14%: Is This Fair?

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Someone hired me to clean his house for $100. Instead of my doing it myself, I hired a cleaner to do the same job for $14. I deliberately hide how much I’m charging my clients from my employee. The cleaner doesn’t know much I’m charging my clients and he unknowingly agrees to the 14%.

Am I being fair to my employee? Does my employee have the right to know how much I’m charging my clients? Why?

Share your responses below.

My Thesis: Prove Me Wrong

To me, this is outright exploitation. No matter what you do with that 84%: charity, investment, or spend it on Jack Daniels, you’re not being fair to the employee. Why? Because when people paid you that $100, they’re paying for a service (nothing more, nothing less.)

When I’m doing this, I’m cheating on my client’s gullibility. They’re expecting that all, or most, of the money exchanges for the service. Think about it: if you knew that 84% of your cup of Starbucks doesn’t go into things that made that cup possible: the cup, coffee beans, barista, rental, etc. Would you think your paying that 84% is justified?

One of the most common objections I got was, “If this is unfair, all forms of exploitation are unfair.” No, it’s not. Certain ways of distributing resources are clearly fairer than others. If I’d paid my employee 40%, it’ll be fairer than (but not fair) paying him 14%.

Another objection I received was, “It depends what that 84% is spent on.” I agree. As such, we ought to have the right to demand transparency from our employers: where the hell is that 84% going to? Unsurprisingly, the people who said this also paradoxically thought we don’t have the right to do so. In a way, they’re saying, “It’s unfair. But meh…”

I’ll say so much here. Of course, I have way more to say than this. I shall put up an update soon once I’ve heard from you!