redwitch
06-16-2008, 12:18 PM
Do ethics matter anymore? If you were a client, would it matter that the person who was doing things for you (whether it was a small business doing personal services for you or an executive of a large corporation) was on the very edge if not over of breaking a law, even if that law was one of those that benefitted an industry rather than the populance as a whole? Would you want to know? If so, why? If not, why not?
I remember when I was a kid, contracts weren't needed. If you said you were going to do something, a handshake would do it. Today, you can't even trust someone when a contract is signed. If you were starting a small business, you would bend over backwards to not step on a friend's toes that were in the same business. I remember my uncle actually going to his competitor (a mortician in a very small town) and the two of them discussing if the town could handle two funeral homes and, if so, how to split the business before he opened his own. This was not done for financial reasons but rather because my uncle wanted to be sure there would be no hard feeligs -- if his friend (and former employer) had objected to his opening a new funeral home, my uncle wouldn't have opened it. Back then, you didn't find ways to skirt a law, you helped others stay well within those laws even if it meant you didn't get that business.
This all seems to be gone today -- even here in TV. People who were raised with these morals and ethics seem to throw them right out the window when it comes to them starting and operating a business. I've seen people here say they will do something and not do it. I know of a person who watches homes who has used the owner's property without permission. I've heard of several arrests and prison terms for property managers actings as real estate agents by advertising or negotiating rental rates for owners and at least one of these individuals admitting knowing it was wrong but decided the financial reward was worth the risk (much better to get a percentage of rent than a low, flat monthly rate, you know).
I don't get it. I know that my word is my bond. This is how I was raised. There is no way I could do things any other way. I'll go the extra mile for my friends and my clients. I would never try to steal another person's clients. I would not try to get around a law just because it was inconvenient to me or because it would mean less money. Naively, I thought at least those in their 50s, 60s and 70s would follow these ethics. It is so sad to me to see that these kind of ethics don't matter -- not by the business, not by the clients. What are we teaching our children and grandchildren?
I remember when I was a kid, contracts weren't needed. If you said you were going to do something, a handshake would do it. Today, you can't even trust someone when a contract is signed. If you were starting a small business, you would bend over backwards to not step on a friend's toes that were in the same business. I remember my uncle actually going to his competitor (a mortician in a very small town) and the two of them discussing if the town could handle two funeral homes and, if so, how to split the business before he opened his own. This was not done for financial reasons but rather because my uncle wanted to be sure there would be no hard feeligs -- if his friend (and former employer) had objected to his opening a new funeral home, my uncle wouldn't have opened it. Back then, you didn't find ways to skirt a law, you helped others stay well within those laws even if it meant you didn't get that business.
This all seems to be gone today -- even here in TV. People who were raised with these morals and ethics seem to throw them right out the window when it comes to them starting and operating a business. I've seen people here say they will do something and not do it. I know of a person who watches homes who has used the owner's property without permission. I've heard of several arrests and prison terms for property managers actings as real estate agents by advertising or negotiating rental rates for owners and at least one of these individuals admitting knowing it was wrong but decided the financial reward was worth the risk (much better to get a percentage of rent than a low, flat monthly rate, you know).
I don't get it. I know that my word is my bond. This is how I was raised. There is no way I could do things any other way. I'll go the extra mile for my friends and my clients. I would never try to steal another person's clients. I would not try to get around a law just because it was inconvenient to me or because it would mean less money. Naively, I thought at least those in their 50s, 60s and 70s would follow these ethics. It is so sad to me to see that these kind of ethics don't matter -- not by the business, not by the clients. What are we teaching our children and grandchildren?