Curb Your Enthusiasm

Karl Salting EGR 402 Dolske Extra Credit Assignment “Curb your Enthusiasm” Third Season, Volume 2, Episode 10 Overall, this show had many ethical dilemmas that I can think of right from the start. First of all, when Larry found out that his restaurant’s chef was hired “under false pretenses,” it created a lot of mixed thoughts in my mind. At first, I disagreed with Larry’s decision for firing him on the spot, but then I looked at it in his point of view and I started to realize his reason. As owner of a new restaurant business I would also think twice about hiring someone who would not be trustworthy. More importantly, I would not even consider him or her if the person is not being truthful even before they get hired. The next ethical dilemma would be about injuring Andy Portico, the powerful restaurant critic that could make or break Larry’s new business. Larry decides to go to Andy’s office and apologize to him to get on his “good side.” Andy does not buy into the excuse that Larry makes, stating that it was just a friendly dodge ball game that he got too caught up in. At first, Larry gets annoyed about Andy’s excuse not to attend the grand opening. The reason why Andy would not attend is because he would not be able to do his famous double thumbs up or double thumbs down. Larry ends up deciding to play it safe and spoon feed Andy with the food that one of Andy’s workers bought. Basically, Larry indirectly realized, with the help of his friends that kissing up to Andy would help his first steps to success. During Larry’s visit to Andy’s office, Andy recommended a French chef that would be able to accommodate Larry’s need for a new chef. Larry was pleased with the

offer and accepted it without hesitation. Although Andy’s intention seemed for the better, Larry did not know that the chef had turrets syndrome. This led to a very big ethical dilemma whether or not they should keep the chef. Larry actually had no choice but to keep the chef because the grand opening was only a day away. Another reason that he said he had to keep the chef was because he was a “survivor.” I did not really know what that meant at first but since the chef had numbers on his arm I presumed it had something to do about WWII. Towards the end of the movie Larry found out that it was just how the chef kept his lucky lottery numbers. The turrets syndrome played a big role in the grand opening of the restaurant because the chef’s kitchen was right in front of the whole dining area of the restaurant. Larry knew that one outburst would ruin the night. Universal law is how I can relate this to the Kantian ethics. Universal law states that the moral imperative "requires that the maxims be chosen as though they should hold as universal laws of nature" Kant would have disagreed with the types of decisions made on Larry’s part. Firing someone because he was not “happy” to be bald and deciding to keep the chef for illegitimate reasons does not conform to Kant’s ethical theories. Kant would have stated that Larry was being hypocritical.