Hmm…I have to admit that the deadly sins associated with my employment history mainly revert back to me.

–Babysitting: gluttony (yes, I’d go watch people’s children and then eat all their ice-cream after their kids were in bed)
–Honors Program aide: sloth. I think I remember actually falling asleep on my boss’s desk when she was out one afternoon. In my defense, I’d finished everything she told me to do. Outside of my defense, I didn’t find anything else that might be helpful…
–Reading/Writing Center: lust. Man, oh man, there were some fine tutors there.
–MTC: pride. Yes, I was pretty proud to be one of The Chosen. I’d “forget” to take off my distinctive white name-tag sometimes (“What, this? Oh, am I still wearing it? Yes, I teach at the MTC…”)
–I could go on.

However, I will say that when I was considering a more permanent job, I really was drawn to teaching because, it seemed to me, teaching would give me the opportunity to exercise and develop attributes that would hopefully make me a better person all around–learning, listening, thinking, helping. The actual experience of teaching was somewhat less exalted–it was more cheating (I’d look up the Wikipedia entry before I started teaching any novel), shushing, and procrastinating. But I still did feel that it was a worthwhile career in itself.

For me…I worked in the fundraising arm of a company for about a week one time, and when I saw their HUGE database of potential donors and the codes with them (“Rich,” “Very Rich,” “Very Rich but don’t ask yet,” etc.), I was just slightly disgusted.

It’s hard for me to think of times when could consider myself as sinning at work. I always thought it was much more fun to sin during my free time. I did work as a full-time cashier at a major conglomerate once, (I won’t say which), and I’m pretty sure that it was against the word of wisdom because of degenerative brain damage it caused. I also worked as a professional lab assistant for a summer, which technically could be filed under “Lust” since I was so doggone attractive in a lab coat.

“Are there any jobs you would specifically rule out for yourself?”

telemarketer.

I’m with you, jeans–not necessarily to avoid sin, but more because I don’t like being sworn at.

Nice post ESO – personally, I think you could have worked lust into your mission experience, but, then again, not sure what the Elders were like in your mission. I know the Elders certainly had crushes on some of the sisters in my mission. If we are commanded to work, then how do we reconcile this with the “sins” that come along with it? The only answer for me is to not work – but that does not pay well, unfortunately…

Wow. I just realized that being an attorney might contribute to all the deadly sins. Is there another profession that can claim to be so pervasive in facilitating sin?

Once a while back I had second thoughts about working on an ID card project for China. But the contract never materialized so I escaped that problem.

Luckily my defense contractor work all went towards the space shuttle program, as far as I know…

All my jobs have paid money. Well, except when the Church never paid us for a project, but in any case any job that pays has the potential to contribute to greed, no?

I’ll point out that someone that shares my same real name is a taste tester for a well known brand of ice cream. That could involve some gluttony.

I thought the thread was going to discuss common gospel conflicts found in many jobs:

- working on the sabbath at a non-essential service, such as at a movie theater or recreation venue.

- working for a company that manufacturers or sells alcohol, tobacco, coffee. Different cases could be made for each item.

- working as a cashier where you’d have to actually ring up alcohol, tobacco or coffee.
I’d have no problem with selling (ringing up) coffee. I’d have a minor problem with tobacco, and might be able to rationalize it. But I’d have a hard time doing a job where I actually sold/rang-up alcohol. I wouldn’t hold it against someone else, but if I’m in a position where I could get a different job, I definitely would.

- One could make the point that alcohol, tobacco, and coffee are legal items, even though alcohol could come under the ‘vice’ heading, tobacco sort of could come under the vice heading, but one would be hard pressed to make the case for coffee being a vice. But…. what if something we consider very immoral is legal? What about pornography? What about legalized prostitution in Nevada? What if a porno producer wants to hire a web-master? Or contract out work to a web site company?

- Should or could an LDS plumber, roofer, electrician refuse to work on a building currently housing a legal prostitution business in Nevada? Or a porno business anywhere? Could or should an LDS contractor refuse to build a building for a client that intends to use it for legal prostitution or pornography?

- working as a government employee, as an office worker for your state’s lottery.

- growing tobacco as a farmer.

- working as a janitor for a tobacco company.

- working at an advertising agency on a tobacco account.

- working at a job where you know the customers are not getting a fair deal, like the “rent to own” places, or pay-check advance places. Or working at a job where you know your prices are much higher than the competition for the same product, and you have no added value that justifies the much higher price.

- What if we took “completely honest in all our dealings” to an extreme like in the movie “Liar Liar” with Jim Carrey, where he’s under some magic spell to be completely honest ?

Here are some conundrums I have personally had:

1. Once while shopping, a fellow customer asked me to get something down off the shelf for her. She was morbidly obese (think Jabba the Hutt), to the point she could not walk, and used a motorized scooter. She asked me to get down a can of ready-to-eat icing for her. (I was just another shopper, not an employee.) As I did so, and handed it to her, she licked her lips. The thought of refusing to help her crossed my mind, but politeness won out.

2. At a single adult pitch-in dinner at church, an obese blind man, who already had finished his dessert, asked me to go back to the buffet line and get him a second helping of pie. Again, the thought that I was enabling gluttony crossed my mind, but I did the polite thing and complied with his request.

3. A client who employed a friend off and on had paid him in cash, and hadn’t kept good records, and hadn’t gone through a payroll service or accountant to pay him. My client wanted me to create a wage-and-tax statement for his employee, not an official W-2 or 1099, but just something the guy could show in order to get a car loan. It wasn’t until after I agreed to do it, that I realized that the numbers he was giving me for gross pay etc, were just made up. I ended up assisting him in supplying false information in order to get a loan. The next time, they asked me to construct a statement he could use for a home loan, and I dodged it by saying he needed to go through a real accountant.

A family that we baptized in Brazil owned a bar. People from Utah has a distorted concept of what a bar is to begin with and a bar in Brazil is more akin to a restaurant than anything we’d consider a bar. There’s one every few blocks if not more frequently. Basically every corner had either a bakery, a bar, or a pharmacy on it. Missionaries went to bars pretty much every day except Sunday. Of course it was for food or a Guarana (best soft drink in the world) and not for beer. Which was too bad because beer was cheaper than water or Guarana.

In any case he felt enormous pressure after baptism to not own a bar. I told him that there was nothing wrong with it as long as it was a place that members and missionaries would feel comfortable having a meal at.

DKL–you should copyright that and send it to Phillip Morris right now!

I have a sister who would like to bartend–she claims all that is holding her back is that she doesn’t want to take the classes. For a high-paying evening job that can help pay off student loans, it seems ideal.

Of course, I am not sure I would want a bartender who had never actually tasted the drinks–seems suspicious, and like a clear disadvantage if you wanted to make some new ones.

I am not sure I would want a bartender who had never actually tasted the drinks–seems suspicious, and like a clear disadvantage if you wanted to make some new ones.