Friday, September 26, 2008

Who do you kill for a living?

The call for other authors on this blog is getting more urgent, since I'm taking 16 hours of class and working up to 25 hours a week and acting in a play.

Discuss: Is it wrong for a Brethren person to work in a liquor store, selling cigarettes, alcohol and (worst of all) lottery tickets?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmm... Personally, I would have to be pretty hard up before I went looking for a job at a liquor store (or a bar). Other than that, I have applied to work at stores where I would possibly end up selling alcohol and/or cigarettes. For me, at least, this (and using them) is a matter of personal choice up until the point where either the effects are severely damaging or affect others deleteriously.

Lottery tickets brings up an interesting point. What if you're in a state (or at a college) that requires licenses for raffles or bingo games for fundraisers? Is that gambling? Is it gambling in states where you don't need a permit? Anyway, I probably wouldn't work at a casino very readily, but as far as just selling lottery tickets? Again, there's a difference in level.

Another interesting note I'd make would be to throw in short-term loan places in this discussion. A couple years ago when I was looking for a job I decided not to apply at one because of personal concern as to whether their typical business practices go against principles of fairness, etc. An interesting side note is a story I read about awhile back, where it was mentioned that investments based on Islamic law(which is more firm in it's stance against usury, or charging interest) were doing better than average because of banking issues. And that was well before the current crisis.

Jessa said...

You know, personally I don't think it would be a problem. As long as you're not doing it for the wrong reasons. Or partaking in such said activites. I know that it would be bad because you are selling it to the public, but honestly - if someone wants to get it they're going to get it. Just because they believe it's okay doesn't mean we have to. I dunno, I guess I'm kinda laid-aback about those kinds of things? Hmm.. Just my opinion for what it's worth. =P
- Jess
(( A Brethren who's missing her home.. ))

Nico said...

That's pretty much how I feel. Sometimes I wish I were in a position to not sell a 24 oz. can of beer to someone who has to count pennies to afford it, but in general I like my current place of employment. There's certainly a sense of community centered around the place.