Despite its apparently relational function, account giving is found during the course of goal completion in such task-oriented activities as service encounters. The present case involves calls to a telephone company relating to billing troubles. The analysis presented here reveals that nominally relationoriented talk is not always indicative of relational goals, but can be used as a strategy to achieve a task goal. This strategy, however, creates the potential for a coordination problem between participants, which, in turn, creates a need to negotiate the synchronising of institutional customer goals. The present analysis reveals that when coordination problems occur, formulations are used to redirect the talk, such that both participants orient in real-time to complementary goals.
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