average relationship length for INTJ customers was 18.0 years, five<br />
years longer than the nearest runner ups, aka the INTPs. By comparison, the average customer<br />
relationship lasted only 5.7 years. INTJs remained loyal customers about 12 years longer than<br />
average.<br />
The study concluded that if an automobile manufacturer could identify and deliberately attract INT<br />
customers (i.e. with a customized INT-oriented webpage) then they could continue to reap business<br />
from them for some time. The researchers concluded that “the traditional paradigm of the<br />
gregarious salesperson may not be the most compatible with the MBTI introvert market segment.”<br />
(Introverts as a whole tended to have higher customer loyalty than extraverts.)<br />
What if this study caught on? Would INTJs become the new used car salesmen? Would they be<br />
specifically targeted by advertisers? How long have you been favoring the local businesses with<br />
your patronage?<br />
Of course, Monk's case is a bit extreme. He had a motto, "Never change anything. Ever." Now,<br />
this does not sound like the sort of thing a Rational would say, does it? Rationals incessantly strive<br />
to improve things, which inevitably leads to change. However, Monk mainly disliked changes in<br />
(for instance) the decor of the restaurants he frequented. He was all for technological progress in<br />
the area of, say, new cleaning devices.<br />
Trudy<br />
Monk and Trudy were married for seven happy years. I rather suspect Trudy was an INF. She was<br />
described as "quiet" and "smart" and got excellent grades; in fact, she was the valedictorian at one<br />
282 Duncan, 2008
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