From the beginning of this course we have discussed morals and ethics and what exactly they mean to each person. During one of our most recent classes we discussed consumers and how they have the choice to do whatever they want and the topic came up with McDonalds and how employees feel working at the company. Now as a former McDonalds employee i was the one who raised my hand when you asked the question if anyone had worked there. You asked me the question "how do you feel morally serving them? " and my answer was that everyone has the choice to do whatever they want with their life , they can eat 100 big macs a day and i have no reason or right to stop them.
I've even discussed the topic with fellow employees and even managers at times. Ive brought up the topic that i could have just served that obese lady her last ever meal , what if she were to have a heart-attack after that quarter-pounder? How would i feel after that? Is it really my fault that she just perished after i made that sandwich? Well to be honest with you , i don't think i would feel any different at all. Did i have a influence on her life ending event? Of course i did , but i shouldn't feel bad or remorseful of it for many reasons. In todays day and age , everything is labelled either good for you or bad for you. Everyone knows that cigarettes are bad for you in every way , yet there is still 10-15% of the population smoking everyday. Everyone knows that driving is probably the most dangerous thing you could do in a regular day , but car sales and miles driven are increasing every year.
The ethical dilemma here is should the worker or producer of a product ( like a car or cigar ) feel bad or guilty , when the product has a unfortunate effect on the consumer? We as human beings love to point the finger and take the blame off ourselves. Oh your uncle just died from lung cancer? It obviously wasn't his choice to smoke for 30 years , the cigarette company is at fault for " pushing " smokes down his throat.
These companies obviously are easily targeted for legal action but it gets a little more complicated there's I have some quick examples i pulled up off the internet and it shows that suing these major companies are hit and miss because they spend so much on lobbying to represent their companies its often hard to win
http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/obesity-tort-law-tort-class-action/10/29/2010/id/30852?page=full
http://money.cnn.com/2003/01/22/news/companies/mcdonalds/
Everyone in the end is titled to their own personal opinion , and mine is that i dont think the companies should be responsible or the workers themselves i think its the INDIVIDUALS who are responsible for themselves. Its a dog eat dog world , and now a days , your the only one you can count on to stand-up for yourself.
Marcus Dondorff #10093550 Thursday 12 pm seminar
