…get the hang of Thursdays.
1. You know something about your company that very few other people do, something that, shortly, will drive the stock price way down. So happens your folks invested in your company, because you said it was a cool place to work. Do you let them know before the public finds out?
Probably. Though the chance of me having any idea of what’s happening to the stock price of the company I work for is unlikely to the point of laughable.
2. Your neighbor is getting rid of junk, and you spot something he’s putting out on the curb as a collectable that could probably fetch a few hundred dollars on eBay. Do you tell him? Or do you sneak it out of their trash late at night?
Depends on the neighbour. Unless He/she is also a friend I’d consider it fair play to make use of the discovery myself. Though I’d probably just go over and ask if I could have it, rather than sneak out at night. Give him/her a fair chance of reconsidering, I mean.
3. Where does your ethical obligation to intellectual honesty and openness to differing viewpoints end, and your need to shut off lunatic opinions of an annoying co-worker because they’re driving you batty begin? And does politeness factor into this equation?
I’m pretty good at ignoring lunatic opinons, actually. People can basically drone on for ages and I’ll just get on with whatever I think is the best solution. If the lunatic opinion comes from someone in charge, it’s a different problem altogether, of course.