:eek:
Madman! Sweet potato pie is supposed to be eaten COLD! (See also: fried chicken.) What are you, some kind of Welshman?
You were talking about Lauren not telling Melissa who the affair was with. I cant see how that would have any relevance unless it was relying on Melissa or other shareholders continuing to not know about the firing and the reason for it.
Otara
Completely agree.
While Skald is of course right that Sharon hasn’t sworn a vow to Melissa, she’s still morally and ethically in the wrong to get involved with a married man she is not married to.
Ethics is tough to apply to this situation. When you ask about ethics in a matter that concerns a business owner, a manager has an ethical responsibility to make business decisions that benefit the company. Assuming Lauren has not violated any company rules, and she hasn’t done anything illegal, if Lauren feels for some reason that the continued employment of Sharon will be detrimental to the company, she has to do something about that. In this case there is both Lauren’s emotional involvement with Melissa, and Melissa’s position as a part owner of the business may make it impossible for Sharon to continue in her position.
Except it’s not that simple. Lauren had an ethical obligation to find a solution that did not sacrifice the benefits of a experienced company employee, and to take on the risk of finding a replacement. She did not contact Melissa, a part owner to find her opinion on the matter, nor did she consider waiting to see if there was a problem that all the parties could live with that was more beneficial to the company.
As for the immoral act of cheating, that was none of Lauren’s business, or yours, and irrelevant to the question at hand.
First, I will say, that I recognize that you, Skald, are playing devil’s advocate, so you don’t need to feel included in this forthcoming generalization…
These are weasel words. And every time I’ve heard them, they’ve come from a man. I’ve never heard a woman try to justify herself/someone this way.
The very basics of ethics requires you to respect other people. This includes respecting their relationships. It doesn’t matter that Sharon never offered Melissa a promise not to fuck her husband; ethically, respecting her relationship and refraining from fucking her husband should be the default behavior, not the exception made by the taking of a vow.
Sharon did cheat. She materially participated in an arrangement that violated relationship agreements, and she lied to cover her tracks. I don’t know what else you need to define that as cheating.
If a husband tells his wife his company’s trade secrets in violation of his non-disclosure agreement, and she calls up the competitor to sell them those secrets, is she somehow not guilty of committing corporate espionage? It wasn’t her NDA, after all…
And yes, firing her was ethical and wise. She’s supposed to manage an inn, where dealing with people in an appropriate and professional manner is a daily part of her job. She has proven she can’t be trusted to maintain appropriate boundaries with people. Business-wise, they’re probably “lucky” that Sharon did this to the boss instead of, say, a prominent hotel guest. Sharon didn’t slip and land on his dick – she chose to cheat, when there were ethical options available to her.
Just not patient enough to allow time to cool. I’m lucky not to be burning the roof of my mouth.
It’s not unethical, and she had absolute right to do it, and Sharon should have known better.
All that being said, she basically got fired because Lauren was mad. Which is just fine in a right-to-work country.
Maybe Lauren should have thought about it for a few days instead of doing it in a rage, but honestly, you don’t shit where you eat, and Sharon should have known better.
And I hate pie. 
If a company knowingly hires an employee who is under a non-compete agreement, it can be held legally liable for interfering with the agreement, even though they didn’t sign the agreement. She didn’t make the vows, but she is still knowingly interfering with them.
Lauren didn’t know for sure who the affair was with until the next morning. She only had reason to think it might be Sharon.
:eek:
Never mind. Just tell the girl at the desk you want cake.
Nitpick: I don’t see anything in the story that indicates Sharon lied at any point–only that she parted from Jackson when seen by someone who knew both of them. When asked straight up, she told the truth (and got fired on the spot for it.