Trouble with gen_server

[Mark Lee]

My understanding of the whole OTP architecture is pretty lacking I'm
afraid. I'm having trouble with a gen_server. I'm making a call (as
opposed to a cast) and providing a timeout. The timeout's being
reached and the whole gen_server then falls over. What am I missing?
Related to this I'm sure is the case where I might be running a
tree of servers and one mis-spelled call to the erlang shell will
bring the whole lot crashing down. Can someone enlighten me please,
thanks,

Mark