A serious question-

[Murphy76]

 

I do not want to start some sort of war with the following question. If the moderators decide to delete this, I get it.

 

I believe this is a community of fairly educated individuals with open minds, and I wish to propose the following situation and question:

 

You have had a great relationship with your mechanic. He has advised you, done repairs at a more than fair price, and has always been a good person to you. If you saw him at a tavern, you'd buy him a drink. Recently, you have learned that he has VERY different political/social views than you have. Perhaps he has strong beliefs in racist, homophobic, Democratic, Republican, PETA, NAMBLA, Flat-Earth, Libertarian, or whatever that you strongly disagree with. This is NOT a race-baiting question.

 

Do you still do business with this person? Do his (or her) beliefs (which haven't directly impacted you at all) preclude all future interaction? If he voices his opinion does that instantly negate your relationship prior to that?

 

I suppose what I'm getting at is "where do you draw the line"? Do you never take aspirin because Bayer was a Nazi supported company that developed it? How far back does your resentment go?

 

At what point does your wallet not open? We all vote with our money. What does a person or Company have to do for you to cut them off?

 

 

 

 

[bigred90gt]

As long as his actions do not negatively affect others, I still do business with him. I’m a firm believer in people are free to think how they please. I don’t necessarily want to discuss opinions and beliefs with anyone, because nothing good comes of it, but if he can maintain a relationship without pushing his views, I couldn’t care less what his views are. If they are completely contrarian to what I believe, it is of no consequence to me. I’m not going to him for his personal/political believes, I’m going to him for his ability to properly diagnose and fix issues with my vehicle.

 

to answer your later questions, I don’t care what someone’s beliefs or opinions are. If they preach to me and that is the only thing they want to discuss, that is a turnoff, otherwise believe what you want and think how you please. I don’t need to hear about it. If you can hold a conversation without “going there”, so long as you can do what you are hired effectively and efficiently, you’re hired regardless.