Business and Society 9th Edition by Archie Carroll,Ann Buchholtz

Exercise 2

The Pirated Popcorn
Last year, I worked in a local movie theater to earn money during the summer. Part of my job was to clean the theater between showings, collecting discarded cups, napkins, and popcorn tubs. I thought it was odd when my manager asked that I empty and then bring him discarded popcorn tubs that were in fairly good shape. He would then reuse them-refilling them with popcorn for unsuspecting customers.
I soon learned that the theater paid for its popcorn concession by the number of tubs it used. By reusing the tubs, the theater was able to lower its costs. However, I was fairly certain that customers would have been upset if they knew what was happening (I knew that I would be).
1. How would you characterize the practice in which the movie theater engaged? Does this practice represent fair customer service? How are customers hurt or adversely affected?
2. Should I have followed my manager's orders and gone along with his request? Was it really such a terrible thing to do?