Blog I, Spring 2013

Choices

            Congrats!  After finishing Professor P's Technical Writing Class, you land a job at a hi-tech architecture Firm located in San Diego, California.  Your job is to proofread documents written by engineers.  For the past three months, you do your job beyond expectations.   Dean Davis, your immediate supervisor, promises to promote you next month.  Hearing that makes you feel confident, and you begin to see the reward of all the dues you had to pay.

            As the third month closes, you develop a friendship with your supervisor.  Dean sees you as a close buddy and an ally. 

            One night Dean drops by your tiny office and says he wants to show you something.  You follow him back to this office and see Anna, a computer programmer and electrical engineer for the company.  Dean walks back to large filing cabinet and opens the drawer.  He takes out a large bottle of Jack Daniels and places it on the desk.  Anna smiles as he reveals three shot glasses from the bottom drawer of his desk; her dimpled cheeks lure you into a feeling of terminal curiosity.

            "Sit, down," Dean says, twisting off the cap.

             Before you can ask what is going on, Dean says, "I like your work, and you seem like someone I can trust.  I was thinking that you might want to earn more money."

            Despite the angelic instincts given to you by your mother, you decide to inquire further.  Besides, she never made much money being good.

            "Anna and I are in the deconstruction business.  We have special clients who ask us to construct buildings with faulty electrical engineering so that they burn down.  Afterwards, we all split the insurance money and construct a smaller building for a fraction of the original cost.  Would that be something you are interested in?"  

            You say, "Go on."

            Dean pours Anna's glass.  He glides to the back of his desk, gracefully falling into the comfort of his leather chair.  He throws his feet on the desk and rests his hands on the back of his head.  "For this deal, I need you to approve a defect in Anna's design that will cause certain components to get a little hot."  Dean throws Anna a smile as her eyes dart in his direction.

            Suddenly, the suppressed good employee in you urges a voice in your conscience: "What about the company?"

            Dean laughs, dropping his hands on the desk with a slam.  "Oh, the poor, poor company.  Whatever will they do when their little building burns down?  Trust me.  After this deal, you won't need to work for any company.  You can disappear and retire.  Enjoy life."

            Anna and Dean are staring at you.  Anna throws gives you a toothy green, flashing her brilliant, milky teeth.

            You start thinking about the proposition as Dean prepares a toast.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

For this blog, you are to write about what you would do next.   When you write the outcome of this hypo, I need you to answer the following for full credit:

(1)Would you take a chance and go with Dean and Anna?  Or would you try to escape?

(2)If you stay, what consequences might there be?  What rewards might you reap should you think you can get away with an unethical choice?

(3)If you decide to leave, write a little ending to this tale on how you would refuse the offer.   Write about one benefit and one pitfall of making either the ethical or unethical choice.