In the print shop, we never had to print anythong for Nazis, but we did print advertising for various semi-scammy ‘alternative health care’ products and practitioners. Our boss, the owner, did not have a high opinion of them.
My brother-in-law is a trucker, and we are watching the autonomous truck situation very closely.
About 25 years ago, my one person consulting firm was hired to do a field survey of all the production studios of one of a major entertainment company’s studio complexes and make recommendations regarding a certain type of equipment. I don’t think they did any independent research into me or my company.
I did not specialize in this type of survey and I worked in a different sector of the industry, although I had some serious tenure in the studio end of the business. I had been recommended by an ex-employer that had a financial interest in the studio replacing their equipment. The people at the facility knew of this connection and hired me on my ex-employers recommendation. And I had an overly serious meeting in the presence of corporate in which I double pinkie swore to be objective. Then another meeting alone with the facility managers in which they strongly signaled their desire for new equipment.
Because the people that ran the facility really wanted their equipment replaced. The equipment was, for the most part, ancient and almost impossible to maintain due to obsolete parts. My ex-employer represented the company that was widely considered to be the leading manufacturer of that type of equipment. But the corporate powers that be insisted on an independent 3rd party consultation and recommendation before they would appropriate the money.
I put a lot of work into the survey and report including a full inventory and descriptions and photos of current and potential problems. I interviewed the operators. I did business analyses of all the manufacturers in the field. I submitted that report, which strongly supported the need for a major equipment purchase and I recommended the company that my friend worked with. I was proud of the thoroughness and the professional level presentation.
And while the report was honest, which cleared my conscious and helped me sleep at night — I was fully aware that everyone involved had hired me specifically to generate a report with a predetermined conclusion.
And the person who I hired to assist me with the survey thought I was being hasty with some of my conclusions, he thought one of the studios could reutilize their gear with some fast and dirty repairs. But his specialty was that type of repair and he was looking for work so he had his own interests. But I simply told him, “They don’t want to repair it, they want it replaced. Don’t push it”.
(Apropos of nothing, I dated then almost married him about 10 years later, but he died before we could marry).
I got paid for the report and they got their equipment. But I think about it sometimes still. Because I’m pretty sure I would’ve done the report the way they wanted no matter what I found. I might have had a few additional meetings to discuss it before I released it, but I would’ve done what I knew I was hired to do.
And I accepted the job knowing what I was hired to do.
I lasted one day at a job that required this.
This sounds an awful lot like the description of dihydrogen monoxide used to troll the chemically ignorant. I realize you may not be allowed to elaborate, but these perils seem so broad that they could fit any number of jobs IMHO.
Is that the point - that every job is unethical to some degree?
He works for one of the Big 3 US car manufacturers. Automobiles & their manufacture are often poster children for the uncosted but nonetheless real downsides of modern living. My comment about my job was the same.
Similar situation (a white supremacist group needed a nice, glossy brochure), but when I refused (and was backed up by my boss), I got fired because of my “bad attitude”. Turned out, the Head Whitey Dude was a poker buddy of my boss’s boss.
A couple of times a year, I tell 8-year-old children to go three hours without eating and with minimal bathroom or water breaks, to take a grueling multiple-choice test that does them virtually no good at all but gives dubious data to administrators and legislators. If kids finish early, I’m instructed to give them a very boring book to read.
It’s not too bad for the kids who find school easy; some of them actively enjoy it. But kids who struggle in school often have tremendous anxiety around the tests, sometimes crying silently or otherwise freaking out (one student started eating the test page before I intervened).
I sign a code of ethics about test administration, but I think of it as the most unethical thing I do all year.
Curious (OT) question:
Suppose a PI (or intelligence agent) working undercover takes a legit job as part of their cover. Do they get to keep their ordinary salary plus the salary from their cover job, or is there some sort of no double-dipping rule, and it reverts to the detective agency?
That’s just what this guy told me!: Gouverneur Morris - Wikipedia
To answer the OP, fortunately no. My job as a big-city muni court magistrate actually requires that I see that justice is done, and I enjoy it.
When I was a prosecutor, I had the same ethical obligation, and was just as happy to recommend the dismissal of a case against someone I thought was not guilty as I was to advocate for the conviction of someone who I believed, based on the evidence, to be guilty. When I was a Legal Aid lawyer I had some less-than-wonderful clients, including a guy covered in neo-Nazi tattoos, but I always did the best I could for them, as I had to.
I did ammunition and explosives for 36+ years. No matter how you cut it, the stuff is designed to kill, maim, destroy. You can draw flags or witty sayings on the side of a bomb but it really doesn’t care about the target.
Someone said it, “better they should die for their country/cause than me dying.”
Did it bother me - not the technical challenge - so of the applications like Desert Storm II, yes.
Unethical? Against my ethics or against all ethics?
Anyway
I am a process server and sometimes they want me to check id’s. I can ask but they dont like to cough it up. Hard to ask since I know I’ll get the negative response and I understand. I get them offered on occasion but by and large, no one is coughing them up voluntarily.
When I am asked to do this, its a last ditch effort. The postal says they live there or rather their mail goes there and still that doesnt mean they live there.
The last one I asked, last week, they are vehement about not knowing the defendant and that he doesnt live there. I think its their son but if they dont cough up, how do I know for sure. I’ll have to post the summons on the door. The resident wont like it but I have to if the judge ok’s it.
The first time I was there, the lady would barely open the door. I asked if I at least had the address right because they didnt have the number on the mail box but she would not even confirm that. She said that they wanted it that way…idiots.
I’m not good with confrontation with idiots so not like I am looking forward to the alt service.
Yes I said, not good with confrontation since my replies to them are not so professional… :dubious:
So, that is my ethics in a weird way:eek::eek:
Yes. Generally they’re minor incidents or company policies, but there are state and federal laws/guidelines we’re supposed to follow, along with an obligation to report our clients if they are not following those same laws, but… the reality is “well we probably won’t be sued, so it’s fine” and “our client wants us to do this, so do it”. I’ve worked myself into a supervisor position so I can at least put my foot down and fight in my own little corner of the company when I have wiggle room to do it, or most recently, pretend I never heard an instruction from a client.
I have been asked to do things that were illegal or unethical which I, of course, refused. Asked because they did not know that it was against the law.
QUOTE=blondebear;20687601]I suppose not reporting daily violations of company policy and state labor laws might be considered unethical. But I’d rather keep my job than test the company’s claim that they won’t retaliate against whistleblowers.
[/QUOTE]
Both of you know that just about every regulatory agency has ways to submit complaints anonymously? (For instance a web form, where the only thing they could possibly know about you is the IP address of the coffeeshop wi-fi you’re using, and even that would require the kind of technical digging that nobody would be bothered to do unless it was a NSA-level thing).
Obviously there can be a challenge in providing enough detail to be convincing without giving enough details to identify you, but even generic complaints will at least be seen.
Oh, yes, I am aware of that. I have actually seen the results first hand. Twice.
But, as I said, this issue not likely to harm anyone. What bothers me is decision to ignore regulatory requirement for financial reasons. It’s not like the company is - is likely to be - hurting for cash.
My current job is designing facilities that have a tendency to blow up and there were 4 major incidents in the industry last year. I’m terrified one of my distilleries will blow up so I over design the crap out of them and have fired clients who don’t want to pay for the safety features. My boss backs me 100% and sometimes we’ll prescreen clients for a tendency to not want to be safe and not even pick them up in the first place.
Back when I was in the oil field things were different. The most unethical thing I’ve been asked to do was right the lives of one of my rig crews on an incident that only that a 3% chance of occurring but they were going to perform 100 times. I spent a lot of time-fighting it all the way up to the VP but in the end, I was overruled I left the company shortly afterward and even more shortly after that they had one of the 3% chances happen that luckily didn’t kill anyone.
My job doesn’t require me to do anything that I feel is immoral or unethical. But everyday I do things that other people might find immoral or unethical.