Real-Life Decision Making
Without automated trucks, garbage collectors have a very physically demanding
job to do. They must walk to the curb, pick up people's garbage cans and empty
them into the truck.
You are working for the City as a garbage collector. There are 650 homes
on your route today. Your city has a policy to not to pick up garbage that
is over 50 pounds. This policy is for your safety as a collector. Many garbage
collectors suffer back injuries from lifting heavy garbage and throwing it
into the truck.
If a homeowner does not follow the municipal instructions by limiting each
garbage bag to 50 pounds, you are instructed not to pick it up. You tag the
garbage as "overweight" and leave it. But this puts you in a difficult position.
Homeowners get angry if you don't pick up their garbage.
You are out on your route and you find a very heavy bag. You try to lift
it and the bag rips, exposing a car engine within. You go back to your truck
and get the tags. While you are tagging the overweight bag, the homeowner
comes running out of the house and starts to yell at you.
He is irate and abusive. He insists that you must collect his garbage.
He threatens to call your supervisor and get you fired. He reminds you that
his taxes pay your salary and that your job is to serve him.
You must decide how to deal with the angry resident. As a worker for the
City, you find the eyes of the public are often on you. You visit the homes
of residents every day you are at work. Picking the heavy bag up would be
the fastest way to make the resident stop yelling. It would also be one fewer
complaint to deal with.
On the other hand, if you pick up the overweight bag, you could injure
your back. You would also be breaking the City's 50-pound-limit policy. You
could therefore obey the policy and refuse to pick up the overweight bag.
You could point out to the resident that your job is to pick up garbage (in
packages of under 50 pounds), and that you didn't set the 50-pound policy
but you've been instructed to follow it.
Furthermore, it is not part of your job to deal with abuse or suffer injury.
J
What do you do?