My friend used to work in a Japanese restaurant. The boss asked her to clean tables for three times after costumers had the meals. Actually, the boss or other people would not know whether she actually cleaned tables for only one time or for three times. However, she insisted on following the instruction of the boss and cleaning three times for each table. I had asked her the reason why she did not deceive the boss and be more relaxed during working; she told me that she just felt like she should not deceive others.
In my opinion, she has several reasons to be a "good" employer. First and the most important, she is always kind and honest to others. Her personality determines that she might not take advantage of others even they might not know. The other reason is that although the boss or supervisor might not know how many times she clean tables for each time, they still can tell her working habits through details. If the boss caught her just once when she failed to clean table for three times or costumers complained about tables, she would be faired. She did not want to ruin her reputation for her laziness. In addition, as a Chinese, she found it was hard to find a part-time job in the U.S., she appreciated the opportunity and felt grateful for the boss. She did not want to let him down. Also, she did not want to ruin opportunities for other Chinese students in their job hunting. If she was caught, it is very likely that employers would not hire Chinese students any more.
If I summarize all of these reasons above, I will say that they are not the same. Both her innate characteristics and her willingness to keep high reputation force her not to be an opportunist. What is more important is that, it is hard for her to ensure that her supervisors will never find out the truth; therefore, she does not want to take the risk. However, if there is no possibility for others to catch her behaviors, maybe she will take the opportunism. Therefore, these explanations are different and are subject to different circumstances.
Before commenting on other motives, let me remark here that visa status should matter here. I'm under the impression that if an international student is here on a student visa, there a legal restrictions to how much work can be done. I don't know the precise nature of the restrictions, but certainly there are some.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you wrote about personality mattering here. Indeed it does. Kind and generous people will tend not to act opportunistically.
But there is also the matter of the reasonableness of the request to clean the table three times. Does it make sense for the restaurant? If it is reasonable, then complying with what the boss says is just doing the right thing. If it is not reasonable, however, then doing what the boss says is simply giving into authority. Even kind and generous people might not do that.