When Your Boss Expects You to Lie

I've had a couple of lay-offs where being honest probably played at least some role. In the first, the pressure was to use the wrong reliability model for hard drive components (didn't fit the data), and the end of the story was that three months after the RIF, the company got hammered by that same failure mode, even worse than I'd predicted. In a second, I was let go in the aftermath of the company deciding they could unilaterally ignore certain product specifications if the company thought the customer didn't "need" that spec to be met. Neither company survived, FWIW.

In both cases, I think I dodged a bullet. Imagine my lack of employability if my name were attached to a willfully "optimistic" reliability estimate or deliberate deception for this--and the second company did a lot of military sales as well. It could have gotten ugly. Even if the deception wasn't caught--and the odds are pretty good that it would be--I could have been the last sailor on a sinking ship, which isn't terribly good for one's career, either.

From the perspective of evangelism, it's worth noting that in the first case, when my boss at the first company told me that I was being let go, he noted that in the end, you're left with your character. He understood fully what I'd done and why. (it was a few levels up that wanted to cut corners....)

Moral of the stories, I guess, is to do your best to have a "get lost fund" so that when your management tells you you've got to violate Exodus 20:16 as a condition of employment, you can say no without letting your kids starve. It can be a powerful witness.

Bert Perry wrote: From the perspective of evangelism, it’s worth noting that in the first case, when my boss at the first company told me that I was being let go, he noted that in the end, you’re left with your character. He understood fully what I’d done and why. (it was a few levels up that wanted to cut corners….)

I think I wasn’t that clear in my own situation. One of my first summer jobs after high school was an in-homes direct sales “opportunity.” The training included a playbook of absurd exaggerations. I figured that since I’d do the spiel alone, I could fix that. But then they told us one day we were all going to go to a mall an illegally bestow fliers on all the car windshield wipers. Well, maybe not illegally. It was mall policy.

Ditched that job. I’ve always been pretty ‘marketing averse’ ever since. I couldn’t sell a product I thought was overpriced and that most people I’d try to sell it to really couldn’t afford. I wanted to say, “This is not for you” to almost everyone. Some jobs are incompatible with truth telling.

....was that you that dodged the flying chef's knife during a Cutco demonstration at my home....? :^)

(No, never had Aaron in my home to sell Cutco, let alone tried to kill him, but when a Cutco representative did come by, my roomate and I pulled out our hunting knives and shocked him by duplicating most of the tricks they did)

There is a lot of gray area here. Misleading is a bit different than telling a lie. I would argue that most sales jobs involve an element of misleading. For example, if you are selling a product and you don't spend the same amount of time telling the customer the bad things about the product as you do the good, is that misleading? Technically your focus on the positive elements of the product could cause the consumer to guess a wrong conclusion. If you tell the consumer that the used car they are looking at is great, solid and no documented problems, and everything runs well. But you conveniently leave out that the last 6 that you have sold of the exact same brand and model have come back with transmission problems, is that misleading? The fact that 6 came back is not a true indicator of the future reliability of the current car, but it does carry some weight from a statistical perspective. Are you obligated to say that this model sometimes has problems? You could go as far as proactively rebuilding the transmission prior to selling. But that might cost more than the car was worth. Of course you can cover yourself by saying, it is sold as is. I think there are some black and white lines for misleading, but there is also a lot of grey, that makes it challenging.

My dad made his living in sales (Foxboro process equipment), and he likes to note that it was a good fit because in the time he worked for them, they were in effect the Buick-Cadillac of the industry (until Rosemount really got good). There were some competitors that he wouldn't sell for, and along the same lines, I've heard car salesmen and others say "I will not sell that to you--yes, it's in my catalog, but I will not sell that to you.".

That would be for truly inferior products, and for those where there are known disadvantages, I've seen as a rule that it's generally best to concede at least a portion of them. For example, if I'm trying to sell someone a Chevy Cruze, it's best to admit that it's not a Civic or Corolla, but that with good care and no accidents, you can easily get ten years and 200,000 miles out of it--and it's cheaper. A lot of times, what people are looking for is a good basic system, and you'll turn them off if you present a "Chevy" system as a "Caddy"--more or less "I know this is a good basic system, so if you sell it as if it's exquisite, you're telling me you don't know your business.".

Bert Perry wrote: For example, if I'm trying to sell someone a Chevy Cruze, it's best to admit that it's not a Civic or Corolla, but that with good care and no accidents, you can easily get ten years and 200,000 miles out of it--and it's cheaper.

Just thought I'd mention that my 2013 Chevy Cruze has 330,000 miles on it.

Bert Perry wrote: ….was that you that dodged the flying chef’s knife during a Cutco demonstration at my home….? :^)

😀 Caught me.

Kevin Miller wrote: my 2013 Chevy Cruze has 330,000 miles on it.

That should be Hall of Fame or something. You do a lot of DIY maintenance?

dgszweda wrote: There is a lot of gray area here. Misleading is a bit different than telling a lie. I would argue that most sales jobs involve an element of misleading.

I don’t really see any difference, myself. Which is why I can’t market, I suppose. I

dgszweda wrote: For example, if you are selling a product and you don’t spend the same amount of time telling the customer the bad things about the product as you do the good, is that misleading? Technically your focus on the positive elements of the product could cause the consumer to guess a wrong conclusion.

I see what you’re saying. Even the term “misleading” has a pretty wide range of meanings. And I’m probably a hypocrite on this. I totally believe in leaving out the negatives when it’s to my advantage. My reasoning (rationaization?) is, in part, this: you can’t say everything all the time anyway. People have limited attention spans and attention levels and are going to cherry pick from what you say, anyway. So, if I have to select what info to include, what are the criteria for selection?

But there are some important ethical questions: How much weight do the negatives I’m omitting have? What’s at stake? How much further-research burden realistically falls on the hearer? and so on. So there’s a personal responsibility assessment and, overlapping with that, a potential consequences assessment. Conversationally, you have to do all that really fast and pretty much subconsciously, so I really think being a “lover of truth” is what should characterize Christians. That drive would be disabling in some kinds of work.

Along the same lines, I took an Acadia to 339,000 miles, which also stunned the mechanics at the dealership and my own son-in-law, a trained mechanic. Good things happen when you listen to people who know their business in the auto shop--and when you don't drive like a maniac. :^)

(also a 1985 Buick Skyhawk to 162,000 miles--with Chicago salt--a 1997 GMC Sierra to 272000 miles, and a 2001 Chevy Venture to 262000 miles...this could be a fun side topic)

Bert Perry wrote:

Along the same lines, I took an Acadia to 339,000 miles, which also stunned the mechanics at the dealership and my own son-in-law, a trained mechanic. Good things happen when you listen to people who know their business in the auto shop--and when you don't drive like a maniac. :^)

(also a 1985 Buick Skyhawk to 162,000 miles--with Chicago salt--a 1997 GMC Sierra to 272000 miles, and a 2001 Chevy Venture to 262000 miles...this could be a fun side topic)

My mechanics have also expressed surprise at how long it's lasted. I don't do any of my own maintenance, not even my own oil changes. Plus, my Cruze is still getting over 30 miles to the gallon.