When No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Case of the Misprinted Phone Number

Abstract

Mark volunteered to help with the community arts festival, because he was supporting the not-for-profit organization as he had in the past. However, he did not know his good intentions as a volunteer would cost him his job as an assistant manager at a retail store. The retail store’s phone number was printed in the festival advertising in error and ticket requests overloaded the phone lines, causing loss of business and annoying the store manager. As a result, Mark was seen as the cause of the problems and terminated. The Board of Directors did not respond to his request for an investigation, leaving Mark without a job and wondering what happened to cause such an unhappy experience when he had such good intentions.