Real-Life Decision Making
As an art restorer, you are trained to stabilize, restore, repair and preserve cultural objects. You were once employed in a museum working under a supervisor, but now you decide to step out into the private sector.
You are going to open up a new company and are partnered up with your friend, who has just graduated with a degree in art conservation. You two decide to open up your private consulting firm. Your new company also does conservation and restoration treatments.
Your partner is really excited about the prospects of the company and is already thinking about expanding it. You inform your partner that that's a good idea, but you should focus on the basics first, like getting your first customer, before thinking about expansion.
It is your first day on the job working in your new company. You are sitting at your desk waiting for the phone to ring. Twelve o'clock comes around, but still not one customer visits your store.
You can sense that your partner is becoming anxious and is constantly fidgeting. The day ends, and you wonder to yourself whether it was a good idea to leave your job at the art museum after all.
The second day comes and is quite similar to the first. Your phone rings a few times, but no potential customers are on the other end. Wednesday came and went, and nothing happened.
Thursday you had to calm your partner down and reassure him that the business will not dissolve. By the end of the week, you still haven't had any customers.
You start to feel a sense of despair coming over you. You are starting to regret delivering that resignation letter to your supervisor. You are just about to hang that "closed" sign on the door (maybe for the final time) when someone walks in.
Could it be your first customer? She walks in with a picture of her grandfather. You ask her to put the picture on the table so you and your partner can get a closer look at it.
The edges are scarred and the picture looks faded; it needs to be refurbished. She tells you that this picture is a much-cherished heirloom in her family.
She wants to restore this picture to its original glory to present it to her grandmother for her 95th birthday. She is currently in university and is on a tight budget. She wonders if it is possible do the restoration for under $1,500.
You step into your office with your partner to discuss her proposal. You analyze the piece and conclude that there is no way the job can be done for $1,500. To do an adequate job, it would take at least $2,000.
Your partner wants the company to take the job. He reminds you that this is your first customer, and you need the money desperately. He says it's possible to do the job for $1,500 if you cut corners and do a second-rate job. She will never know the difference.
You know the company needs the money, but you wonder if it's right to take the job knowing that she will not receive the best effort from you. What do you do?