White-Collar Woes

The following information is used for educational purposes only.

February 10, 2012


White-Collar Woes


By ARIEL KAMINER


An investment adviser offered this suggestion: When shopping at big retailers, take up the offer for a new credit card to take advantage of the, say, 10 percent discount. Then when the bill comes, pay it and cancel the account (and risk a slight but temporary dent in your credit rating). I think this isn’t ethical. Even if you don’t like chains, working the system for benefits you don’t deserve is dishonest. Right? NAME WITHHELD, CALIFORNIA

Taking a benefit under terms other than those you and the store agreed to would be dishonest. And your adviser’s recommendation seems like an obvious effort to do just that. But it’s not.

That 10 percent discount is a sale by another name. It’s designed to get you in the door and shopping. As long as you buy something, you’re helping to make the store’s promotion a success.

These credit-card offers never ask you to promise that you’ll keep the account open. They just ask you to sign up. After that, it’s up to the store to make you feel as if additional purchases are in your interest.

Big retailers have good reason to like their odds. An open line of credit is enough to turn some new arrivals into repeat customers. So is the marketing that the store can tailor to customers’ individual spending habits once they apply for that credit. You might even be one of those people: you might go in with the intention of canceling after 30 days but end up coming back for more (just as someone intending to max out the card might end up throwing it in a drawer and forgetting about it).

If you do use the card a lot, that’s great for the store. If while using it a lot, you fall behind on your payments, racking up more in interest charges than it costs the store to wait for your check, even better. But even if you take the discount and run, worry not for the retailer: that initial 10 percent was carefully calibrated to tilt the balance sheet in the store’s favor.

THE SHIRT OFF MY BACK

To reward me for becoming a new member, a prestigious scientific society sent me a T-shirt with its logo. It was too large, so I gave it to a homeless man. The next morning, I saw that the man was wearing my T-shirt, which made me happy. But now I have a terrible concern that I may have discredited the society’s reputation. Did I do something inappropriate? NAME WITHHELD, MARYLAND

As a general rule, when we give someone a gift, we release it into her possession, to do with as she sees fit. But if you’re worried, you could just ask the society. If it says you violated the spirit of the gift, you’ll know the society values the exclusivity of its brand more highly than the needs of fellow humans. In which case, rather than apologize, you should quit.

MY FRIEND THE TAX CHEAT

A good friend has worked part time for our small business for about nine months. When tax time rolled around and I asked her for her Social Security number, she panicked: it turns out she has been collecting unemployment insurance and thought my offer to pay her ‘‘on contract’’ rather than on the payroll was an offer to keep the whole thing off the books. If she’s caught, she will be fined $13,000, which she doesn’t have, and may be charged with fraud. My internal debate is between the certainty of consequences for her and the uncertainty of consequences for the business, which might get away with not filing. What is the ethical decision? NAME WITHHELD, SAN FRANCISCO

Her panic is justifiable, but it doesn’t compel you to break the law on her behalf. The problem, however, is that she is not only your contractee but also your friend. And you both failed to discuss the most basic terms of the job before work commenced.

Even if the failure was disproportionately hers, it was not hers alone. In recognition of your role, you could try to help her out with that fine. It’s going to take a lot to get her through this situation. It will also take a lot to preserve any semblance of your friendship. Attending to one concern might help attend to the other.

ARMCHAIR ETHICIST:

Sins-of-the-Father Edition

You be the judge. Join other readers and the Ethicist at nytimes.com/6thfloor on Feb. 13, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time, for a discussion of the following question:

Several years ago, my father and brothers were convicted of white-collar crime. They lost their property, friends, wives and dignity. I was blindsided by the news, but I put aside my own job, family and life to help them. Still, every day brought more evidence of their lies. My life was a nightmare; my mother spiraled into a depression; and worst of all were the countless victims.

My father has now been released from prison, still claiming his innocence. He and my mother are destitute, aging and alone. I am the only relative with an income (and children of my own); what are my emotional and financial obligations to my parents — to a father who committed these crimes and a mother who turned a blind eye? NAME WITHHELD

Source: www.nytimes.com