In light of our discussion about whether or not it is ethical to take free offers, I just remembered about an experience I had..
This past summer I worked for a news/local entertainment TV station in Hawaii. I mostly worked behind the scenes with the camera crew. One event we covered is called the "Taste of Honolulu" where a lot of the top-rated cuisines gather and set up booths for food or beverage tasting. Similar to carnivals/state fairs, people needed to purchase a book of scripts in order to taste the samples from the different booths.
Because this was my first job in the field, I did not know what to expect.. When I went to the site that day, I did not expect that my boss would hand me free scripts. He told me that basically whenever we weren't on air, I could get whatever I wanted. It felt kinda neat to have such benefits working with them but at the same time I didn't think it was right for me to accept the scripts and use them freely knowing that I was there on a job, even though we were allowed to use the scripts during our breaks. So keeping in mind that I was there to work, I didn't use the scripts. Then later I felt bad because I didn't want them to go to waste.. so I called some of my family and friends to come to the event and I gave them the scripts my boss gave to me.. even then, I still felt awkward when they came to pick up the scripts from me while I was working..
There was also another live event we covered which was the Miss Hawaii pageant and it was held at the Hilton resort. During the days of rehearsal and actual live show, our crew was offerred free meals from the hotel and the TV station.. I was not used to such treatment and it took me awhile to get used to it.
As Dr. Robertson mentioned, the codes of ethics varies with the company you work with.. this may not have been an ethical issue in my job because everyone that worked at these events received the same treatment as well. When I was hired, however, no one really discussed any such ethical codes with me. But at that time, I wasn't thinking about the ethical aspect of my job... I just needed the experience. Though now that I think about it...when I was offerred these free stuff, ethics was actually running through my mind (for example, i didn't think it was right for me to use the scripts) but I didnt realize the ethical aspect of it at that time. I just thought it was interesting and I'm glad that I'm learning all the stuff that we're learning in class as it helps me be aware of such ethical issues...
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3 comments:
If it's edible and you can eat it standing up, I tend to say bring it on! But it is a slippery slope: bottles of wine, full meals. Suddenly you start to feel obligated and then you may have trouble doing your job. Unless you job is praising things, whether they are good or not.
I think that this is a great post, because you bring in actual experience to what we are learning in class! I am still confused on the ethics of free stuff. Well not confused but I don't know what side of the line I stand on. That is pretty impressive that you gave up the scripts if you felt that it was unethical. I would say maybe if you were in charge of writing up something on those restaurants then it would be ethically questioning. I feel with every job there is some sort of perk, or people are going to quit and go somewhere else.
How cool you got to cover Miss Hawaii! That would be strange getting that kind of treatment from such a nice resort! To me that seems a little more acceptable because you are not choosing between that hotel and another, you are actually promoting them because they are probably some sort of sponsor for the event. The Miss Hawaii event seems like it is suppose to be one big corporate sponsorship.
It is interesting that no one talked about the ethical implications your job can create. I wonder how people would respond when you asked that at a job interview! Is it ethical to even ask? As long as you are true to your ethics, I think you are on the right track!
There's an interesting idea in Whitney's comment. Would it be useful to *initiate* a discussion of ethics during a job interview? Would that introduce an exchange that might end up offending your interviewer?
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