Phil. 103

Prof. Justin

Case Study 1

Linda works for a sporting goods store as a sales clerk. In addition, she has some responsibility for helping to take inventory once a week each season. It is one of those weeks. The store manager, Bob, asks Linda to come in on her day off this week in order to help get the inventory taken on time. Linda agrees on the condition that she be given a day off later in the week. Bob agrees.

On the day that Linda has agreed to work, she stays an extra three hours. On the following day, a day she is scheduled to work, she again stays several additional hours to work on the inventory, since her selling duties interfered with her giving the inventory check all her attention. Unfortunately, when Linda finally decides to quit and go home there is still about 3 hours of work to be done on the inventory. Bob asks her to come in the following day in spite of the fact that he had previously agreed that Linda could have that day off. What should Linda do?

Procedure:

1. Due to me in class or in my faculty mailbox or via e-mail no later than 12 PM.
2. List three options available to Linda for solving the dilemma.
3. Test by means of the Principle of Utility only the option that you favor. That is, state the pleasures and the pains that will likely result from the option that you favor and state which of these two values (pleasure or pain) will predominate in the option that you favor.