Cassandra Francis
11/05/2011
HUMN445

Group B:
1. An office worker had a record of frequent absence. He used all his vacation and sick leave days and frequently requested additional leave without pay. His supervisor and co-workers expressed great frustration because his absenteeism caused bottlenecks in paperwork, created low morale in the office, and required others to do his work in addition to their own. On the other hand, he felt he was entitled to take his earned time and additional time off without pay. Was he right? I think that the morality of the point is the office worker has the duty and obligation to be at work on time. When he was hired I am sure that absence was discussed but if they let him have that many absences they can’t fault anyone but themselves. “In the normative sense, morality should never be overridden, that is, no one should ever violate a moral prohibition or requirement for non-moral considerations.” I think that the worker was only thinking about himself and he really didn’t care about the job. It was not fair that the other workers had to always pick up his slack. I don’t think that he was considering what others were feeling and that is not a good co-worker. I don’t blame him all the way because the job let him continue to be absent and they continued to give him days off. He should have been fired or replaced. I think that St Augustine would have fired him and let him learn the consequences because Augustine feels that we learn from life lessons. He thinks that we should always be aware of the choices that we make because God set the plans for us through the bible and we should live by them. St Aquinas thinks that we can learn from mistakes. I think that he would have maybe put him on probation and gave him a couple of ultimatums. Aquinas doesn’t think that we should always make one pay or feel guilty about their actions. He thinks that there are resolutions to every problem if we are willing to learn the right way. Augustine think that we should always be mindful of what we do and Aquinas disagrees to a degree. He thinks that we will fail at times but just keep the faith in God and you can get back on the right path. Augustine thinks that we will be punished for everything that we do. Therefore I don’t think that the employee is right because when you are on a team everyone should do their own work.
2. Rhonda enjoys socializing with fellow employees at work, but their discussion usually consists of gossiping about other people, including several of her friends. At first Rhonda feels uncomfortable talking in this way about people she is close to, but then she decided it does no real harm and she feels no remorse for joining in. I think that Rhonda should have continued to stay out of the gossip. Once gossip is started it just gets bigger and you will always be put in the middle if you join in. Rhonda should have thought about that kind of gossip at work can get her in trouble. When you are on job you should never put yourself in the position of losing your job behind gossip. I think that St Augustine would think that everyone involved be fired. On the other hand St Aquinas would think that everyone should apologize to the person being talked about. Although Rhonda put herself in the middle she should just not say anything from now on. When in the break room and they are gossiping, she could go back to her desk or maybe just find somewhere else to eat. I used to be like Rhonda, but now I have learned how to ignore what people say and just walk away. They will eventually start talking about you because you are not socializing in the conversation but nobody can say that you said anything. Augustine would say that Rhonda knew better and if she gets into trouble she deserve it. Aquinas would say that she did it once and she should move on but if she do it again that was her choice.

Reference
1. Plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition. Retrieve on November 4, 2011 from online.