I am going to pose a situation to me and then I want you to tell me your thoughts on it.
Situation:
I have been looking for a particular something for about 2 years or so. It could be new or used, either is fine. I have been saving money for it in case it ends up being new. I have saved "x" amount of dollars.
You aquire 5 sets of said something and plan on selling them. I find out you have the item and I ask you how much you want for one set. You tell me that you are not entirely sure you have a complete set, but you will check and get back to me.
Two weeks go by and you have not contacted me with a selling price so I call you and you tell me you had 5 complete sets and have listed them for sale on the local t.v. channel's classifieds page and if I want one I can go there and purchase one. I ask if one particular one is there because I want that one. You say yes.
You sell that particular item before I get to the site an hour later.
Now my question is this-
Is this morally right?
Is it ethical?
Would your answers be different if I tell you that we have a sort of relationship, you are actually my children's uncle?
Now, keep in mind that I did not ask for said item for free or for a special price, all I asked was a selling price. In fact, I found out the price the item I particularly wanted and it was considerably less than I was willing to pay.
There is the possibility that you assumed that I would not be able to pay your asking price so you didn't even tell me. But I think you should have told me the price and allowed me to say, "No thank-you". Or if you asked me what I felt it was worth, you would have made twice what you got for it.
So, discuss your feelings about the situation.
Indeed.
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9 comments:
I don't know that I would use the word immoral or unethical, but I would use the words big fat jerk.
Dishonest, underhanded, and low are the words that come to mind. I don't know that I would say immoral or unethical either. They both seem fitted toward business situations, where in this case it never actually moved beyond question/request into a business transaction.
So, L.Jo, clarify for me- unethical behavior only happens in business situations/transactions?
Are there ever any other times/situations that unethical behavior can occur?
Not unethical or immoral, as he has every right to sell it to whomever, but sucky, for sure.
Agreed, Tawnya. I have no problem with him selling it to whomever he wants, because they are his to do with as he pleases. It was the way he did it and the lies he told me that I felt were wrong. To me you don't tell someone- I'll let you know a price and then turn around and sell it to someone else without giving me the chance to say no thanks.
And to me, lies are unethical.
And it was done because it was me and my child.
Immoral—no; unethical—maybe not. But definitely rude, disrespectful discourteous, graceless, impolite, insulting, and just plain bad form. I'd be mad.
Okay, I phrased that kind of weird. I'm not saying only business transactions can be unethical, what meant was that in my opinion, if he'd agreed to sell it to you and then didn't - that would be unethical. But since there was no such agreement violated, it didn't QUITE cross that line. That doesn't mean is wasn't a really dirty move though.
Right. So...sucky, jerky, yes. Immoral and unethical I still say no. But, I think, that really depends person to person as they are pretty subjective when you get to these types of situations.
I don't know that I would use the word immoral...maybe unethical...maybe. I'm going to have to go read up on the definition.
No matter what word you use though, that guy is a JERK! A BIG JERK!!!
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