My Ethical Dilemma In The Workplace

Ethical Dilemma Recently a few months ago, I was faced with an ethical dilemma which made me face a difficult decision of choosing between honesty and friendship. The weight of the decision I made during that time would weigh on my moral compass for future months to come. The incident occurred at the store where I was employed at the time. I had been an employee at this particular store for the past two years and within that period of time I came to befriend a female coworker of mine. She was around the same age as me and we shared similar interests. I had a set regular weekly shift at the store, and day to day I faithfully filled my employee duties. However, one day when I reported for work I felt the atmosphere within the store was different than normal and that something was amiss. Furthermore, on the same day I had finished my work shift when the female coworker who I befriended asked if she could talk to me about something important. At first, …show more content…
She had no one else that she could turn to and the burden then fell upon me to help in her endeavor. During that moment, a sense of shock and discomfort washed over me with. Stealing any amount of money from the store was clearly against the company’s policy. I knew that it was not an act which I should condone as the action was unethical in accordance to the company’s strict employee polices. The correct ethical protocol to follow would have been to inform the store’s manager immediately of the situation. However, I empathized with her reasons for why she was committing the unethical act given what she told me about her current living situation. I valued her friendship. I believed I was granting her a favor and assured her that I wouldn’t tell