I understand the meaning of honesty just fine. While his actions may have been dishonest on some level, it is not of the same caliber as the arguments used to condemn his behavior. I just don't like "slippery slope" arguments, and stating that his character is the same as someone who will break into a rich persons house is just rediculous, as is equating his character to a child molester.

I'm not saying that i necessarily agree with what he did, but if your going to condemn him at least use sound arguments.

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

Sounds like you won't be in business for long. You have probably lost more customers than you'll ever know. People tend to know when they get ripped off by greedy small businesses, and they will never return. Very unethical attitude and you should be ashamed of yourself.

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

Wrong, that's just plain stupid. In business you never burn a paying customer even if their an a**hole. Is that what they taught you in college? You take their money and wish them a nice day.

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

A business will adjust prices prices according to market changes.Right now steel,zinc anc copper, among other things are on the rise. If a company has a certain amount of a given product in stock purchased at xx price, but needed to buy more at xxx price, you would not sell the remaining product at xx price just to buy it again at a higher price. Take gasoline for instance. If the price goes up, you adjust your prices right away, you don't wait until your reserve runs out and then raise the price when you get more, because then you have say a supply of gasoline with half of it you paid 2.00 a gallon and half you paid 2.5 a gallon. You would not know where the 2 dollar a gallon stuff ends and the more expensive begins. You are sure to lose money that way. That is why you see 2.89 a gallon one night and the next day it has gone up to 3.00. most likely they didnt fill it up. The market on the product they purchased is fluxuating and while yes I probably should have not done what I did, but believe me, I'm not the only doing this. lots of merc mechanics charge high prices because they can. Why not make a better profit when you can, becasue the opportunity doesnt come aroud often. Just like the mercedes 02 sensor and the ford 02 sensor. why is it 150 bucks vs 40? because they can get it. This is just business.

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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino
1989 560SEC
2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual
1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual

No thats what I learned at a misserable $7 an hour job that I dispise to this day. I freaken hated that job and couldn't give a crap. I got paid the same crappy amount and had to put up with the same BS either way. So I figured at the very least we would get rid of some of the really bad customers. You know the ones that would scream so loud the people in the front of the store 100ft away would come back and wonder whats going on...they screamed because you did not put mustard on both sides of the sandwich. Not a good experiance, honestly I still don't know how I kept my cool.

I don't judge the OP's actions, thats not for me to do. Would I have done it just because they worked for someone I may have not liked? No, but its not my business. If they never come back and he losses money well, its a free country maybe in the future he will regret that decision.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Not only where his actions dishonest, he knows they were dishonest, as he said "I probably should have not done what I did", and then justifies it by saying that he is not the only one doing it.

His character was not equated to a child molester, the exact question was "Would you keep an employee that made you a lot of money but molested children in his spare time?" It is an analogy that attempts to clarify the moral issue by escalating the right/wrong issue. Is it ok that E150 screws his customers? At what point is it no longer ok to be a dishonest person - when someone only gets taken financially? What about if someone only gets hurt mentally? Is it only wrong to be dishonest if you hurt someone physically?

Dead on.

If you are an employee, unless the boss condones charging whatever you want..that's what you did...you ought to be fired! If it's your own business, as someone said, you won't be in business long.

I'm not sure, but I'll be surprised if most of the moral relativists here are'nt young, while those condemning the practice are older and have more business experience. Just a hunch.

And finally this: If you feel this is just "good business", tell us then the name of this good business in San Antonio.
Everyone looks for good (honest) businesses to deal with.

Thank you for the clarification, Mr. Clinton

Man yoo couldint be more off-base: I have on good authorita that Hattie, Trucknick and Donald Trump are working on some projects. Big monie in projecs.

Arsehole charges:
I work in a delivery service business with lots of pricing variables... from where to where?.. how heavy? how quickly? ...and ...how much of our time are you wasting while we sit around and wait for your package to be ready?
Example:
Say I just got off the phone with a customer who is paying by credit card for a delivery to a secured building. (FBI offices, so it"s very secure) When the courier arrives, the addressee is not in, and the 'front desk' there informs my guy that if this guy can't come down and take the package It ain't gettin in the building. So I call the client. Their front desk relays me to the secretary of the guy who sent the package. She then gets the info from me and relays it to him while I'm on hold tapping my fingers watching my phone lines light up with paying customers who want use my services...
She comes back on the phone with the idea that when her boss gets off the phone he is going to call the guy (who is not in) and see if he is in...

So I tell her that 'my guy' has other packages going out beyond the place we are currently unable to deliver her package to... and that these packages have deadlines that must be met and that I am willing to wait around for about 5 minutes to see if she can pull something out of her arse to enable us to deliver this package to the guy that isn't there...

4 1/2 minute later she calls me back... they have been unable to reach the guy who is not there because ...he's not there... and her boss's new plan is that he wants to call my courier on his cell and have him hand the phone to the guy guarding the entrance to the FBI so he can talk some sense into him... Really? Thats your plan? I then ask if I can talk to her boss... back on hold...

She comes back on the line,.. they have decided they will Over-night the package, they will need to have the package back to their office in 20 minutes when their Fed Ex guy will make his pick up...

I am just lucky that in my business, the arsehole charges are built into the price structure because this kind of stuff happens on a daily basis... It's always the same small group of customers that send out 'SNAFUs' waiting to be revealed... and they do pay a premium...

I can see how, at a deli, where changing condiments and asking questions about the ingrediants in the potato salad mid-order, might not be on the price board, the temptation to screw the idiot that has disabled your 'lunch rush line' as you watch people peek in the door and then head on down the street, would be strong.

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-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831799-post13.html
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/831807-post14.html

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

E150GT:

After Hunt got caught trying to corner the copper market a few years back, who knows what the price of copper is day-to-day?

You're dealing with a couple of ditch-diggers...they could care less what Valero has to pay to get the job done...they're thinking "The cost of gas will go up tomorrow to recoop the cost of copper..." and they laughed in the truck all the way back to the job-site...hell, they're not paying for the materials out of their own pockets...the only person the MIGHT know what's happening is your boss (unless that's you) and MAYBE Valero's own set of bookkeepers...

Then, you know what will happen?

Those two same guys will be ORDERED not to return to your place for supplies.

Ah...the world of the bean-counter can be filled with bile and vinegar...minds will forment that bile into a "screw-his-outfit" type of rage that will spill over into supplier meetings for years...

Yep, all because of a "$120'ish Snap-Of-Judgement" moment...

Before they figure out that they were the recipients of some "pencil-judgement," I'd call their Business Office (where the field invoices go to) and speak to Mr. Headbean-Adder to see if you can catch the "error" before they do...tell him you had a "Congressional-Subpoena" moment (Ah, youse Honor Sir..I don't recalls da' plaitiff being in the path of the bullet...") and you realized that the amount of beans you counted was WAY OFF...

You're building up some good-will and showing your honesty (albeit, after the fact... ) and to be perfectly honest with yourself...do you (or your boss, for that matter...) really want to lose Valero as a customer?

Probably not...

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~