Daily Life

Open Forum, and a Note Having (almost) Nothing to Do With Ethics

/ Jack Marshall / 10 Comments

It’s Friday, time for the last Open Forum of the month, and my infected leg is much better, thanks, so EA should be returning to normal soon.

Probably not quite to normal, because from now until mid-September all of my nights and weekends will be occupied as I return to my theatrical side, in mothballs for a decade, to direct and write a musical revue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Georgetown Law Center Gilbert and Sullivan Society, the only student-run theatrical organization at an grad school in the country. Alums will be flying in from all over; the show itself is going to have a student-alumni cast of more than 70, and it promises to quite an adventure.

I’m overseeing the show because I unwittingly started the tradition with a guerilla production of “Trial by Jury” when I was a first year student, directed the next six yearly shows after that, and have returned to the scene of my former triumphs (that’s a Gilbert quote: which show?) for the 20th, 30th, 40th and now 50th anniversary blow-outs (actually this is the 52nd anniversary because of two postponements.)

That’s a cast photo from the 1977 production of “H.M.S Pinafore” that I directed in GULC’s Hart Moot Courtroom above. (Can you spot me?)

The lesson of this saga is that you never know what the things you do in life will prove to be most significant. That organization has launched successful show business careers, sparked romances, marriages, and lifetime friendships, changed the culture of the school, and made many thousands of people laugh and cheer over the course of over 150 productions including the G&S canon, Broadway musicals, dramas, comedies, Shakespeare, and a production of “Twelve Angry Men” (my first) that is credited with starting the process of turning the classic movie into a successful stage show.

Me, I was just trying to address my boredom with law school and had no idea what I was starting. Yet if I get squished by a piece of space junk tomorrow, I’m pretty sure that theater organization will be my most lasting legacy.

Go figure.

But that’s enough about me. Time to write about ethics…

If I Were Not An Ethicist…

/ Jack Marshall / 14 Comments

I had an occasion to drive downtown to D.C. this morning. You would think, based on what the Axis media is telling us, that the city looks like occupied territory, with armed soldiers menacing pedestrians. In truth, I saw one group of about seven Guardsmen by the Lincoln Memorial, and they were not armed. (I tooted at them and they waved at me.)

But I digress. Once again, I parked on a street, Connecticut Avenue, and once again used a parking station where you punch in how long you are planning on parking, scan a credit card, and get a receipt that you are supposed to place on your dashboard. And once again, the system didn’t work: I paid, but got no receipt.

So I wrote down the time and the amount I paid on a piece of paper with my name and phone number, explaining that the system had malfunctioned, and put that so it was visible through the windshield

I returned to a ticketless car. I have now used this method three times in D.C., all successfully. This also means that the modern parking system has failed for me more often than not; in fact four times out of six attempts. (Once I just took a chance and didn’t post anything.)

Now, if I were not an ethicist, I would be sorely tempted to use my note method without paying the parking fee at all. I can think of many rationalizations for doing so. The D.C. government is incompetent. That parking system stinks. The city deserves to lose money; it also wastes my time as the system forces me to write out long explanations for a situation that isn’t my fault.

But I am an ethicist, so I won’t do that. I won’t…

Today’s “The Unabomber Was Right” Note…

/ Jack Marshall / 19 Comments

I don’t find any of these funny.

I ended up in the emergency room of my local hospital thanks to a massive leg hematoma that has produced the most disgusting symptom you could imaging in your worst nightmares. (Think the first feature of Tarantino’s “Grindhouse,” “Planet Terror.”). I was quickly checked out and sent home (diagnosis: painful, ugly, incredibly swollen, blistered and bruised, but healing slowly but surely), but checking out was like a nit from an old Woody Allen movie—you know, back when he was funny.

I had to get a text, then click on the link, then jump through a half-dozen other hoops, read serial messages sent to me, sign three documents with m with my finger, all also I could be pestered by more texts, a survey, another disclaimer and more when I got home. I also witnessed two elderly patients (I’m afraid they were both younger than me) get upset and profess complete helplessness regarding the process because they didn’t know how to use their smart phones.

This is not “progress.” It is not caring service. It is neither reasonable nor necessary.

Post Script: I have no idea how much I will get posted today. I have a Zoom legal ethics seminar to teach, I had almost no sleep last night because my leg was hurting so much, and sitting at my desk isn’t a good idea (but still necessary) because I’m supposed to keep this misshapen red, yellow and purple-mottled thing elevated. I’m sorry: there is a lot I need and want to write about. We will see how it goes.

Ethics Incident on Glebe Rd.

/ Jack Marshall / Leave a comment

The past four days have been extended chaos on all fronts, so maybe that explains the inattentiveness that resulting in my running out gas in traffic for the first time in more than thirty years. It was raining lightly, I had groceries in the car, and there was nothing to do but turn on my flashers and wave the cars behind me into the next lane. Meanwhile my passenger and current house guest volunteered to walk down Glebe Road in Arlington, Va., to the nearest gas station, which wasn’t all that near.

Of the approximately 100 vehicles that passed, exactly two drivers paid any attention to my plight at all. One was a concerned Hispanic woman with an equally concerned child of about 8, but before her inquiry a young man had pulled over, rolled down his window and asked, “Need help?” I began, “There’s a bald guy walking to get me some gas…” and he said, “Got it!” then sped away.

In about 30 minutes my friend hopped out of the stranger’s car. The young man had picked my freind up, taken him to two gas stations (the first had no gas cans), waited for my freind to fill a gallon plastic water bottle with gasoline as the stranger fashioned a make-shift funnel out of a soda bottle, and driven him back to the site of my humiliation, where my tank was duly filled sufficiently to get me to a station. My friend told me that the Good Samaritan was a military officer, a devout Christian, and one hell of a nice guy.

There is hope.

Now if only I weren’t such a hopeless screw-up…

“Can The Princess Treatment Go Too Far?” Answer: No, If Your Ethics Alarms Function…

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

I heard the term “The Princess Treatment” for the first time last week, then right on cue the New York Times produced a feature called, “Can the ‘Princess Treatment’ Go Too Far? A popular video has prompted discussions about how to treat your significant other, what qualifies as “the bare minimum” and how this all relates to traditional gender roles.” It begins in part,

A husband opening the car door for his wife. A boyfriend surprising his girlfriend with flowers. Remembering her birthday. Tying her shoes. Paying for her nail appointment. Are these normal expectations or examples of the “princess treatment”? A recent slew of popular videos on social media have debated the concept, and what it means for women in relationships…Last week, Courtney Palmer, 37, reignited that discussion with a video that has garnered more than three million views. In it, she describes how princess treatment informs her relationship, including how she will sometimes defer to her husband. “If I am at a restaurant with my husband, I do not talk to the hostess, I do not open any doors and I do not order my own food,” she says in the opening of the nearly six-minute video, which has prompted a wide-ranging discussion about gender roles, restaurant etiquette and relationship expectations…

You can read it all: it’s a stupid debate. Not only with “significant others” but with all women (and, for that matter all men), how I treat them in private and social situations is based on 1) how I would like to be treated, Golden Rule 101, 2) how I have been told or discerned that they would like to be treated, and 3) what I have concluded is basic manners, and ethical societal norms that I believe should be cultivated. Why is this hard? Continue reading →

A Teacher Gives Up: Ethics Observations

/ Jack Marshall / 12 Comments

This is a TikTok video that is now unavailable on that platform for some reason—maybe the Chinese don’t want the truth getting out there. The video is long, and the distraught teacher is obviously not a video pro, but her message is heartfelt as well as astute. Attention should be paid.

I stumbled on Hannah’s lament as I was preparing to write another post that it quickly subsumed. That one was a response to this [Gift link!] in which a Hollywood screenwriter blames the public for the fact that Hollywood movies stink now. “The true problem lies with you, the audience,” he writes. “[I]t’s hard to argue that Hollywood is doing anything other than giving you, the moviegoing public, what you want.” I was going to call my response, “It’s the Culture, Stupid!” and point out that Hollywood is as much responsible for the culture as it is now a victim of it.

Hollywood helped create the attention deficit-afflicted, literature starved, culturally illiterate generations that drive politics and commerce now. As Hannah’s video makes clear, there are a lot of factors that have created an American public that is unable to absorb complex issues or enjoy stories that will teach them something valuable about life and humanity. Hollywood and the entertainment industry are as culpable as any of them.

Continue reading →

Ethics Drama at RT’s

/ Jack Marshall / 16 Comments

RT’s is a local eatery about five minutes from my house. It specializes in seafood and Cajun/Creole dishes; its she-crab soup is the best I have ever slurped. My house guest—lets call him “Bert”—took me to lunch in celebration of progress we have made on a joint project, the substance of which is irrelevant to the tale.

The RT’s food and service were, as always, terrific, but while we were waiting for dessert, a middle-aged woman, shabbily dressed, came up to our table and asked for money, saying she was hungry. She asked Bert for money, and he said he would be happy to buy her a sandwich. She said she wanted the money so she could buy her own food, and was getting agitated.

Bert finally gave in, and handed her 20 bucks. After she left, he said that he was worried that she might cause a scene, and that it was worth the price to defuse the situation. Our waitress then ran over to our table and apologized profusely, saying the woman had been appearing and bothering diners lately, and that Bert shouldn’t have encouraged her by giving her cash. He told the waitress what he told me: he had felt trapped, and that giving her money seemed like the safest and quickest way to address the problem.

When the waitress brought our check, she told Bert that, again, she was very sorry, and that she had taken twenty dollars off the charges to compensate for us having to deal with a homeless woman. He told her that it wasn’t her fault and that the gesture was unnecessary; she responded that it was the restaurant’s responsibility to protect diners from such intrusions. Bert said that he wanted to give her the $20, and again, she refused.

When he paid the bill, however, he added ten dollars to her tip.

I think everyone did the right thing eventually, at least if the homeless woman really used the money to buy food.

Didn’t they?

“The Ethical Dilemma Of The Successful, Failing, Local Small Business,” the Sequel

/ Jack Marshall / 5 Comments

In 2016, I posted about a dilemma I faced regarding a neighborhood carry-out restaurant. “It opened the same year my wife and I moved into the neighborhood,” the post began. “It quickly became our reflex fall-back when we were too tired to make dinner or wanted a treat for lunch….The food was consistently delicious, fresh and authentic… the little Greek lady greeted you with a knowing smile when you walked in the door, and you knew you were going to be treated like a neighbor.”

Then, I explained, a long-time employee who had worked in various jobs there over the years took the restaurant over. He was a nice guy, and I knew him, but though his new, ambitious version of the place seemed to be thriving, the food declined noticeably. After several months of disappointing experiences with our old standby, my wife and I resolved that the next bad meal there would be our last. A carry-out so-called gyro sandwich came covered in a ton of shredded lettuce without onions or the mandatory tzatziki sauce. The young woman who was running the kitchen that night argued with my wife about what the order was supposed to include, saying “That’s the way we always make a  “jy-row,” causing my wife to correctly note that NOBODY makes gyros buried in lettuce and with no sauce. “Well, maybe you should find another restaurant then!” she said. Bingo! We resolved never to go back to the place again.

Continue reading →

Incident At Wells Fargo

/ Jack Marshall / 18 Comments

The day was already crashing and burning, as my monthly travails paying my power bill (Dominion Energy’s website is impossible) had lasted even longer than usual and I was finally talking to a human being when the electricity went out, killing my phone, the computer, everything. I ran outside and found two yellow helmeted guys messing around with wires, and asked, “Did you just shut off my power?” Yes, they said. “Gee, did it occur to you to let me know in advance?” I asked. “Oh, sorry, we didn’t know you were home,” was the lame response. There were and are literally six cars and a motorcycle parked outside my house.

After being told that in addition to having my last hour of work wiped out there would be a 45 minute wait before power was restored, I decided to deposit a check I had received from a client. I was about to pull into an empty space in the parking lot in front of my bank when aI had to slam on the brakes: a car was driving speedily into the lot using the EXIT ONLY ramp and looked like she was heading for the same space I was. But no, she parked in a non-space instead, a striped area reserved for bank and other official vehicles. The driver, a woman got out of the car and rushed ahead of me to use the automated teller.

“Are you in the habit of entering places using the exits?” I asked her. “I don’t appreciate your tone,” she said. When did this become the default response when someone is caught in obvious misconduct? “I don’t appreciated having to avoid vehicles coming into a parking lot the wrong way,” I said.

“Well, I’m not familiar with the area and got confused,” she said, unconvincingly. (Ethics Tip: This was the place for a sincere “I’m sorry.”) “What was so confusing about the “Exit Only” sign?” I asked. “I didn’t see it,” she answered, not even glancing where I was pointing.

Suuure.

Then a woman pulling out of a space stopped and admonished me. “You should be kind,” she said. “What does kindness have to do with anything?,” was my exasperated reply. “She was ignoring signs and breaking the rules. It’s not “kind” to ignore that. It’s irresponsible.”

Here was her response: “You must be a Trumper!“

1. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

2. The cheating driver was black: am I supposed to engage in social reparations when black neighbors act unethically?

3. Hey, if supporting the President means that one is not in favor of letting scofflaws and cheaters get away with their conduct while they lie about, that would be wonderful. I don’t think that is clear at all, however.

I was so stunned by her non-sequitur that all I could think to say to the interloper was, “You’re an asshole!” because my “Bite me!” button was frozen for some reason.

But she is an asshole. Just like the woman who drove in through the exit.

Musk’s Email

/ Jack Marshall / 17 Comments

There are many others, but two tells the Trump Deranged on my Facebook feed are displaying symptomatic of their malady are the ridiculous obsession with the name change to “Gulf of America,” and most recently, Elon Musk’s email to the Federal workforce.

Yesterday Musk tweeted out, “Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” And as night follows day, this email from Allan Smith was delivered as promised:

“Subject: What did you do last week?” “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”

Echoing my bizarre Facebook friends, Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, sent out a ludicrous statement that read: “It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life. Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people.”

This should go into the “Methinks he doth protest too much!” Hall of Fame. As has become all-too familiar, the lazy resorting to ad hominem insults, the certifiably ignorant emphasis on an agent of the President being “unelected,” and the juvenile working class hero smear of a man who has strengthened and benefited his country and its citizens by his industry, boldness and public mindedness are all throbbing evidence of desperation. But throwing a fit because workers are asked to list five things they accomplished on the job in a week?

I doubt that I have ever had a week in my spectacularly varied, eccentric and often failed career when I couldn’t do that. Today is a Sunday. I can list three substantive work-related accomplishments on this single day, and I feel like I didn’t meet my self-identified goals.

If there is a principled, reasonable, logical reason to find that email threatening, demeaning or unfair, I’d love to know what it is.