Thursday, November 6, 2008

silly little ethical quagmire.

first off...OBAMA! I had to take a few days to take it all in.

today when rachel and I went on our "it's-3-o'clock-and-i'm-dying-are-you?" coffee break, we snuck a peak inside the holiday coat drive box in the building lobby. Don't ask me what led me to peak inside...possibly just sheer curiosity or maybe comic relief--I figured I'd see lots of shoulder-padded London-Foggish oversized trenches in cobalt blues and dingy khaki. But no. instead i see a cute little well-made coffee brown leather jacket...in a size SMALL, no less. oh why oh why did i look?

at first, i thought, "that jacket's mine." followed by, "but no, it's for the poor." and again, "what poor new yorker needs a tiny leather jacket...it's not even warm!" but, alas, I couldn't do it. i'm obsessed with keeping my karma in good-standing..besides part of me thinks it's stealing--even if it's just from an over-sized box...although, another part of me thinks, "i'm poor, and my life deserves a free jacket." so i asked my friend chris...what should i do...he's pretty wise, and i think ethical for the most part...he's a finance editor...so that at least makes him more level-headed than me. he told me it's okay. "take it, but just swap it for a jacket you have at home that you don't like." I dunno...I don't really have any jackets or coats that I don't like. Ugh...woe is me. Perhaps this is one of those life-tests. Or maybe i'll call Randy Cohen. OR...I'll rationalize it the way I rationalize most things in my life...if it's meant to be, it'll be.

p.s. tomorrow i get my flu shot! yes. i'm excited. i get excited over anything that temporarily quiets my hypochondriacal tendencies. For more on the what-when-how-why of flu shots, see my smart friend Daniel's blog.

7 comments:

redhotmama said...

i agree: swap the jacket.
or maybe the universe will take care of the dilemma for you, and when you go back, the jacket will be gone.

Daniel Harrison said...

If nothing else, consider that if you ever wear that jacket, there's a chance of the person who donated it seeing you in it.

Plus, remember that a lot of those clothes go to help homeless people dress for interviews and such, so warmth isn't always the measure of a donated jacket.

Papier Girl said...

daniel and rethot...both very wise bits of advice. although daniel...believe me...this is not an interview jacket...but I get your point.

£ said...

i was about to give really bad advice until i saw the comments from your other readers. daniel and redhot have made me ashamed of myself. lol :(

Janelle said...

I'm with Lex. My initial advice would have been TAKE IT GIRL!!! But now after reading the other comments, I say swap it. Even if you don't have a coat to part with, put something in the box - sweaters, gloves, scarf. Or better yet go to the Goodwill, buy a 2 dollar coat, then put it in the box. And if the person who donated sees you in it, tell them it was a gift. ;)

Janelle said...

Oh and if you see a cute black leather jacket in a medium, let me know. I have a coat I can swap out. LOL

Papier Girl said...

lex and janelle...i love you two...but alas...I couldn't do it. I just thought.."this will always be the jacket i took away from the fashionable poor." Even though I consider myself amongst the fashionable poor lately...