Honor, integrity, and pride, where have they gone?

And you could add common sense to your list also. It's gone too.

They are still around. I happen to have a lot of honest, high integrity people with high personal self pride in my life. They also have common sense.

Recently, I had a contractor come over for a bid on a project and he said, that it was such a simple fix, he would just take care of it and charged me nothing, not even the trip charge.

A restaurant owner at a place I frequent picked up the bill for our entire party as a thank you to me for our steady business.

A woman at a store ran after me to give me more change because she had calculated it incorrectly.

I could go on and on. :-)

Money has "devoured" honor, integrity, pride, virtues, and principles in the "interests" of greed.

I can relate, as I was sub-contractor who bid jobs for top-notch contractors for nearly 20 years, when in any truth; few had any clue what the jobs entailed. On rare occasion I worked for the guy who worked his way to the top, but more often then not; it was someone who read a book, passed a test, used their parents money for tuition to a high rate college, and spread their "stink" like skunks throughout the industry.

Don't get me wrong here, I have met a handful, o.k. a couple, of licensed contractors who actually kept their word. The reason I responded, is because, I was the new plumber you referred to, I did my job right, and with concern for the end user, and the next guy coming in behind me to make his living.

Here's what I witnessed:

The contractors can agree to a written contract, and guys like me perform our duties professionally and efficiently. The norm was submit an invoice, get paid the following week. Only every single week, after the work was done. After the job passed inspection by state/county officials, I had to 'fight' for the money and the price that was agreed upon.

This causes a 'chain reaction' because now, the original plumber knows the games their employer/contractor IS going to play come pay day, and slowly, these guy stop giving a ____! So, the end user gets shady work, the contractor rips off the workers, and the laws protect these slime-balls!

If you write a check to the grocery store on Wednesday, with every intention of 'covering' the check by Friday, because you know the dang thing won't hit til Monday... and Joe Contractor, screws you out of money...

Try telling the grocery store (*who'll press legal charges for check fraud) your situation. They don't care. The law doesn't care. In fact, this happened to me, and almost faced "fraudulent check writing" charges in the amount of $180. Naturally, I paid it before legal action ensued.

But, the point is, the law told me, I had to file a lien, get in line at the local small claims court, and sue the Contractor for the $7,900 worth of work, I was NEVER paid for, but promised!

Not every contractor is bad. Not every sub-contractor is bad. But unless you know the games these *******s play on those who actually do the work... then you'll never understand why your plumbing was done like crap from the start!

No excuse for crappy work, as I did every job as if it were for my Grandmother!

Unfortunately, in a world riddled by the pestilence of Capitalism, masked by Democracy... we are seeing this behavior taking over, in Banks, Governments, and local and state agencies.

Yet, we wonder "Why" our economy is in the toilet?

For the record, the $7,900 loss I took eventually set me so far back, that I lost my home, my credit, and my business... yet the guy who stole my money, drives a Mercedes SLK, lives in a million dollar home, and did it all with his parents money.

So when you ask me where have they gone?

Nowhere, the only difference now is the laws protect these thieving *******s, and unlike the old days, where the worker would go "Tune-them-up" or perhaps "Tune-them-in" with a justified ass whooping... the law prevents such lessons be warranted.

So, I on behalf of the honorable few who remain, wind-up with a sore ass, bad credit, after being loyal and devoted to lies we are sold which once held a measure of truth; work hard and you'll succeed.

That today, seems a fairy tale...though one I still believe in somehow!

On a positive note, it gave birth and impregnated my mind, body, and soul to seek 'other' means, and is one reason, I am determined to succeed online!

Sorry for the rant.. but you asked, I answered.

All the Best,

Art

We have lost values due to greed and the urge to get everything we want Now! what a pity, but I still believe there we have a some people (though minority) who value the 3 - Honor, Integrity and Pride. e.g the new plumber

Saw this post quite by accident. I am so glad to see people writing on this topic. To me Honor, integrity, and pride is the air that I breathe and so it should be for all of us.

I think the reason why these qualities are easily neglected is due to the "lack of
self-development". It's almost like seeing red for the entirety of their lives and never seeing blue or any other color in most cases.

Udam

Honor must be lived and taught from home. Our integrity is "who we are".All 3 of these virtues have gone by the wayside of life.We are living in a world of" instant gratification,and what about me.".Ethics has been replaced by greed. But I still see people in my daily travels who still live by "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

James, I could not agree with you more. I have always done business on a handshake and hardly ever use contracts. Why you might ask? Because the energy and stress of chasing someone is worth less then my peace of mind. People are inherently lazy and "caring" takes work. It takes work to do things right. Hence the term "care-less" Because when someone is careless, they could care-less. But you know what, my businesses skyrocket much quicker then others because of how much integrity and pride I put into them.

Stay positive...

Well last week I met a person that had honor, pride and integrity. He said he would be there and was early, finished the job sooner then he said it would take and for a cost less then he estimated.

When he said he'd be back in two days to finish the job I figured I'd be lucky if he showed. Not only did he show, but again he was early and finished before he told me he would.

Granted the company probably overestimated the time and cost it would take, but that's good business when they finish early and charge less. They come across as a company that you can trust. Compare that to a company that tells you it will be shorter then it will actually take and less in cost then it will actually cost, only to take longer and charge you more.

There are good people out there, but those that lack honor, pride and integrity give the good guys a bad name.

They aren't gone. They are just harder to find and often priced out of business by sleazy men/women looking to make a quick buck and run away with it. That just seems to be where society is headed at the moment. As an optimist though, I believe that these type of people always get their just desserts, and will be phased out.

Personally I think it has to do with some people not following religion anymore. Maybe it also has to do with people becoming more lazy.

Those words, honor integrity and pride are taking a decline in our society for many reasons. However, as far as contractors go it is dually our fault as well. I have a contractor friend who is among the best of men I know and is also stands by his work with integrity.
His problem is that in order to do things right he is often out bid. Thus presenting the problem of integrity of other contractors and consumers. We are always looking for that deal. Well you also get what you pay for. It is as old as the world is yet we still are so busy looking to save a dollar we do not think of what happens when we do.

Honor, integrity, and pride - I never saw it back then and it's rare that I see it now. Every one seems to have hidden motifs that keep them from having one or the other.

I agree, honor, integrity, and pride are disappearing. There are people who still possess these traits and scortillion, I agree. We must be leaders who show honor, integrity and pride. I have a kid and I am teaching his these traits.

I was taught honor. I honor my commitment to do something. If I say I am going to be somewhere at 10:00, I get there at 9:50. If I am running late, which is rare, I call and let the person know I am running late.

Integrity - I am honest as the day is long. I live by the golden rule.

Pride - I take pride in myself, my family and my work. When I was a kid, my dad would tell me to take pride in anything I did - that it was a reflection of me. To work hard and do a good job, be it a simple, small task or something more complex. They both mattered the same if I put my name on it.


I would hate to stereotype any profession, but the stigma attached to contractors is familiar. With both my dad and brother in the custom home building business, I have dealt with many contractors and subs. It was incredibly difficult to get them to show up on time or at all, so I can relate to your situation. And I'm terribly sorry you are going through that - what a nightmare.

I recall conversations with my subs. When we were building homes, I'd have breakfast ready for them. If they got there early, they got to eat, free. If they showed up late, I sent them home. If they told me they would be at the site at 7 am, I told them if they showed up at 7:30 not to bother. It was very difficult to find the trades we used but we found people who did have integrity and pride.


It does seem it is a dying list of characteristics, but as TopKat22 says, they are around.

One example of lack of honor, as OP stated: many people now view bankruptcy as a legitimate business tactic (personal or professional), whereas 50 years ago it was absolutely the LAST resort!

Hi Scortillion
I agree with you , Honor, Integrity, and Pride have taken a leave of absence.
In my opinion the root cause begins with Parents and continues through school.
Many parents have to work very hard to make ends meet or make more money, unconsciously neglecting to teach the finer points of etiquette to their children.
The schools are strapped for cash so the number of teachers is reduced, making for larger classes. This means less attention once again to the finer points of good behavior. Add to this all the film and television behavior portrayed "as normal" and there you have it.
So we must all accept a certain amount responsibility for the situation we find ourselves in. Sadly as someone has already said there are few role models in public life to help, just look at Governments, Banks, Large companies, and people in local public life.
Unfortunately this problem is not town, city, county, state or country specific it is universal in our world
Regards
Gerry Kenny

Greed override the values of life. but.. if there are some drops of ocean is dirty you cant say that the whole ocean is dirty.
Some people still have pride honor and integrity.

I think there's more virtue out there than people like to think. But if you form an opinion, guess what? Your brain seeks out evidence to support it. Case in point: all religious people haha

Depends on the kind of people you run into. Sometimes you think the world is a great place, then you get those bad days, dealing with difficult people and you think there's no integrity left in the world.

People get meaner and meaner toward each other and the struggle to make a living gets even tougher!

agree with you scortillion

I've also noticed that we tend not to value others opinions. If our opinion isn't like someone elses then we are treated with disrespect instead of having an open discussion.

I've always had this problem. Once the newspaper put an article in the paper for me asking for a contractor to help. No one offered to help. I called my neighbor who was in the business of what I needed and he didn't call back. My best friend's cousin said "I'm on my way, but running late." He never showed up and told my friend he never said he was coming over. It's not like I was looking for free help. I had money in hand. I friended someone on Facebook in the hopes he'll be there when I need him. Guess what? I need him and he stood me up as well. I'm thinking of signing up for Angies List just so I can tell people what I think of these contractors.

I agree with art72 statement as it appears to apply to somepeople:

Money has "devoured" honor, integrity, pride, virtues, and principles in the "interests" of greed.

When you can't honor, integrity and courage anywhere else, look for them inside yourself. That's the only place you can make sure that they always live.