Won't bore you with boring details, but one again today I was reminded that my habit of trying to make sure every nickel and dime is accounted for and logged only leads to negative consequences and that people who are willing to do things under the table make out like bandits. So do you always practice full disclosure or if fudging the truth a little will get you what you really need is it okay.
Is Honesty The Best Policy?
- Thread starter The Boy Who Cried Worf
- Start date
Depends on the circumstances and your motivation for lying or telling the truth.
If someone is stealing at work, you should report it, assuming you have proof. It's morally and legally wrong for someone to steal something that isn't theirs--no matter how small the amounts. Small amounts can add up to large amounts very quickly. In that case, several people will be harmed, so you should speak up about it, even if it turns into a huge hassle. If some register is short simply because of human error, that's one thing. If you suspect someone is stealing, you need to address it right away, but don't openly accuse anyone unless you have proof. You might, after all, be mistaken about who the true culprit really is. But clearly, if you don't report it, you are allowing the theft to continue and that is also just as wrong.
If you're talking about withholding your opinion to spare someone's feelings, there's certainly not anything wrong with that. If Grandma gets a new dress she clearly loves, and shows it off to you, do you say, "Oh, God, that's HIDEOUS!" and completely hurt her feelings, spoil her fun, and crush her self-esteem? No. You say, "Wow, Grandma, that's one heck of a dress."
So lying isn't always bad; it all depends on your motives and the bigger picture.
If someone is stealing at work, you should report it, assuming you have proof. It's morally and legally wrong for someone to steal something that isn't theirs--no matter how small the amounts. Small amounts can add up to large amounts very quickly. In that case, several people will be harmed, so you should speak up about it, even if it turns into a huge hassle. If some register is short simply because of human error, that's one thing. If you suspect someone is stealing, you need to address it right away, but don't openly accuse anyone unless you have proof. You might, after all, be mistaken about who the true culprit really is. But clearly, if you don't report it, you are allowing the theft to continue and that is also just as wrong.
If you're talking about withholding your opinion to spare someone's feelings, there's certainly not anything wrong with that. If Grandma gets a new dress she clearly loves, and shows it off to you, do you say, "Oh, God, that's HIDEOUS!" and completely hurt her feelings, spoil her fun, and crush her self-esteem? No. You say, "Wow, Grandma, that's one heck of a dress."
So lying isn't always bad; it all depends on your motives and the bigger picture.
auntiehill said it. No need to repeat it. 
I'm thinking something more like say you need to make under $20,000 for your child to qualify for an insurance plan. Without it your kid won't have insurance. You make $21,000, but you can report it like you make $19,000 and no one will be the wiser. Or say a friend pays you $500 cash to do a job for them. Declaring it on your taxes will bump you to a higher bracket though and you'll end up paying $1000 more in taxes.
Again, it depends on your motives. Are you cheating on your taxes in order to see to the well-being of your child? Or, are you merely getting out of paying your fair share because you think you're somehow entitled to it more than anyone else?
Not paying your fair share of taxes is dishonest,but I think most would consider it a minor, if not excusable offense, if there were truly a good reason behind it.
I have a "neighbor" who pretends to live in her sister's house, solely so she can get her autistic son into our local school, which has the best special ed program in the county. Everyone knows, including the school bus driver, who lives only a few doors down, but no one has said a thing. Yes, it's dishonest, but no one faults her one bit, because she's doing it for the immediate well-being of her son.
Not paying your fair share of taxes is dishonest,but I think most would consider it a minor, if not excusable offense, if there were truly a good reason behind it.
I have a "neighbor" who pretends to live in her sister's house, solely so she can get her autistic son into our local school, which has the best special ed program in the county. Everyone knows, including the school bus driver, who lives only a few doors down, but no one has said a thing. Yes, it's dishonest, but no one faults her one bit, because she's doing it for the immediate well-being of her son.
First - the insurance company will investigate if they get hit with a large claim. Especially if you just qualify. I'm not saying they will find out, but they do check.
Second- taxes don't work the way you describe. if the tax rate is 10% for the first $10,000 and 20% for the amounts above that AND you make $10,500 -- you taxes are not 20% of the $10,500 (or $2,100) - you taxes are $1,100. That is 10% of the first $10k, plus 20% of the $500, which is in excess of the $10k.
Taxes are progressive, everyone pays the same amount for income within a given bracket. As you earn more the additional income is taxed at increased rates. The additional amount will not change the tax rate on the money below it.
Second- taxes don't work the way you describe. if the tax rate is 10% for the first $10,000 and 20% for the amounts above that AND you make $10,500 -- you taxes are not 20% of the $10,500 (or $2,100) - you taxes are $1,100. That is 10% of the first $10k, plus 20% of the $500, which is in excess of the $10k.
Taxes are progressive, everyone pays the same amount for income within a given bracket. As you earn more the additional income is taxed at increased rates. The additional amount will not change the tax rate on the money below it.
I have found lying to be a useful, if not admirable, skill. I draw a distinction between lying and doing something illegal however. I believe that in most cases, doing the legal thing is the best policy though there are of course special circumstances where one must weigh the risks involved. There is no policy which is uniformly best in every sense of the word.
MeanJoePhaser
Admiral
Lying to save face is acceptable, too. One time "Did you have troube finding the house?"
"No." (In reality, I drove past it at least once, and spent 20 minutes figuring out where I messed up.)
I mean, why admit to being a screw-up if you don't have to?
"No." (In reality, I drove past it at least once, and spent 20 minutes figuring out where I messed up.)
I mean, why admit to being a screw-up if you don't have to?
I agree, but the problem is that we live in a world where society will say exactly that, and yet behave in a completely opposite manner.
Plus they have a tendency of putting down individuals who ARE honest and whatnot by saying the tired out sentence: 'you're naive' and 'the world is a nasty place', 'you don't know how the world works'.
I think such people are the biggest morons, hypocrites and liars there are, because it's them who raised their kids to behave in a honest capacity to begin with.
Seriously, why raise children in a specific manner only to put them down later in life?
The charade?
The pretence and saving face?
Give me a break.
No wonder the world is most of the time in a sorry state.
If I were less honest I would have had an opportunity last week.
I'd brought some groceries and one of my reusable bags to the supermarket checkout. since the bottled beverages would have made the bag heavy and increased the risk of the other items getting crushed I told the clerk I could take the beverages to my car in the shopping cart (outside the bag). She then proceeded to transfer the remainder of my goods into the reusable bag without scanning them. When she announced how much I should pay (just enough for the beverages and sales tax), I advised her to check the register tape.
Afterwards I remembered some news coverage several years ago about some clerks in one of those combined department store/suprmarkets being prosecuted for intentionally bagging goods without scanning them when their friends came shopping.
I'd brought some groceries and one of my reusable bags to the supermarket checkout. since the bottled beverages would have made the bag heavy and increased the risk of the other items getting crushed I told the clerk I could take the beverages to my car in the shopping cart (outside the bag). She then proceeded to transfer the remainder of my goods into the reusable bag without scanning them. When she announced how much I should pay (just enough for the beverages and sales tax), I advised her to check the register tape.
Afterwards I remembered some news coverage several years ago about some clerks in one of those combined department store/suprmarkets being prosecuted for intentionally bagging goods without scanning them when their friends came shopping.
I agree. Honesty is my default setting, so to speak, but there are times when it is not always for the best. I avoided hurting my boss' feelings the other day by avoiding her question about something. I felt there was nothing to gain by answering honestly.
If you're going to lie, you need to be very good at it. The most important part is doing it on the right - and limited - occasions, and the second most important is being able to have contingency plans in place to prevent the lie backfiring.
The reason for using lies on limited occasions is because the more lies you have to manage, the greater the complexity and therefore the greater the potential risk to yourself. The contingency planning protects you in case you've miscalculated the risk.
In short, lying frequently and carelessly is a very poor policy. For people like this, honesty is the best policy, because it's actually less damaging to themselves overall, in the long term. However, if you're generally an honest and upstanding person, a rare lie becomes a powerful weapon to deploy in your favour because the risk is relatively low compared to the benefit, esp. you calculate how to cover yourself too.
99.9% of the time, the lie isn't worth the potential risk. But don't blind yourself to the other 0.1% of the time.
The reason for using lies on limited occasions is because the more lies you have to manage, the greater the complexity and therefore the greater the potential risk to yourself. The contingency planning protects you in case you've miscalculated the risk.
In short, lying frequently and carelessly is a very poor policy. For people like this, honesty is the best policy, because it's actually less damaging to themselves overall, in the long term. However, if you're generally an honest and upstanding person, a rare lie becomes a powerful weapon to deploy in your favour because the risk is relatively low compared to the benefit, esp. you calculate how to cover yourself too.
99.9% of the time, the lie isn't worth the potential risk. But don't blind yourself to the other 0.1% of the time.
I had a similar experience one. The cashier was ringing up my groceries and had some problem with the register. He fixed it, but the register must have reset or something because it erased about 2/3 of my groceries that he had already rung up. So when I was charged $20 for about $70 worth of groceries, I told him that couldn't possibly be right, but he just kept saying no it was right and he didn't see where the problem was. In that case I didn't feel so bad just taking the groceries and leaving because if someone could be that off in their estimations I didn't really want to argue with them.
I am always honest that way when it comes to ATM's. For some reason I am constantly finding cards left in the machine and the account info still open. I always take the card out and bring it back inside the bank even if it is a different bank then the ATM.
I think you're neglecting the throwaway lie here ... lying about things that are unimportant simply to be good at it. You don't have the complexities that come with lying about something of importance so the risk is still fairly low.
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