Introduction
You're working in a bank. Today you're working night shift. The bank is nearly empty. Only you and the security guard still have the light on.
You're sitting there and are staring into the room. Your head is empty.
You've always had some problems with gambling. Last week, you've overdone it though. First, everything was under control. You were in the winning zone. You had turned 1.000 Swiss francs into 10.000. You actually wanted to stop and go home. But then, you did something really stupid. Today you cannot understand why you've done it: You gambled on and on and on until you finally marched out of the casino with a huge loss of 100.000 Swiss francs. You've got a big problem.
While you're sitting in your office still wondering about how that could happen, suddenly something strange happens. The computer doesn't seem to work properly anymore. As you're the only person in the bank, it's your task to fix this. After having worked on the problem for a few minutes, you've identified the issue: The payment system has broken down.
As you're an expert for such problems, you suddenly realise something. You start to sweat, your heart is beating faster and faster: You would have the possibility of stealing money from someone else's bank account and no one could know that it was you who did it. This would solve all your financial problems. You start wondering...
Vocabulary:
night shift: Nachtschicht
security guard: Wachmann
gambling: Glücksspiel
loss: Verlust
payment system: Bezahlsystem
bank account: Bankkonto
Task
You're still sitting in front of your computer. You can feel the sweat from your hands on the table.
You sit back for two minutes and consider your options. After those two minutes you come to the conclusion that you have three options:
1: You can steal the money from the bank account of your neighbour. He's quite rich and you don't like him too much.
2: You can steal the money from the bank account of a very rich man. You don't know who that man is. You don't know anything about him at all, just his name.
3: You don't steal any money and tell your wife and your two kids that you've lost 100.000 Swiss francs when gambling. The only solution in this case would be to sell your new house and move into a small two-room apartment in order to pay back the debts.
What do you do in that dilemma?
If you want a short explanation of what the word 'dilemma' means, watch the following short video:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYEzFH7HItA width:640 height:480]
If you want to know more about dilemmas, you could use the following sources:
Your two tasks:
1. Think about the advantages and disadvantages of the three options. Write down (at least) two sentences for each option using the first conditional. The sentences should help you to make a decision later.
Here's an example:
Option 1:
Advantage: If I steal the money from my neighbour, I'll / he'll...
Disadvantage: If I steal the money from my neighbour, I'll / he'll...
2. Which option do you choose? Write a short text of 100-200 words in which you give reasons why you chose that option.
You could think about the following points but you don't have to answer all of the questions:
- How would you feel?
- How would other people feel? Your wife, your kids, your neighbour, the unknown man...
- Which option would be the morally best one?
- Is the option you chose legal or illegal?
- Is it okay to steal money when no one knows about it?
Vocabulary:
consider your options: deine Optionen prüfen
debts: Schulden
morally best: moralisch beste
Process
To write down your sentences for task 1 and your short text for task 2 you can either choose...
... a piece of paper or...
... a word processor on the computer (like Word or Pages).
When you've finished...
... hand in your solutions on paper or...
... attached to an e-mail to your teacher.
Evaluation
The tasks will not be marked. The goal is to make you think and use the first conditional again. This is not about mistakes in English, it's about your thoughts.
Your teacher is primarily interested to know which option you chose and why.
You'll get a personalised feedback in a few sentences from your teacher.
Conclusion
Phew, the payment system is working again. You shut down the computer, stand up and walk a few steps. You stretch with your hands behind your head.
You go and see the security guard: "We've had a small problem with the payment system. It wasn't easy but I managed to fix it. Everything is working fine again." "Oh, I didn't know about that. Great job man! You've deserved your free day now", he responds.
You walk out of the bank. The sun is just about rising. You look back. No one will ever know what happened this night. Apart from you...
