So I just typed in “fun ethical issues” on Google and scrolled through the results. None of them were fun. Zero. They just put ‘fun’ in the subject line so that people like me might click on it.
Now I realize that by saying my ethical quandaries are hilarious, I’m opening myself up to the same criticism. But I’m confident that you’ll enjoy these a whole lot more than any other ethical training you’ve ever experienced. Get ready to challenge yourself with some of the hardest (and definitely weirdest) ethical questions you’ve ever seen!
1) Someone you work with is never very nice to you. You are a master of Photoshop. What should you do?
a) Turn the other cheek and make friends with better people.
b) Did I mention that you’re a master of Photoshop? I’m pretty sure you could do something with that.
2) Two friends ask you to stand up in their wedding. Their weddings are at the same time, on the same day, in different cities. What do you do?
a) Ask what gifts they’re planning to give to their attendants before making your decision.
b) Ask what kind of food they’re planning to serve before making your decision.
c) Figure out which of them is springing for an open bar.
3) Your child asks you if Santa Claus is real. What do you do?
a) Tell them the truth. Also tell them that there’s no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy either. In fact, most of what they know has been a lie, and further suggest to them that they’ll discover more lies as they get older.
b) Ask your children if they really want to know the answer, or if they’d like to keep receiving presents from the magic people.
4) Your wife goes into the bathroom, then comes out immediately and complains about you leaving the seat up. However, you’re 100% certain that you did not leave the seat up. Moreover, this conversation has happened before, and you’ve been certain in the past that you were not to blame. What do you do?
a) Defend your honor and suggest to your wife that she is somehow leaving the seat up in the middle of the night when she semi-sleepwalks her way to the bathroom.
b) Quietly accept her criticism and start to wonder how you could be so insensitive when you’ve always thought you were actually a pretty decent person.
5) While driving in rush-hour traffic, someone cuts you off and makes a rude gesture at you. Later on, you see that same car in the grocery store parking lot. The keys are in the ignition, but no one is in the car. What do you do?
a) Ignore it.
b) Drive the car to the other side of the parking lot, then sit in your own car and wait for them to come out just to see how long it takes for them to figure out what happened.
6) You find a wallet full of money. There’s an ID in it, but the person looks kind of mean. What do you do?
a) Try to return it and hope that they give you $10 or something for the trouble.
b) Go to a currency exchange and get all their money converted into rubles. Then return their wallet.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this quiz. Now, in case you actually want to know how to decide whether or not to do a certain thing, here are a few questions you can ask yourself:
#1: “Would you be embarrassed to tell your grandma what you’d done?” If the answer is ‘Yes,’ then don’t do it! However, I know some of you have evil grandmas. If that describes you, keep reading!
#2: “Would you be satisfied with the explanation you’d give to a reporter if you ended up being on TV?” Remember, reporters have an annoying habit of asking the same question over and over and over again until they make you cry or threaten to hurt them. Is that the kind of person you want to be? And last, but certainly not least…
#3: “Does your company have policies against doing the thing you’re thinking about doing?” If the answer is ‘Yes,’ then don’t do it! Because as you can see, your company is a lot like your grandma.
Could your company benefit from more ethics tips like these? We have an entire video series on Ethics in our Member area!
these are moral dilemmas, not ethical ones