Simplified Speech #233 – Ethical dilemmas

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another brand new Simplified Speech episode here at Qloops. Simplified Speech is our series that features clear, natural, and easy to understand conversations about an interesting topic. And today we've got a good one for you, as always, a very interesting one. I think I'm really interested to see what my co-host is going to say about this topic today, because...

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see the psychology of her thoughts and her opinions on this topic. Before I go on too much about her, though, I should introduce her to everyone. It's Indiana. Hey there, Indiana. How's it going? Hey, Andrew. Hey, guys. How are you all doing today? Indiana, we're going to get inside your mind here for this episode because we're talking about ethical dilemmas. ethical dilemmas. And yeah, this is actually rather

kind of a high-level topic for simplified speech, so we should break it down and explain to our listeners here what we mean when we say ethical dilemmas. Do you want to do the honors and explain it to everyone? Sure. I would say that an ethical dilemma is a difficult decision that you're put in throughout life, you know, different life experiences bring you into these.

challenges where you have to decide what the right thing what the moral or ethical thing is to do and it's not easy it's a dilemma which is something where maybe There's two choices, and both of them have some pros and cons, and it's difficult to decide between the two of them. ethical dilemmas they're more centered on what do you think is the the best the most moral or right thing to do so it calls to your sense of justice or yeah what you believe to be truly the right thing to do

Do you have any examples, Andrew, of what a common or an ethical dilemma that somebody might encounter in their life is? For example, imagine you are taking an exam. And you looked over at your best friend who's in class with you and you notice that he's cheating. What do you do in that situation? Do you just ignore it and protect your best friend? Or do you...

tell the teacher and get your friend in trouble, but then keep the fairness of the exam for all students. That would be a dilemma, right? An ethical dilemma because we know cheating is wrong, but also we know that... standing up for your friends and supporting your friends is a good thing to do but yeah so there's an ethical element right ethics is about what is good and what is evil and right and wrong and then

Yeah, the dilemma is there's no real good solution to this problem. If you tell the teacher, your friend's going to be angry at you. If you don't tell the teacher, then you're letting the class down. Yeah, that's just the first example that sprung to mind. Indiana, what would you do in that kind of situation? Would you tell the teacher or just zip it? And when I say zip it, we mean like, imagine that there's a zipper across our mouth.

right? We can just close our mouth and not say anything. Would you zip it or would you tell the teacher? It's like there's so many consequences to being a snitch, right? And so a snitch is somebody who would go to the teacher and say, oh, so-and-so did something wrong. So-and-so is not doing what they're supposed to do.

That's not good either. So maybe I would find a middle ground or a third option here. And like after the test, I would talk to my friend and say, hey, I noticed you were cheating. Don't do that. We need to talk about this. You shouldn't do that. And see how that goes. You know, I think that could be a possible solution. But I don't know. Have you experienced this before, Andrew? What do you think you would do?

Yeah, I think in high school, I definitely wouldn't have said anything, even in university. I don't think I would have said anything. It depends like on the stakes of the test. Right. And like, it also depends on the kind of test. If maybe it would put me at a disadvantage, like if. If there were a set number of people who get an A in that class, and maybe I wouldn't have gotten an A because of my friend cheating, then probably I would have said something. I would have stood up for myself.

If it was like a low stakes exam, I wouldn't say anything. Yeah. You know, we have this expression in English, Indiana. I'm sure you've heard it before, maybe in movies, hopefully never in real life, but definitely on TV and in the movies, I'm sure. And that is snitches get stitches. Snitches get stitches, right? This is like, if you snitch, and snitch means to tell on somebody in this situation, your best friend is cheating, you notice, but...

The teacher doesn't notice and then you tell the teacher this is snitching and snitches. So a snitch is somebody who does this action gets stitches. So I think we hear this a lot in like prison. movies prison dramas right like the prisoner some prisoner tells the prison guards that some other criminals are doing something bad and then they beat him up and he gets stitches as a result

Yeah, so you got to be careful when you're snitching. It's not looked upon highly. I have an image in my head of a high school, not high school, probably middle school bully. hitting his fist and his palm like snitches get stitches threatening another classic movie line or something like that good

Well, Indiana, we have several other of these ethical dilemmas that we'll talk about here in this episode. I think I wrote down five of them. But before we get to those, I should let our listeners know about the study guide for this episode. So guys, we have a helpful study guide for this episode created by our

Awesome team of English teachers here at QLips. And in the guide, you will get an interactive transcript plus detailed vocabulary breakdowns and examples and explanations of some of the interesting and useful vocabulary that you'll hear. me and Indiana use in this episode. There's also a quiz and there are questions that you can use.

for writing practice and speaking practice. And there will also be a small group speaking class about this episode as well. So you can join with other QLips members and we'll practice talking about this topic of ethical dilemmas. in a small group setting. And you can get all of this and more if you are a Qloops member.

To sign up and become a QLips member today, just visit our website, QLips.com, and you can do that for an affordable price. And thank you so much to all the QLips members out there for your support. Guys, we really do appreciate it. So thank you so much. Okay. So, Indiana, let's get to it. Should we just go through the list one by one? And maybe we'll start.

Yeah, we'll start with some of the easier ones and then maybe move on to some of the more difficult ones. Let's start with the first one. I'll read it here. It says, a friend wants to split the bill evenly, but you ordered much less. Do you speak up or let it go? What would you do in this situation? If it's just one... friend, it seems like pretty clear. And like that, that difference in who ordered what, like, if it's such a big difference, I would feel a little uncomfortable.

with the fact that that friend wants to split the bill, because I think they would notice. It's pretty obvious I've paid so much more than them. But that would already be sort of a problem. Yeah, that's a red flag right there. I agree. Maybe, you know, there's probably other context, like background information. Maybe, I don't know, they're like going through a hard time with money or something. Like these things could color or change my...

opinion. But if it was just with one friend, and there was no other details, they just want me to pay for their food, I would feel a little weird about that. I don't think I would do that. However, if it was a large group, that happens all the time where you just kind of have to give up given like, okay, I only ordered one drink and an appetizer, but we're all splitting it evenly. Like sometimes that's just social etiquette.

and you do it but one-on-one i feel a little uncomfortable about it i would probably be like oh we should um pay for what we ordered But have you experienced this one before, Andrew? I don't think I've actually ever had this happen to me. Have you had this happen to you? No, I don't think just...

with one friend. I agree with you in the group setting sometimes, and especially if people are drinking, right? Like this is kind of annoying that alcohol is really expensive. And if one friend has three drinks or... Somebody else has two drinks and then I have no drinks and then we all have to share the bill equally. It's not fair per se, but it's like, like you said, it's the price of.

hanging out in that kind of situation. But one-on-one, I don't think I've ever had somebody try to pull this on me. I feel like... If somebody did do that, they wouldn't be a very close friend. It would just be weird. And if my friend had money problems, they could just tell me. At least I hope they could just tell me.

Or if they were having money problems, they would say like, I'm sorry, I can't hang out, can't afford it this week. And then I could just be like, I got it or something, right? Like it would happen before, like at the moment when it's time to pay the bill, it's too late. Like, what are you bringing this up now for? yeah so okay we're in agreement it's a little weird yeah it's it's weird i i would definitely talk about it for sure totally okay good let's move on to the next one

Why don't I read this one? Yeah, go for it. Okay. I don't know. I don't actually remember if you have a car or not in Seoul, but so you can imagine. You accidentally dent, so you run into and you damage a parked car, but nobody else is around. There's no witnesses. Are you going to leave a note or just kind of pretend it never happened? uh yeah so i don't have a car in seoul but uh probably will soon i think i'm gonna

take some driving lessons. I want to take some driving lessons. So this kind of thing doesn't happen. Yeah. So I'm planning to take some driving lessons soon and then hopefully get a car before the end of the year and be on the road. So I'm going to have to make sure that I'm

very careful so that this kind of thing doesn't happen. But if I were to ding somebody's car or dent somebody's car, and guys these two words ding and dent just means a little bit of damage like the fender is just pushed in a little bit but there's visible damage right it's not like there's

It's not like the car is a write-off or anything, just a little bit of damage. Yeah, if I did this to somebody's car, of course I would call them or leave a note. Yeah, I wouldn't just, what do you call it, hit and run? Hit and run? No, never. I couldn't do that. I couldn't live with myself.

How about you? I want to say what you said. But if it was like the tiniest ding, the tiniest dent or scratch, I might just... um throw away all of my morals and just move on but if it's so serious like a really a genuine you know like okay this car clearly got hit that that's not acceptable i think i would definitely have to my my

morals my heart would say okay indiana you should leave a note yeah but i think like a tiny scratch i might move on especially if it's in a city like that's kind of the risk you take in having a car in the city i don't know It doesn't sound very good when I say that out loud, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I hope like, I think the issue is that when it comes to insurance, there's so many people. who make a mountain out of a molehill right like it's just a little scratch but you never know

how the other party is going to respond. So sometimes in these situations, people lie about the damage and the cost and it can really throw your insurance rates out of whack and make it really expensive. Yeah. So like when people respond this way, then it makes it so that you're not incentivized to be honest and truthful when something happens. So I haven't driven for so long that maybe I'm just thinking that, of course, the other party would respond in a measured way. That's like...

You know, not going crazy and not trying to sue me or take a lot of my money and I could just pay for the damage and move on. But yeah, you always got to be careful. So yeah, driving lessons I think are very important for me so I can avoid this. here in the near future. And maybe I feel this way too, because there was a time when I was like sitting in a parking lot of a shopping plaza.

and like maybe like eating my lunch or something before I had to go do another errand go somewhere and I was sitting in my car and somebody parked next to me and he just opened his door into my car while I was sitting in it and like just walked away like he hit my car with his door there was clearly scratches and then he just left and i was like okay i guess this is the world we live in maybe it's okay i don't know not but that was i was pretty shocked

That was so blatant, right? Like, maybe he didn't notice I was in the car, but I was like, hello, I'm right here. Did he then stop to check if they're... Were any scratches? Not at all. He just opened his door into my car and left. It was really weird. Bizarre. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that's just like-

how things are in your area of the world. Maybe it's just like a scratch and run. Scratch and run, yes. Part of the country. I don't know. Maybe, yeah. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Let's move on to the next one.

Number three, a coworker takes credit for your idea in a meeting. Would you correct them publicly or talk privately later? Definitely, I'm not somebody who would correct somebody publicly or make a big, like, I don't want to embarrass somebody. I don't want to make a big stink about something in front of a bunch of people. I don't think I would do that. And even to correct them later, I think it all depends on the, what's the impact of this?

this idea or this project, does this coworker really need a win or to look good in front of the boss? Whereas I have been performing well recently. I might just give it to them depending on all of the office politics and like.

you know if it seems maybe it's okay like they they could really use this but no probably most scenarios um i'll talk to them later and be like hey like remember how i came up with it like maybe you can correct this later uh maybe we can talk about yeah making sure that i get a little bit of credit for this because that that i would also maybe have some less less trust in that co-worker from that point on um

But it depends. I feel like office politics play a big role in this. What would you do here, Andrew? Yeah, I really don't like public confrontation. So it would depend. This one is really contextual. It would depend on how close I am with the people in the meeting. If I were pretty close, like if we were on the same team and we work together all the time, then I probably wouldn't.

mind stirring things up a little bit but if it were like a bigger meeting with people who I don't work with very often or maybe some bosses who I don't see very often then probably I would try to not cause a big argument or make things awkward in front of everybody but it also depends on the how good the idea was right if this like changes the company and is like a

a big windfall for the company and suddenly the profits are going to skyrocket because of this idea and it was my idea and it got stolen and maybe that idea would get me a promotion or increased salary or something, then of course I'd have to stand up for myself. But it was just some little idea. Yeah, it's kind of a jerk thing to do, right? To steal somebody's idea, no matter how small it is.

was just some tiny little thing. Yeah, I'd let it slide or I'd talk about it later. Like, hey, that wasn't so cool. It was my idea. Like, could you not do that in the future? I think that would be. my approach, but really case by case for this one, I think. Definitely. Yeah, it could be not worth it to rock the boat. But yeah, if this becomes a pattern of behavior with this coworker, that's not good.

I think we're in agreement on that one. The next one. Do you want to read the next one, Indiana? Sure. Let's do. Okay. Imagine you were on a plane. Somebody asks you. So typically, let's say it's a big plane and there's the aisle seat, the middle seat, and the window seat. So that's three. And of course, the middle seat is the worst seat. You have the aisle seat, but the person sitting next to you asks if they...

can have the aisle seat and you get the middle seat. No other context. Would you just give up your seat? What? Is that a reasonable request? Do you feel like because you've been asked, you shouldn't do it? What would you feel about this scenario? I hate when people ask me these kinds of things because I think I'm too nice of a person sometimes.

And sometimes I just agree even when I don't want to do it. And then later I regret it. It would depend on the reason for sure. Like you said, with no context. So no context. Somebody just randomly asked me. I want to sit there. Can I sit there? Then I would say, no, I need the aisle. I think especially like I usually fly between Korea and Canada. So that's.

eight or nine or 10 hour flight, depending on the direction that I'm traveling in. So that's like a super long time. And yeah, I wouldn't want to be in the middle for that long. So I think just immediately without any. reason about why the person wants to sit in that seat, I would say no, and then probably put my headphones on and try to ignore that person for the rest of the flight.

But if there were some special reason, like if there's a medical condition, maybe that person has to get up and go to the bathroom a million times. Or maybe they have a child or something. I don't know. Some special reason. Then, yeah, I think generally I tried to be helpful when I can. So if there was some way that I could help somebody and it wasn't a huge inconvenience to me, then I probably would.

try my best to accommodate that. But with no other explanation, then I would say no, I think. So let me ask you one more possible context thing here. I mean, it's not... so much more background information, but you say, oh, is there a reason? And they just say, I really prefer the ILC. And that's the one, you know, it's not medical. It's just that they really feel very strongly.

about having the ILC. Is that enough to like, put you over the edge and be the nice guy? So do I. So do I really prefer the ILC. I'm sorry, that's not enough. I think in that kind of situation. snooze you lose right you you didn't choose the ilc or you checked in too late or something i'm sorry it's first come first serve you can pay extra to upgrade your seat

But yeah, it would have to be like some kind of special, special situation where I would try to accommodate that. But just because you prefer it, it's not going to cut it. Unfortunately, I'm not that nice. I'm nice, but I'm not that nice. Yeah. The same for you, Indiana. I think so. Maybe it depends on my mood and if it's a short flight and somebody just, if they feel so strongly as to ask me.

Maybe I'll say, all right, I'll get some good karma and, you know, maybe something nice will happen to be later. But I don't know. Probably not. But if I was in a good mood and it wasn't like South Korea, Canada, there's no way that's too long of a flight. I'll show you flowers. Maybe I'll just be nice. But I would feel like, wow, I wish I could be so bold as to just ask to have the good seat. I don't think I would ever do that unless there was like a really good reason.

you know yeah the asking is wild to me i'm not that brave i don't think i could ask a stranger just for no reason to change i mean there's no harm in asking right as long as you're not a jerk about the reaction I guess it's okay, but that just wouldn't even cross my mind to ask. I think I would just accept right from the start that, yeah, that, that expression snooze, you lose. I snoozed and I lost. So, yeah.

Exactly. Okay. Let's go on to the next one. Oh, this one is a good one. You're at the store, at the checkout, and you're charged... far less than the tagged price. Do you speak up and tell the cashier or do you just quickly squirrel out of the store, run away, sneak out of the store and stay quiet? I think it all comes down to like, for me, okay, is this a giant box store? Like, you know.

Macy's or is this Walmart or I don't know some really huge corporation that makes a lot of money I would probably just say what's the cost of doing business sometimes you're equipment makes a mistake your your checkout yeah it's oh sometimes you you lose right and i feel like okay i gotta win but if it's like a small store

you know a local store there's only one location and it's like i don't want that place to go out of business because they you know their system goofed or made a mistake or their cashier messed up like that's that's kind of i don't know For me, I feel like sometimes it's like, yeah, I would just feel really lucky if it was some really big store that I think rakes in tons of profits. But yeah, it's kind of a depends on the size.

of the store and if i think this is actually going to impact them um because it's very impactful for me potentially like wow i'm saving so much money and like i'm not rich right like this could really be beneficial for me right now so I think it would depend. That would be my main concern. Is this actually going to really hurt the store's profits or not? Yeah, I don't know. I feel like that's kind of...

I want to get free stuff or cheap stuff. Am I just sort of justifying it so that I. okay about it i don't know but i do feel like that's immediately my feeling about it what do you think andrew how would you how would you yeah that was my immediate thought as well i'd be concerned you know if it's a mom and pop store then definitely I'd want to support them.

I wouldn't let that slide. I'd also be concerned if it was an employee that made the error and not just like maybe a barcode error. So like if I knew the cashier would potentially get in trouble. then maybe I'd be more likely to go back. But yeah, if it was like a big evil corporation, you know, unfortunately it is true that a lot of these.

At least in Canada, and I know in the USA as well, a lot of these big box stores, they do a lot of shady stuff. They don't treat their employees really well. They don't pay their employees a fair wage in many situations. They exploit the workers. They exploit the customers. In Canada, there's been all these scandals about price fixing where they work together to artificially set the price of bread. This was a huge scandal where they're ripping us off on the prices of bread.

So like, that doesn't make me feel like any, any, I guess there's no good feelings, no goodwill between me and these big box stores. I think if I were shopping and then I checked out and I did everything correct, I wasn't stealing. You know, I went through the cashier and I paid the bill. And then later I noticed, well, I got this for free. I'd be like, well, yeah, nice. Sometimes you win.

Yeah, exactly. Totally agree. I think in that situation, yeah, I probably would just take the win. Yeah. But again, it depends on like the item and how much how much it was to. Like I saw recently on Reddit, some guy on Amazon, he ordered a graphics card for his computer and they accidentally sent him the wrong graphics card and they sent him this.

I don't know about graphics cards really, or GPUs, I guess they're called. But the GPU that he got sent was this really hard to find one. And it was... a lot more like way way way more expensive and i think he also i i mean i don't know if this is true or not it's just what i saw on the internet but i think they also sent him too many so he ordered one but he got a way better

one. And he also got like five or six or something. So, and that's what he was asking. It's like, what do I do guys? Do I send these back or do I keep them? And everybody on Reddit was like, keep it, keep it. Yeah. So, yeah. I think a lot of people feel this way. Especially Amazon, you know, notoriously terrible for our world. So take the win. Right, right, right, right. Gotta punch back when you can.

Okay. Last one. Now, this one is more serious, I think. And this one's a tough one. I'm not sure. What do you think? Final one here. And Indiana, why don't you read this last one for us? This one is a bit serious. So you find out, let's say the evidence that you have is there's no question about it. This is definitely happening. Your friend's partner.

maybe their girlfriend, their boyfriend, their spouse is cheating on them. What are you going to do? Are you going to tell your friend and blow up their marriage, their relationship? Or are you going to keep it a secret because you don't want them to get hurt? Yeah, serious situation. I think a friend, a close friend, even maybe not that close of a friend. Maybe even an acquaintance. Hard to say, but at least for friends, of course, I think I would share that information.

I'm just trying to think about my best friends. I wouldn't want my best friends to be taken advantage of in that kind of situation. So I think definitely I would share that info if I had that intel. Right. How about you, Indiana? I mean, I wouldn't want to wreck their marriage or wreck their relationship. It doesn't necessarily have to be a marriage.

I just think that's like so shady and I wouldn't want them to just... be living a lie almost so i think i definitely would tell and then later if my friend were to find out that i knew and i didn't say anything then that maybe could impact our friendship too so i'd have to think about that as well so i think yeah i would i would

share it i wouldn't keep quiet on that how about you totally agree it's it's worth it to have the truth and to know that your friend is not going to keep things hidden from you just to protect you i think that's Yeah, I think that's worth it. What gets tricky, I think, is if the partner who's cheating on your friend is also your friend. Like...

Then you're kind of between, okay, who am I, you know, faithful or loyal to in that scenario? I still think it's ultimately the best thing to do is like that person needs to find out. Maybe I would go to the cheating partner. It's going to be the most uncomfortable conversation, but be like, I know what's happening. You need to tell your partner. I don't want to do this. Like, it's not my place. You need to do this. Right. Right.

but that's also like so, so much easier said than done, you know? So. Right. Yeah. Yeah. These kinds of relationship problems suck. And yeah, it reminds me of like when, when you have friends, like. your friends with both people and then they break up and you sort of have to choose who you're going to be friends with. Right. That also sucks. Like if the relationship sours and then the friend group can splinter.

These are just like really awkward social situations. Thankfully, now that I'm getting older, it seems like they don't happen as much as they used to. But in my 20s, when relationships were a lot more turbulent, seemed to happen. from time to time. Well, Indiana, I think we're pretty much like our morals are pretty much aligned. I'd say it's just the parked car that maybe we differ on. Other than that, I think we're pretty much the same. I think so.

Which is good. I mean, I guess I don't know if the aisle seat one, the airplane scenario is so moral and more just like putting up boundaries and standing up for yourself. But yeah, I'd say we're a couple of ethical folks. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. And now of course, what we'd love to do is turn it over to our listeners.

So guys, we really want to hear your thoughts and opinions on these issues. And the best place to share your opinion with us is on our Discord server. It's free for everyone to join. It's where the Qloops community gathers and we share. Yeah. stories with each other. We practice English together, speaking and listening and reading and writing all of the skills, and we just grow our skills together. So you can join the server for free. The link is in the description for this.

episode. And we are looking forward to hearing what you have to say. Okay, Indiana, I know that your camera is dying. You only have a few minutes of recording left. So we got to wrap things up. But thanks so much for your help. Of course. Yeah, it was fun discussing, hashing out these ethical dilemmas with you, Andrew. Yeah, yeah, it was surprisingly fun. I agree. So yeah, thank you, Indiana. Take care. And guys, we'll talk to you in the next episode. Until then. 拜拜