I've tried to ingrain a sense of doing the right thing regardless of the consequences into my code of ethics. But sometimes this is hard to implement if the consequences of honesty might be negative. This weekend Paige had to put the “honesty is the best policy” maxim to the test. She needed to give two weeks notice at her job since she’s landed another job starting in January.
This sounds straight forward but the catch is the friends and family shopping night on December 23rd. Paige has been excited to apply her employee discount to her Christmas shopping purchases. But, once you give notice at a retail store you generally lose the employee discount. So, Paige was feeling relunctant to convey the news she was leaving since she’d lose her shopping discount privilege.
But, regardless of the benefit of waiting to divulge this information, Paige knew it was more honest to tell her boss now rather than leave them scrambling with less notice. Still, she was painfully aware that doing the right thing would cost her the opportunity for getting any deals. So, disappointment notwithstanding, she went ahead and explained the situation to her boss on Friday.
As luck would have it, the boss was great about it all. She might even be willing to let Paige still take advantage of the employee shopping night next week. So, in the end, Paige did the right thing and it looks like she’ll be rewarded for it. But, even it had not turned out like it did, Paige would have still done the right thing. Plus, her integrity would be intact.
“Honesty is fearing a negative response and telling the truth anyway.” -Michelle C. Ustaszeki
