Which of the following, if true, undermines the customer representative's ethical position?

A) The representative knows that a snowstorm has disrupted travel at the hub through which the faucets will be shipped, so there is no way they will arrive by Tuesday.
B) The contract with the home-building company is important to win, as the plumbing supply firm is short on cash and needs the proceeds of the deal to pay off some pressing debts.
C) The home-building firm is notorious for finishing its units well after the scheduled date, so a delay in the faucets will not make that much difference.
D) The housing slowdown seems likely to go on in the firm's area, so it's probable that shipments will continue to come in a day early.
E) The customer representative and the head engineer for the home-building business play golf together regularly.

Answer: A
Explanation: A) If the customer representative promises the faucets on a given day while knowing that it's not possible they will arrive by then, then the promise is a lie, and his action is blatantly dishonest. Choice B is an increasingly common context for a dishonest act, but does not require the rep to lie to the customer. Choices C and D offer plausible reasons for the customer rep to assume that the delivery will be timely enough, but neither assumption constitutes a lie. The fact that the customer rep has a friendly relationship with an employee of the plumbing supply firm (Choice E) doesn't reduce the rep's duty to act in an ethical manner.