Lest it commonly be assumed that greed facilitates or results in unethical policies out of conscious choice, I submit that a focus on maximizing revenue can eclipse even the recognition of a policy being unethical. To the extent that this is so, correcting for unethical policies in business (and government) is more difficult that typically thought. I have in mind as a case in point the policies of bars regarding karaoke singing.
While some bars sport a first come, first served method whereby singers sign onto a list without having to worry about newcomers "butting in line" (i.e., retroactively being inserted into the list rather than at its end), other bars--and I suspect most--put ANY newcomers wanting to sing BEFORE most of signers already on the list. The reason for the latter, sordid policy is because managers believe that people will spend more if they get to sing as close as possible to the time when they arrive. The managers dismiss, thereby, the angst of the existing karaoke customers who must wait even over an hour to sing a second song because they are perpetually pushed back as newcomers are inserted before them. In the jargon of karaoke, the next round is pushed back as the current round is stretched out. Even the singers at the end of the current round are pushed back!
While some bars sport a first come, first served method whereby singers sign onto a list without having to worry about newcomers "butting in line" (i.e., retroactively being inserted into the list rather than at its end), other bars--and I suspect most--put ANY newcomers wanting to sing BEFORE most of signers already on the list. The reason for the latter, sordid policy is because managers believe that people will spend more if they get to sing as close as possible to the time when they arrive. The managers dismiss, thereby, the angst of the existing karaoke customers who must wait even over an hour to sing a second song because they are perpetually pushed back as newcomers are inserted before them. In the jargon of karaoke, the next round is pushed back as the current round is stretched out. Even the singers at the end of the current round are pushed back!
I submit that an excessive focus on profit keeps the bar managers at issue from even recognizing that the squalid policy is unethical. Such managers are so focused on the impact on revenue from the newcomers (i.e., customers entering the bar) that the unfairness done to the other singing customers is not even recognized as such. Greed can have such mass that space itself is bent such that associated unfairness is no longer observable.
