Jezebel
21 Sep 2004, 02:41 AM
I've been looking for temporary employment until I move, and I've been taking morality tests as part of the employment process. Generally, these tests are focused on determining your morality toward cheating companies and how you work with other people.
Now, if you have any sense of right or wrong, you can probably tell what the "most moral" answer is, whether you think the "least moral" answer will affect anyone or not. I'm used to the tests that ask if I would take office items for personal use or money that my workplace wouldn't notice was gone, but this test outdone them all.
Here are some questions from the test (from memory, not word-for-word, not all the questions, not in order). These are yes or no questions. No "depends" or "maybe" or room to explain:
1) You found out a family member stole office supplies from their workplace. Would you report them to their boss?
2) One day you were shopping and you found out you weren't charged for a $1 item. Would you return to the store the next day and pay the $1?
3) You find a $100 bill that you know was lost from a bank truck. If you keep it, you will never be caught and the bank won't notice. Would you return it to the bank anyway?
4) You receive a $1 item from a mailorder company that you were not charged for. Would you mail this item back to the company at your own expense?
5) An item you didn't pay for comes out of a vending machine and you take it. Would you still put money in the machine for this item?
6) Have you ever considered breaking the law, even if you didn't act on it?
7) Would you break the law if you knew you would never be caught and didn't think it would affect anyone?
8) Would you ever steal money or merchandise from a company, no matter how small?
9) Have you ever taken stolen money or merchandise from a company and kept it, even if it was taken inadvertently?
If I were honest, I wouldn't answer yes to any of the questions from 1 to 5, or no to any of the questions from 6 to 9. For 1 I value my relationship with my family more than a business I'm not involved with, 2 - 4 are company screw ups and I'm not going out of my way for their mistakes, 5 is just stupid (if you put money in the machine and don't buy anything, the next person is just going to get a free item anyway). 8 & 9 came at the end of the series, so if you answered "no" to the first questions, it would automatically make them "yes", right? And of course, these questions sound much worse to answer yes to.
Do employers really expect people to care that much about businesses they aren't involved with losing money, or were these trick questions to see how honest you were? What if you really did return all that money just because you're super moral or have too much free time on your hands? What are your ethics toward businesses, both the ones your involved with and not involved with? And would you lie on your application about it if you didn't give a fuck about companies losing money (even much larger sums)?
Now, if you have any sense of right or wrong, you can probably tell what the "most moral" answer is, whether you think the "least moral" answer will affect anyone or not. I'm used to the tests that ask if I would take office items for personal use or money that my workplace wouldn't notice was gone, but this test outdone them all.
Here are some questions from the test (from memory, not word-for-word, not all the questions, not in order). These are yes or no questions. No "depends" or "maybe" or room to explain:
1) You found out a family member stole office supplies from their workplace. Would you report them to their boss?
2) One day you were shopping and you found out you weren't charged for a $1 item. Would you return to the store the next day and pay the $1?
3) You find a $100 bill that you know was lost from a bank truck. If you keep it, you will never be caught and the bank won't notice. Would you return it to the bank anyway?
4) You receive a $1 item from a mailorder company that you were not charged for. Would you mail this item back to the company at your own expense?
5) An item you didn't pay for comes out of a vending machine and you take it. Would you still put money in the machine for this item?
6) Have you ever considered breaking the law, even if you didn't act on it?
7) Would you break the law if you knew you would never be caught and didn't think it would affect anyone?
8) Would you ever steal money or merchandise from a company, no matter how small?
9) Have you ever taken stolen money or merchandise from a company and kept it, even if it was taken inadvertently?
If I were honest, I wouldn't answer yes to any of the questions from 1 to 5, or no to any of the questions from 6 to 9. For 1 I value my relationship with my family more than a business I'm not involved with, 2 - 4 are company screw ups and I'm not going out of my way for their mistakes, 5 is just stupid (if you put money in the machine and don't buy anything, the next person is just going to get a free item anyway). 8 & 9 came at the end of the series, so if you answered "no" to the first questions, it would automatically make them "yes", right? And of course, these questions sound much worse to answer yes to.
Do employers really expect people to care that much about businesses they aren't involved with losing money, or were these trick questions to see how honest you were? What if you really did return all that money just because you're super moral or have too much free time on your hands? What are your ethics toward businesses, both the ones your involved with and not involved with? And would you lie on your application about it if you didn't give a fuck about companies losing money (even much larger sums)?