When I was in graduate school, I lived in an dormitory residence on campus. In addition to our bedrooms, there were shared bathrooms on each floor, a common room with couches and a television, a historical chapel upstairs and an old kitchen in the basement with several old ovens and refrigerators and a few long tables.
It was a great place to live not only for its proximity to classes and classmates, but also because it provided a relatively affordable alternative to pricey housing in the area. (The dormitory has since been taken over by administrative offices, though the chapel remains.)
Each year, we’d vote on two positions to be held by residents. One was someone to manage the kitchen. The other was the dorm proctor, who was in charge of keeping keys, reporting emergencies, and generally helping keep the place and its residents safe. The proctor received a free room in exchange for holding the position, but it could eat up a lot of time, so not everyone wanted to take it on.
When the vote came one year, a classmate commented on a mutual friend who was running for the kitchen organizer position. The friend was notoriously disorganized and not someone you’d peg as being ideal for such a spot. “You always vote for your friends,” my classmate said when I asked if she had any reservation about casting a vote for her.
I was reminded of that comment after receiving an email from a reader I’m calling Madeline seeking advice on whether she should cast a vote for a friend’s daughter’s cake decorating business through a social media link sent to her.
“I don’t know the daughter,” wrote Madeline. “I’ve never tasted her cakes, although the photos of them online look nice.”
Madeline wonders if it’s wrong to vote for the daughter simply because her friend asked her to. “Shouldn’t my vote be based on actually knowing if her work is any good?”
Ideally, Madeline is right. But such votes rarely reflect an accurate reflection of judgment by those who actually know the goods. Many “best of” votes in communities don’t require voters to have actually shopped or dined at the places they vote for. It’s often just as easy for someone residing on the other side of the country who never stepped foot in the community let alone taste the food as a local joint to cast a vote for what they believe to be “the best.”
Is that right? If the guidelines for voting made clear that only those who engaged in business with the establishments should cast a vote, then no, voting without actual knowledge is not right. But more often than not, these votes devolve into campaigns to get the most votes possible from anyone in hopes that winning will generate more business. As long as it’s clear that the votes don’t represent actual customers’ views, there’s no harm in casting the vote for the friend’s daughter’s cakes.
The right thing would be for Madeline and others to read the guidelines for the competition to make sure they aren’t violating the rules for voting. And the right thing for the readers of such competition’s results is to recognize that whatever businesses top the list may or may note be “the best.” All they can be assured of is that they got the most votes.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of "The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice," is a senior lecturer in public policy, emeritus, at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com.
Follow him on Twitter @jseglin
(c) 2023 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
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