EXERCISE: One, two, three ethical dilemmas?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 17 Dec 2011

All right! It's time for another fun, fast round of ethical dilemmas. Let's start right off by picking a number from 1 to 6 (yes, you may roll a die for this!)

Do you have your number? No, you may not read ahead until you have your number. Pick one. We are all waiting.

All right. Now, take a look at this list:

1. You own a restaurant. In the kitchen, you witness a cook drop a lamb chop on the floor, then wash, reheat and replace it on the plate. Do you reprimand him?
2. Your spouse is developing an intimate friendship with someone of the opposite sex. S/he says it is platonic. Do you oppose it?
3. The food at the restaurant is a total ripoff, but the harried waitress does her best to provide good service. Do you leave a tip?
4. Returning home from the supermarket, you discover your child has taken a $.50 chocolate bar. Do you return and see that it's paid for?
5. You've been looking for a small DVD player. Someone on the sidewalk is selling them for $10. Do you buy one?
6. You need work. An employer whose workers are on strike offers you a job. Do you take it?

Dirty food, platonic relationships, tipping, childish shoplifting, those cheap DVD players, and strikebreaking jobs... Lots of fun and fantasy.

Take this little conundrum, and build it into a scene. Wrap some characters around it, handsome backstory, build that conflict... And then show us what happens? Does the health inspector come to the restaurant? Do you finally meet that friend, and find out that they joined the religious dedication long ago. Does that tip help the harried waitress make ends meet? Did the store manager really give you a special rate because you paid for that candybar? Huh, who would have thought that DVD players were really that cheap? Did you get some respect from the strikers, even if they did have steel-toed boots?

Take it wherever you want to. But consider writing!