Real-Life Decision Making
You are a butler who is hosting a dinner party for your employer. Twelve
guests have been invited for the evening, most of them business acquaintances.
You spend most of the day preparing for dinner that evening. Dinner will be
served at 6 p.m. sharp, but you expect the guests to begin arriving at 4:45
p.m.
You choose the appropriate wines for dinner and oversee the food preparation
in the kitchen. You polish the silverware and wine glasses, then
choose a spectacular place setting for the dining room table.
After folding the exquisitely embroidered linen napkins, you place each
one inside your employer's favorite gold napkin rings. These napkin rings
are truly unique. Made out of 18K gold with tiny pieces of emerald set in
the center of the family crest, each napkin ring is a thing of beauty. You
have to admit you've never seen anything quite like them before.
As you expect, the guests begin arriving at 4:45 p.m. You recognize most
of them, except for one man who is your employer's newest business associate,
or at least, will hopefully be by the end of the evening.
This guest has flown in from another country just to attend dinner. He
will make his decision on the multimillion-dollar deal he and your employer
have been working on for the last few months.
As planned, dinner is served at 6 p.m. After dinner, you escort the guests
out to the patio, where they'll be served dessert and after-dinner brandies.
Upon returning to the dining room, you glance at the table and notice one
of the napkin rings is missing.
You check with the maid and the cook, but neither has seen it in the kitchen.
You check the floor and then you thoroughly check the rest of the dining room,
just in case it was dropped or misplaced by one of the guests. The napkin
ring is nowhere to be found.
You return to the patio and take a casual stroll amongst the guests, refilling
drinks where needed, but still not seeing the napkin ring. You return to the
dining room to think this one through.
Your employer will be upset to find that one of the rings is missing. However,
you don't want to alarm him in front of the guests, and the last thing you
want to do is make a scene.
Should you tell your employer quietly what has happened and await his instruction,
or should you approach the guests and casually mention that a napkin ring
is missing? You don't think it would be appropriate to search the guests,
or their bags, but you feel you should do something.
What do you do?