Ethics Works

I am a CPA, and by definition of my job I am supposed to be an ethical person.  Unfortunately given to failings of many in my profession, I also have to attend a four hour class every other year to remind me that I am a CPA and supposed to be ethical.  I am not one to be all nostalgic and remember the good ole days when everyone told the truth.  The truth is we as a human race have always had issues with telling the truth, look at Adam and Eve.

My experience actually has taught me that often a lie will get you better short term results than the truth.  The problem is I tend to be more of a long term guy and I have also seen the opposite correlation between ethics and long term success.  A lie may get you the immediate sale, but eventually the burden of keeping up the charade will cause your efforts to fail and so honestly tends to pay off better in the long term.

Ethics goes even beyond just lies and truths.  I have attended numerous ethics classes now thanks to state mandates, but one of the better ones spent time discussing the age old question of what to you do, even when no one else will know.  Or as my uncle used to say, some decisions are just between you and God.

I had an experience yesterday that kind of summed this all up for me and I was the one who benefited by someone else's ethical choice.  My wife had a bracelet that broke and so my job was to take it to the quick fix jewelry repair shop at the local mall and I also got the "while you are there" job of getting a new battery for her watch.  We have used this shop before and I knew the new battery was going to cost twice what it would to fix the bracelet, plus I would probably pass 5 other places that sold cheaper batteries getting there.  I have also been married long enough to just do what I am asked and keep my mouth shut about it.

Turns out I was right the bracelet was $14 and the battery was $30.  Ahh but the watch battery came with a 5 year warranty so if it died in the next 5 years they would replace it for free.  I know typical worthless sales justification for an over priced item, but the good news was they would have everything fixed in an hour. When I went back to pick up my wife's thing, the clerk said "I checked on your watch and it turns out you bought your last battery here and the warranty on it does not expire until December, so the new battery is free".

I am definitely not one of those people who keeps a record of every watch battery I bought 4 1/4 years ago, nor would I have know that there was still a warranty left on it even it I did.  I was perfectly happy to pay thirty bucks to fix the problem and keep my wife happy.  Not only did the guy at the repair shop miss out on a $30 sale, he was out the cost of a replacement battery.  In the short term he lost out on that deal, but taking the long term view of the situation, I will never buy a watch battery from anyone else.

If you are in the vicinity of Lewisville Texas, I highly recommend Fast Fix Jewelry Repair at Vista Ridge Mall, they probably don't even have to take a class on ethics.