Law of Obligation

 

The Law of Obligation states that it is “a strong need, even a push, to return a favor when someone does something for us.” In my own words, it is the act of doing a kind dead for someone and having a kind dead returned back to equal the debt. In my life, I have used this law a lot because when someone does a kind dead for me, I tend to feel guilty until I perform a kind dead back. I usually will use this law when I am in need of assistance from someone. Every time I use this law, it has been effective because it turns into a win-win situation. I receive help from someone and when the other person is in need of help, I will return the favor.

In my life, I have used the law of obligation many times pertaining to schoolwork. Throughout this school year, I haven’t had perfect attendance with all my classes and because of that; I will need to ask fellow classmates what had happened in those particular classes that I had t so that I don’t fall behind. In a particular case during the school year, I had a cold and fever that made me unable to go to classes due to the illness and the medication I was taking. Because I was going to miss some classes, I asked Madison if she could take notes and let me know what had happened in the classes I was going to miss. When Madison got sick and was unable to attend classes, I was obligated to help her out as well by taking notes and letting her know what was going on in those classes as well.

Another example that many families and people do is when going to another house for a party or gathering, they bring a dish of some sorts. Thanksgiving is a time where I feel many people are obligated to bring something to the feast. The main house that is hosting and preparing the turkey goes through a lot of work to make sure everything is right for that day. In conclusion, families that are invited usually will bring some sort of dish or desert because since they aren’t hosting, should feel obligated to contribute in some way.

My last example dates back a few months ago when I had attended the midnight premiere of “Anchorman 2.” In the theatre, they were having some complications with starting our movie so they asked us if we could go down the hall and watch the other screening of the movie. Before we went over, the worker gave everyone in the theatre two free movie tickets that we could use at any time. Having two free movie tickets, I felt strongly obligated to return to that movie theatre with or without free movie tickets because it showed customer satisfaction on their part.

Although the law of obligation is a nice win-win situation for both parties, it may not work every time. It may not work depending on the person or type of situation. Currently, I try to use this law of obligation in the workforce or at school. At school, I try being nice and helping out anyone whenever possible because you never know when you may need assistance from them. Lastly in the workforce, I try using my best customer service techniques because if I do, they will get the impressing that we as a company are nice to work with and they will want to bring business back to us in the future.