Where's Your Moral Compass?
Or do you always need the biggest piece of the pie?
Please enjoy the following transcript from the old TISHLIMS podcast. It seems particularly relevant these days.
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Mmmmm…. I love pie, don’t you? You ever eat too much pie and get sick? Yeah, me neither, but I have had a belly ache that taught me not to overindulge. Some people have never gotten a belly ache and it shows.
Several years ago I attended a national convention hosted by a major professional organization here in the United States. One of the functions I attended while there had tables full of sample units of massage cream. These tables were largely unmonitored, and each person was free to take a unit as they went into the meeting.
After the meeting I watched a person stuffing as many units into her bag as would fit. She stood over a garbage can furtively stripping the product out of the box, trashing the packaging and throwing the product in the bottom of said bag.
Perhaps she was taking the samples back to her clinic to give out to employees. I don't know. I don't really care. The point is that there was something very desperate and underhanded and wrong feeling about her body language as she stood over that garbage can dumping packaging for sample after sample after sample. It just felt wrong.
Something else that feels wrong. Slash and burn marketing. You know what I'm talking about, that person who has the most aggressive and in-your-face marketing tactics in your area. Who doesn't shirk or shy from running anyone perceived as competition into the ground. They gleefully use the most benign happenings as ammunition against anything they deem a threat against their business and are willing to say anything in order to trample them.
And then there’s those whose idea of a boundary is something that needs to be danced on until it's erased? How does that feel? Not real good to those of us who respect and appreciate the boundary.
What about those who refuse to refer out to another therapist? Some folks refuse to refer out to other therapists who would be a better fit for the client because they don't want to lose the client and the money that goes with them. I'm here to tell you that when you do that, those clients know that you're taking care of them the best you possibly can and will end up recommending you to friends and family because they know you have their best interest at heart.
Biggest Piece of the Pie Syndrome
So what do all these things have in common? I call it the biggest piece of the pie syndrome. All of these stories are examples of people who think they have to have the biggest piece of the pie.
It’s natural for children to want the largest cookie. That’s part of our survival drive, but as we mature this biggest piece of the pie thing should go away. We live in a society full and abundant and there’s really no need for this type of behavior anymore. Besides nobody wants to be around someone who always has to have the biggest piece of the pie. I want to share my pie with people who also have pie and like to share their pie.
So that’s what I have for you today, a few words about morality, ethics, and pie. I hope I’ve given you some food for thought and that you can take this with you and find it useful.
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This post brought to you by a long thought on how to recognize, appreciate, and live ‘enough.’
About the Author: Sharon L Bryant has been a massage therapist since 2008 and a massage therapy educator since 2014. You can read more about the TISHLIMS project, its history, and what brought Sharon to Substack.
I am pretty certain I was at that same national event. I appreciate your article today. It is clear we need to share our pie and help therapists learn to make more pie. Thank You!