Better Boston Beans is a coffee shop located in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace near the waterfront and Government Center in Boston. It specializes in exotic blends of coffee, including Sumatra Dark Roast Black, India Mysore Gold Nuggets and Guatemala Antigua. It also serves a number of blended coffees, including Reggae Blend, Jamaican Blue Mountain Blend and Marrakesh Blend. For those with more pedestrian tastes, the shop serves French Vanilla, Hazelnut and Hawaiian Macadamia Nut varieties. The coffee of the day varies, but the most popular is Colombia Supremo. The coffee shop also serves a variety of cold-blended coffees.

Cyndie Rosen has worked for Better Boston Beans for six months. She took the job right out of college because she wasnt sure whether she wanted to go to graduate school before beginning a career in financial services. Cyndie hoped that by taking a year off before starting her career or going on to graduate school, she would experience the real world and find out firsthand what it is like to work a forty-hour week. (She did not have a full-time job during her college years because her parents paid for the tuition and books.)

Because Cyndie is the new kid on the block, she is often asked to work the late shift, from 4 p.m. to midnight. She works with one other person, Jeffrey Levy, who is the assistant shift supervisor. Jeffrey has been with Boston Beans for three years but recently was demoted from shift supervisor. Jeffrey reports to Sarah Hoffman, the new shift supervisor. Sarah reports to David Cohen, the owner of the store.

For the past two weeks, Jeffrey has been leaving before 11 p.m., after most of the stores in the Marketplace close, and he has asked Cyndie to close up by herself. Cyndie feels that this is wrong, and it is starting to concern her, but she hasnt spoken to Jeffrey or anyone else. Basically, she is afraid to lose her job. Her parents have told her that financially she is on her own. They were disappointed that Cyndie did not go to graduate school or interview for a professional position after graduating from college.

Something happened that is stressing Cyndie out, and she doesnt know what to do about it. At 11 p.m. one night, ten Japanese tourists came into the store for coffee. Cyndie was alone and had to rush around and make five different cold-blended drinks and five different hot-blended coffees. While she was working, one of the Japanese tourists, who spoke English very well, approached her and said that he was shocked that such a famous American coffee shop would only have one worker in the store at any time during the workday. Cyndie didnt want to ignore the mans comments, so she answered that her coworker had to go home early because he was sick. That seemed to satisfy the tourist.

It took Cyndie almost twenty minutes to make all the drinks and also field two phone calls that came in during that time. After she closed for the night, she reflected on the experience. Cyndie realized that it could get worse before it gets better because Jeffrey was now making it a habit to leave work early.

At this point, Cyndie approached Jeffrey about her concerns. During their discussion, Jeffrey tells Cyndie that he has an alcohol problem. Lately, its gotten to him really bad. Thats why hes left earlyto get a drink and calm his nerves. Jeffrey also explains that this is the real reason he was demoted. He had been warned that if one more incident occurred, David would fire him. He pleaded with Cyndie to work with him through these hard times.

Questions-

1. How would you react to Jeffreys request if you were Cyndie?

2. Would your answer change if Jeffrey was a close friend?

3. Why or why not?

4. Should you talk to Sarah or David? Explain your answer.

5. what does this case have to do with ethics for accountants?