An Interesting Moral Dilema

[Avocado]

I volunteer at a charity shop in my spare time and have been putting a few extra hours in during my study leave as a constructional break from working and to let my manager have some extra holiday time.
Today a man came in with a handful of posters for the MoscowStateCircus and said that if we displayed the poster in our window we would qualify for two free tickets(worth �20 each)  I replied that I could not give an answer either way as my manager was having a day off, he looked very busy and handed me a poster and two tickets and rushed off. I was the only staff member in the shop at that time and there were no customers. I've never been to the circus and as my boyfriend and I have no money( he was diagnosed with cancer in November and hasn't been working since, and I've been focusing on exams) and I thought it would be a good way of escaping life for a short while at no cost. I pocketed the tickets without thinking. Then I started to feel very guilty.
I don't get paid to work there, however, neither do any of the other volunteers, I don't 'deserve' them any more than any of them. My manager is paid and she would be the one to inform, and benefit, and they were meant for her at any rate(insert feelings of duty here) She works very hard she goes past the call of duty sometimes to keep the shop running.
There was no one there when the man left the tickets, so there was no one to judge my actions - that is the main determinate for the majority of my moral choices How does x action reflect on me and my image as a person. I do not believe in an omnipresent, omni prescient god and it brings up the question: if you do a wrong when there are no witnesses and no victims is it really a wrong?
 

[netibiza]

-what are you worried about?  Why not contribute a little something to the charity and enjoy the show.

[Scarlett]

DON'T WORRY!!!

The circus does this with ALL the shops, and they even leave a pad of half price tickets on the counter in most shops where they display the poster. Last season I got given about 15 half price tickets each time I went into the Co-op!! Just go to the Circus and have a good time!!

[Artful]

I agree with netibiza and Scarlett. You say you were the only one there at the time but look on it that you were there and as the chap left the tickets it was your pek of the day! Ask your boss if the poster can be put up, tell her about the tickets and after all it is a charity shop, why should there be any hard feelings as everyone should have a bit of wharity from time to time. Go and enjoy yourselves.

[Avocado]

I know, but how can I justify my use of them over someone else's when it isn't really my call?

 

[Artful]

If you just tell your boss that the chap left these tickets and explain exactly what you have said to us. Surely she would agree especially if you've been putting in even more time than usual, wouldn't she?
I say that re the 'guilt feelings' here (which I understand as I think I would feel the same) otherwise do, as I am sure many people would do, and that is keep mumm!

tell us if you enjoyed the show...

[lindapinda]

Perhaps it was fate that you were there on your own,and that the tickets were always meant for you.If you hadnt been doing something worthwhile,you wouldnt have been in the position in the first place.Don't be so hard on yourself.

[spammylou]

i work in a hospice voluntarily cutting hair. Sometimes the clients give me a tip which I always turn down; we're supposed to. one day one of the clients told me that the other hairdresser always accepted hers. I know how you feel. But now I just say thank you as it sometimes often offends. I too feel guilty about it. But I think you are going to deeply into things, just accept the tickets and go and enjoy yourself.

[Sasha13]

I agree with the other posts - I can understand why you may feel uneasy, but the fact that you took the time to post this question in the first place reflects on the sort of person that you are... If you hadn't been putting the extra hours in you wouldn't have got the tickets... sometimes nice things happen to nice people after all!

[KittyGlitter]

I bet if you mention it to your boss, she would let you have them anyway. If you think it will play on your mind, just tell her and she might even have more respect for you out of your honesty and give you a shining reference for your CV :-)

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Does the circus involve animals?

If so, take a moral stance and bin the tickets, therefore, you wont have a dilema on your hands and you wont be supporting a rather horrid way for an animal to spend its life.

If on the other hand, the circus is animal-free I would hand the tickets over and pay to go and see the event if its causing you to think about your actions.

[Artful]

I understand what you are getting at Mrs_Pegasus, but don't you think you are adding extra stress and I don't think Avocado needs that tonight.

[Hippy]

The Moscow State Circus does not involve animals, It comes here to Newcastle and it is a great night out. Enjoy your tickets, the boss can hardly object. What is the worst they could do? Sack you? I think not, as you are a rare person, a volunteer. You are not being dishonest, you were the lucky one to get the tickets.

The circus will come again, and then it will be someone else's turn for the free seats!

[chompu]

 I can't believe all the answers I'm reading here. The tickets when they were handed over became the property of the charity that runs the shop. If the man had handed over �40 as a payment for displaying the poster then I'm sure Avocado would have informed the manageress who would have paid the money into the charitys' account. The fact that they are goods, namely tickets , makes little difference. The manageress, had she been there at the time, could have made several choices. She may have kept them herself, although I disagree that they're meant for her benefit. She could have asked all the volunteers if anyone wanted them and if more than one said yes, drawn lots for them. Or she could have sold them in the shop, at possibly a reduced rate, the money going to the charity. So, in summary, I would say you were wrong to take them for youself but its hardly the crime of the century. If it makes you feel better then make a donation to the charity.

[curiosity]

As far as I'm concerned, do not make a donation to charity, you already give them yourself. Charity donations are becoming so ridiculous, playing on our emotions, I give to so much, and feel guilty saying no, and I need things myself. Charity work or any job is helped greatly by the worker feeling good, otherwise you would not give as good a service as you do. Enjoy! feel good and just hope someone walks in with Glastonbury tickets next time! It's a perk ( just like all the best things that come through the door that the other charity workers snap up for car boot sales before they hit the floor)

[jno]

It would have been the manager's decision to make if she'd been there, but she left you in charge. That means it was your call, not hers.

I'd also disagree with chompu that tickets are the same as �40; I think there's a legitimate distinction to be made between big gifts and small ones. Sometimes it can be hard to draw the line - but not in this case. After all, if the seat wouldn't otherwise have been filled - which sounds as if it's the case, from Scarlett's post - then the gift is actually worth nothing to the giver, because the show would go on even if there was no-one in the seat. The only cost incurred by the circus is the extremely marginal one of taking your ticket at the entrance and cleaning up round your seat afterwards.

To answer your question directly: yes, wrong is wrong even if no-one knows about it. But as I've said, I don't think you did wrong. If you feel badly about it anyway, offer the tickets to the manager, or make a donation to the charity; but I think if you just went to the circus and enjoyed yourself, you would have nothing to reproach yourself with.

[woofgang]

avocado, you are asking 2 or three different questions herewhich I understand as:

1 Should I keep the tickets anyway?

2 Am I more entitled to keep them than other people in the shop because I am broke and my boyfriend is ill (deserving case)?

3 And the old tree in the forest one, have I really done something wrong if no one knows about it?

The answers as I see them are

1 Don't know. What will you do if someone says oh I see you have a poster, the shop down the road got tickets with theirs, what happened to ours?

2 Possibly. Do you know that all the other people in the shop are not as badly off as you?

3 If you believe by your moral code that something is wrong then it is wrong whether or not anybody else knows. On the other hand, if it is not wrong then it doesn't matter who else knows. There was someone there to judge your actions when the man left the tickets and that someone was you!

I can't judge you, only you can do that and over a pair of tickets to a circus at a time when you have a lot of misery on your plate, I don't think that anyone should judge you too hardly, but please rid yourself of this dangerous idea that you can do what you like so long as no one knows!!

[chompu]

 I'm sorry Jno but this is not Avocados' call in the absence of the manageress. I reiterate, the tickets became the property of the charity which runs the shop and the decision as to their disposal should have been the manageresses, as their agent, or if she was unsure what to do her senior in the organisation.They are not a 'perk of the job'. Whether the seat is filled or not the tickets still have a value of �20 each ,which had the circus not given away, they could have possibly sold to the public.Therefore their disposal is , to the circus, a payment for advertising.

[AngelofDeath]

Avocado there is only one person that is judging you and that is you. By posting here it can already be seen that you are feeling very guilty about your thoughts. You need to decide for yourself whether you can live with that guilt. I presume that you will work in the shop in the future. Think of how you will feel working there in the future. This isn't meant to send you on a guilt trip, just to remind you of how you may have felt about similar circumstances in the past.

Personally I would hand the tickets over and pass on the message from the circus. You never know the manager may let you have them.

[londondave]

Just go to the circus and enjoy yourself, it is your reward for putting in your free time to charity for no monies.

[artee]

There are so many views here Avocado and I agree with some of them. I can also see the point of view of the other opinions. 
 If your conscience is troubled at all, it will be even more troubled afterwards. If this is the case I would front up to the manager, tell her about the tickets and ask her if you could possibly buy them for  5 pounds or so .Tell her that you can't afford much, but you would love to treat your very ill boyfriend. I'm sure she will just give them to you.
to answer part of your question - a wrong is a wrong whether someone sees you or not.. 
The fact that you are calling it a wrong is what makes me think that your conscience is troubled.