The devil you know

As I sat down at Pret for my lunch I couldn't help but read the notice staring at me from the eating bench. It candidly informed me that my money spent at Pret is for a good cause. It is going to help the homeless.

It was perhaps surprising how, after reading that, I wasn't more excited about my jalapeño chicken hot wrap. Instead I just felt vaguely guilty. Here I am, enjoying my instant gratification lunch, while others have to go hungry and sleep in the dirt.

But it got me thinking about business. There was a time when businesses were into making money, and had no qualms about it. Having the moral upper hand was easy when they were so obviously evil, money grabbing monsters. Now they do charity, philanthropy, and even save the environment. All while showing me up for the gluttonous fraud that I am. Surely that's no way to treat your customers!

So I dutifully had a google to see what Pret gets up to and there it was, they partner with plenty of charities and support worthy causes. Maybe it's my viewpoint that needed to change. If I imagined that Pret is working on my behalf, making donations like a benevolent angel, I would become a moral agent by proxy and will feel inner peace.

Unfortunately, I felt more confused than enlightened (as my participation is so ephemeral, it was perhaps more of an impression than a feeling). My moral compass started spinning while searching for the magnetic North of modern business ethics. Was this company a devil in monk's robes, or were they the saints they want to appear as? Or merely loveable rogues?

To be honest, I hardly know, and probably don't even care. The fact that Pret appears to care, when all I wanted was a hot wrap and somewhere to escape the office for a few minutes, did little for my self esteem. It is just a bit too neat. If I spend my money at Pret the world becomes a better place... seriously?

Pret targets the middle class business crowd, and by implication endorses its values. That, ultimately, may have been the real source of my uneasiness. It is not entirely Pret's fault. But by making us feel we are contributing to solutions for the world's problems, we have even more reason to be complacent. We have even less incentive to make a change in our own lives.

Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't, even if it is doing an angel's work.