Are We A Nation of Professional Liars?
Can you say, truthfully, that you’ve never told a lie? Oh really…What about the time you told your family you couldn’t come to dinner because the dog was sick? Or, the time you hid your new dress in the back of your closet so your husband wouldn’t see that you’d been shopping on-line, again. Harmless?
How about the ones we tell “keep from hurting other’s feelings”: “Oh what a beautiful baby.” “No, I can’t even tell you have 3 cats in your house.” Funny?
But in the office, telling lies is usually about self-perservation and can be costly. And, according to a recent piece written by Andrea for Gannet News Service, — Most workers will lie to avoid confrontations.
- The lie can be as small as telling someone you like their outfit or new hairstyle when you hate it because you don’t want to hurt their feelings, or saying traffic made you late when, in fact, you overslept. It can be as significant as not telling your boss the paperwork that’s due today hasn’t been taken out of the envelope for fear of losing the account.
I’m not talking about the shame of Enron or spying lies, I’m talking about your garden variety, the ones we tell to cover our rear-ends…(although you can see how an office culture of lying can lead to an Enron, no?) or at the very least, distrust among colleagues.
