The main cause of cynicism about business is consumer narcissism. [...]Please, discuss. The context is found here.
When you offer a business mediocre compensation, you should expect and be satisfied by mediocre quality.
HOW I FEEL WHEN I’M TWO WEEKS OUT FROM QUALS
9 years ago
Posts
3 comments:
That's fascinating. Hmm. I believe I could think about this all day.
On one hand, a person, especially a Christian, should work as to the Lord, not unto man, and should therefore provide the best quality item or service they can. God requires this of us.
But this doesn't mean Christians should just give their stuff away. As a producer of goods myself, I need to value my time and skills. I have a skill, I spend my time, and I expect to get compensated for it. This is one of the ways God provides for us. If someone wants something I sell, they need to value it enough to pay what I'm asking. In return, I provide them a quality item and good customer service.
On the other hand, there are levels of things in life. There's a reason that American "cheese" slices, standard cheddar, and fancy-pants French brie are all sold at the store -- some people care about quality; some people care about price; some people care about each some. And that's okay. Although I despise American cheese slices to no end and would rather they weren't produced, I don't think we can fault the manufacturer. They make them because people will buy them. Some people, that's the only cheese they buy, because they just aren't picky about cheese, so they don't value it enough to pay more for it.
All that to say, it's okay to have levels of quality, and those levels have corresponding prices. So I suppose when consumers don't recognize that, that's "consumer narcissism"?
So, I would say I agree -- mediocre compensation begets mediocre quality, and that is as it should be.
Wow, that was long. And I'm not sure I'm done.
Hmm. I'm surprised no one else has anything to say about this. We all buy things!
There's another aspect of this I didn't consider yesterday -- my own thriftiness. I expect to be able to find roughly what I'm looking for for cheap or free. Is that narcissism? I think not, because 1.) I'm not picky, and when I am, I go ahead and pay full price, 2.) I expect these things to be in used or fixer-upper condition, and 3.) My expectations are based on what I've encountered in reality. America is chock full of Stuff No One Wants Anymore. We have so. much. stuff. that used things lose value very quickly.
When I go curb shopping during major trash pickup twice a year, I have two very conflicting emotions: elation at my vast amount of consumer surplus (I can talk economics!), and disgust at our society, where perfectly good stuff goes to the dump if I don't pick it up.
And now I've strayed *completely* off topic...
Come on, people!
I've been quite surprised by the lack of commentary on this one. I thought there would be more concern regarding the issue of what constitutes 'mediocre compensation' and 'mediocre quality.' Maybe there aren't enough readers cynical of business who feel the need to respond?
If any readers would like to rebut the quote, please feel free. The series is about 'truth claims of the day,' not necessarily 'truth of the day.'
Post a Comment