Helena Hamilton
November 24, 2014
Debbie Katter
Accounting 2010
Personal Ethics in Real life
Personal ethics can determine decisions people make related to anything in
life, which can include finances. People learn and decide their personal ethics based
on religion, family and experiences in life. My personal ethics are based on what my
parents taught me growing up and throughout personal experiences I have had in
my life. I may not be a religious person but that does not mean I do not have good
personal ethics.
Some people like myself just have a feeling of what is right and wrong. I
believe in treating others in the way I want to be treated. Meaning I would not do
something wrong in my job financials or personal life because I would not want
someone else to do that to me. I also believe strongly in karma, and I believe if I was
to do something unethical it will come back to bite me in the butt later on in my life.
With saying that I did do something unethical not to long ago and I think
about it and regret it everyday. I ordered food from Jimmy John’s, and when I went
to pick it up the guy helping me was so intrigued by my appearance that he did not
ask me to pay for my food. When I got back to work I realized what had happened
and I did not call him back to pay over the phone. I feel so guilty for that experience
and the outcome that I chose. I would never handle that situation that same way
again. Next time I will call them back and make sure I pay for my food even though it
may not have been my fault. My personal ethics made me feel guilty, and are the
reason I would handle that differently next time. I cannot say why I did what I did,
but I knew I had made the wrong choice.
Having low or no ethics could cause someone to be able to lie easier in their
personal finances or work finances. But personal ethics may not even have a part in
the situation. If my family was in a bind and the only way for me to feed my children
was to steal from my job or some other source I can not say I would never do it
because my family means everything to me. Related to the video that we watched
and the situation the man was in to help his family I can totally understand why he
did what he did, but I do not understand why he kept on doing it. Personal ethics can
mean a lot until you are in a tough situation.
Religion can teach personal ethics and it can also be an easier way to lie and get
away with it. It is rare for people to think poorly of someone in a high religious
standing would do something unethical. Usually those people do commit unethical
decisions and get away with it easier because of their religious standing. Religion
can play a good or bad role in personal ethics just depends on the person.
Finances can be a very tricky situation whether someone is religious or not.
Like in my situation it was about finances, I chose not to call back because I really
could use the money but that was the wrong choice to make and was extremely
unethical. In the video the man had to choose helping and saving his daughters life
or being ethical. My situation has no excuse, his somewhat did. Ethics are something
everyone thinks about everyday whether they know it or not and many things put
together everyone’s ethics and how they make their decisions.