Would you compromise your integrity for a better salary?

Say you were the sole provider of a family of four with a spouse and two children. Because of the housing crisis, the best home you can afford is just a crappy two bedroom apartment in a dangerous neighborhood. Your options are extremely limited because you don't have a four year degree or skills that are worth much.

Although you don't have much of a career, you're outgoing and gregarious, and people like to talk to you. Because of that, someone in management took notice of you and offered you a position in sales where you'd be earning well over $100k a year. The only caveat is that you'd have to lie quite a bit to clients, and the product you're selling is harmful to society. (Perhaps it's bad for the environment or something like that.)

With your new salary, you could afford to purchase a fairly nice house in a safe neighborhood, and your kids could get a better education. They'd be able to go to college when they were of age. You could drive a nice car and even get a boat or perhaps ski during the winter.

So, would you do it? Would you compromise your ethics to provide a better life for your family? How much thought would you have to put into it? Is it a no-brainer or would you need to give it a few days?

 

i will not say would or would not, because you can never be certain what situations you might find yourself in unforseen.
but i can tell you what i have done, and that is to live without a lot of things, to avoid situations that would require that kind of compromise.
while i was married until death did us part, there were no children, possibly as a result of something i did a long time before, which was intentional.
this was only late in life. i would love to have had a house of my own, but even my parents rented for all but a couple of brief times,
once around the time i was born, and again for a couple of years while i was in high school. my dad sold his equity in the place to get his first car, and that a very third hand datsun pickup.
i am not an enthusiast of having to live with anyone, and thereby families, nor of adding to an already excessively populated world.