The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 22 - Unauthorized ...
The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 22 - Unauthorized ...
The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, August 22 - Unauthorized ...
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<strong>The</strong> Slacker Temp<br />
against humanity. <strong>The</strong> humane solution is to distribute the most tedious tasks<br />
evenly rather than dumping them on one person. But the current arrangement<br />
brings cars, camcorders and the Backstreet Boys to the millions -- myself included<br />
-- and we seem to like that.<br />
Short of a radical transformation of the labor economy (which doesn't seem too<br />
likely), the situation at your office will continue to be exhausting for everyone<br />
involved: your co-workers, your boss and even the temp himself. And as the<br />
supervisor, you have the responsibility to see that the work gets done, so you must<br />
act. Can you persuade the temp to improve his performance? Great. Can you get<br />
him more money or rearrange his most mind-numbing tasks? Even better. But if<br />
you can't do either, and you continue to feel, as you say, that his job is so wretched<br />
that reporting him would be wrong, you can continue to work there, but you can't<br />
ethically continue as his supervisor. You can be a soldier but not an officer.<br />
We received an invitation to a surprise party for our friend Ted, given by his wife.<br />
It said: "It is a clown party! Ted is afraid of clowns!! Feel free to dress as a clown.<br />
<strong>The</strong> idea is to scare him! Adults only! We do not want children to see how terrified<br />
Ted will be by the clowns!" Not going is a no-brainer. Should we tell him? —<br />
M.M., Madison, N.J.<br />
By all means, tell him about the party. And about a divorce lawyer.<br />
Do you have ethical queries that you need answered? Send them to<br />
ethicist@nytimes.com or <strong>The</strong> Ethicist, <strong>The</strong> <strong>New</strong> <strong>York</strong> <strong>Times</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong>, <strong>22</strong>9 West<br />
43d Street, <strong>New</strong> <strong>York</strong>, N.Y. 10036.<br />
Illustration by Christoph Neimann<br />
Table of Contents<br />
<strong>August</strong> <strong>22</strong>, 1999<br />
http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/199908<strong>22</strong>mag-ethicist.html (2 of 3) [8/<strong>22</strong>/1999 9:15:21 PM]<br />
Dr. Atkins <strong>New</strong> Diet Revolution<br />
by Robert C. Atkins, M.D.<br />
Under the Tuscan Sun<br />
by Frances Mayes<br />
All Too Human<br />
by George Stephanopoulos