Paul Beakley that answers my questions.  

As an aside, I’m not sure what version of the rulebook you and Ralph Mazza are looking at, but on page 150 of my combined rules PDF, adding a point of fatigue is explicitly listed as a potential minor negative consequence for failing a prolonged action (albeit in the context of swimming a river), and an example of a prolonged action is “convincing an unwilling individual to help”.  A thin thread, but a thread nonetheless.