THE SECRET

[joasia]

TomS wrote:

How is that greed if the client is willing to pay a higher price? And what about your efforts? Your investment? Is your time not worth anything? What about the years of personal investment you have put into the product knowledge required to match the customer with the product that meets their needs?

That brings up an interesting point - the integrity of the salesperson. If you invest your time in a business and a product or service, then, as a Gospel-fearing soul(I will eliminate any specific Christian denomination, for this purpose), is it right to take advantage of a person, albeit, one who is willing to give his money over, at a higher cost, when that means that you know he could get a better deal and justify your conscience by telling yourself that he willingly gave it up himself.

Is it not possible to be in a business and still care about being fare and not take advantage of a customer and still do good business?

The arguement that a person gives his money willingly doesn't seem honest.

Business is not evil and God blesses people to have a good business, but it's the conscience of the person in the business that keeps him/her on the right path with God.

Perhaps the moderators can create a new thread considering that this topic has gone another way.

[stumbler]

When confronted, I used to always say "I never sold a car to anyone for more than they agreed to pay."

It's cute, but not much of an argument against having convinced someone to pay more than they had to, no matter what the human cost was to them or how long I badgered them in order to extract the premium.

Despite the political climate in America, and increasingly in the UK, there is indeed often a rampant disconnect between feral free-market capitalism and morality.

It is sad that people seem to miss that, and, at least in the USA, tend to conflate feral capitalism with fundamentalist Christianity.

I would offer, as a meditation, the concept that Christianity might well be more about how much one gives than how much one can take.

[stumbler]

Stumbler,

"You can have anything you want, if you just help enough people get what they want" Classic Zig.

That reminds me very much of the recent Oscar winning song about the difficulties of a pimp.

[TomS]

... no matter what the human cost was to them or how long I badgered them in order to extract the premium.

Fine. So this is how YOU conducted yourself as a salesperson.

I never have.

[Pravoslavnik]

Listening to this banter about sales work reminded me of the way that St. Seraphim of Sarov, originally from a merchant family in Kursk, used to speak about "trading" to acquire the Holy Spirit by doing good works in the name of Christ. He compared "trading" to acquire the Holy Spirit to capitalism. In speaking with another monk about a blessed Orthodox Christian who had recently died, St. Seraphim said, "Yes, brother, he traded well."

[joasia]

Pravoslavnik wrote:

Listening to this banter about sales work reminded me of the way that St. Seraphim of Sarov, originally from a merchant family in Kursk, used to speak about "trading" to acquire the Holy Spirit by doing good works in the name of Christ. He compared "trading" to acquire the Holy Spirit to capitalism. In speaking with another monk about a blessed Orthodox Christian who had recently died, St. Seraphim said, "Yes, brother, he traded well."

So what is your point?

[GOCPriestMark]

In the hope of helping us all spend our Sunday more profitably and since it came up here . . .

St. John Chrysostomos - Four Discourses, chiefly on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus:

Discourse 1
Discourse 2
Discourse 3
Discourse 4

Asterius of Amasea:

The Rich Man and Lazarus

St. Ambrose of Milan:

Those who are dissatisfied with the fact that the good receive evil, and the evil good...