My father’s company, BC Furnace Service Ltd. (BCFS), has accomplished lots in the past 28 years it has been up. An interesting fact that I was unaware of was that the company prioritizes Needs over Wants. Then, the ones who Need it more over others. This is one of the newest discovery I’ve made about my own father’s business and I rather like this policy.

The situation goes as follows:

A woman has scheduled for a furnace installed in her home two weeks prior to the date of agreement. Upon the arrival of this day, an elderly woman calls BCFS to fix the furnace in her home because it has broken down and there is no heat being supplied. The season at which this was happening was mid-winter. My father finds the first technician ready to go, who happens to be the technician about to leave to install a furnace in the first woman’s home, and sends him to the elderly woman’s home while having to cancel the appointment with the first woman. The company prioritized the needy first with the sacrifice of another potential customer for the last minute bail.

The ethical issue here is whether it was right for the company to cancel an appointment booked a while ago for an elderly woman who was freezing in her home during the winter months. I consider this a great act on the company’s response to the situation where the more needy comes before others who need it less, despite the response from the lady being “I don’t care! I booked an appointment first!”.