Tell the truth

A colleague revealed. "I try to speak the truth to everyone. So I don't have to remember what I told someone." The catch phrase was "try to." He was telling the truth again. At the workplace, there are times when we hide the truth. When we engage in such subterfuge, we are tread very close to a dark territory. I don't encourage such behavior, but I am also powerless to prevent it too. As a result, I become a silent partner in such activities. A few days back, I was in such a situation.

Everyone complaints about endless meetings at the workplace. This fact is evident when you try to book a conference room. Finding one during the peak hours is tough. The wise ones use the cafe for meetings. You can grab a coffee and a table. It is a huddle in the industry parlance. Sometimes, we see an empty conference room and occupy it. I call it squatting. It is similar to the Occupy movement with a slight difference. When someone turns up claiming they had booked the room, I apologize and move on, with the hope of occupying another conference room.

Now I would like to link back to the situation that I described before. I was meeting up with a colleague. As the floor was noisy, we just walked into an empty conference room. While the discussion was halfway through, a person turned up claiming the rights to use the room. My friend got up and muttered. "I don't know. These rooms are getting double booked. There is some problem with the software". He walked out. A perplexed me followed suit. I looked at my friend questioningly after we were out of sight from the rightful owner of the room. My friend winked.

It was a lie. First of all, the room booking has evolved by leaps and bounds over the years. The double booking is in the past. There was no need to invent an implausible explanation. Why do we have to lie? Secondly, all of us struggle with this simple issue. Coming out with the truth will only make the other person empathize with us. There is a fact we overlook all the time. Small lies add up to big ones. Do we want to be known as a big fat liar?

Photo Courtesy: Alexa LaSpisa