Comm218 Ethical Speaking Analysis

COMM218 – Ethical Speaking Analysis

The use of speech ethics is an important factor to consider using, even when you are not speaking before an audience of hundreds of people. While I personally have not experienced either seeing poor speech ethics used in a speech that I gave or one that I have seen, there are other situations that I have witnessed to, where the use of such ethics resulted in some really bad behavior.

Over a decade ago, I worked as Assistant Store Manager for Hollywood Video, a popular video store chain that rivaled Blockbuster in terms of titles, sales, and specials. On one specific day, I was re-organizing selected shelf space to make way for a new release title that was going to be made available in two days. A customer was waiting to pay for his rentals. As I spotted him by the register, I had said to him: “I will be with you in one minute, sir.” The register area has three monitors; two of them are designed to serve as cash registers, while the third is used for scanning in returning rental merchandise. As I approached the area where the customer was waiting, he was in front of a register that had not been active for most of the afternoon. I was working on a register to the left of him that had done business for most of the morning. I then said to the customer: “Okay, sir. I’ll take care of you over here.”

The customer surprised me by putting his rentals down on the counter, explaining how long he had to wait for me. He then went into a verbal tirade, accusing me of not coming to him to handle his purchases, and ended with some verbal insults. I then responded back saying to the customer: “You have been waiting for only a few seconds, I am wanting to help you with your purchases. If you come by my active register, I will help you complete your purchase. There is no need to be this angry, or insulting.” The customer, who now seemed at a loss for words, pointed his finger at me as if to say: “Stay out of my...