# A work reference lied about me, could this be an issue? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482 "2016-08-30T14:44:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/1 "2016-08-30T14:44:19Z")
There was an IT project I worked on last year that I joined several months after it started. I recently had my former boss write me a reference letter for another job, and in it, he claimed that I worked the entire length of the project. Could this be an issue for me? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/2 "2016-08-30T15:42:18Z")
Not if you keep your mouth shut. ---
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/3 "2016-08-30T16:26:40Z")
If you can have plausible deniability about the content of the letter, I agree with **QuickSilver**. Just keep your head down and feign ignorance. If it is ever addressed, then yeah, I’d probably correct the assumption. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/4 "2016-08-30T16:52:51Z")
A work reference was \*mistaken \*about your involvement. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/5 "2016-09-01T06:14:24Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > If it is ever addressed, then yeah, I’d probably correct the assumption. By saying _“Actually, I joined that project a few months after it started. The boss just remembers my contribution as so essential that he must have thought I had been there all along.”_ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/6 "2016-09-01T13:54:44Z")
I suppose it depends a lot on whether the project was a widely recognized disaster and anyone associated with it is tainted for life versus it was a smashing success and everyone involved is a rock star hero for life. I second the motion that, regardless of the above, the boss was _mistaken_. If, and only if, the issue comes up at all. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/7 "2016-09-01T14:48:02Z")
“I think he just meant that my contribution was the entire reason for the project’s success. It’s an easy mistake to make.” ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/8 "2016-09-01T14:52:40Z")
But FWIW, I’d be careful with your tendency to ascribe bad motivations to an innocent and trivial error (“lie” instead of “mistaken”) without solid evidence. [Hanlon’s Razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor) is a good philosophy to live by. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/9 "2016-09-01T14:52:45Z")
You should make clear that you essentially contributed nothing to the project, call your old boss an idiot and tell the prospective employer that you hope your new boss will be smart for a change, unlike the string of morons and bitches you’ve worked for in the past. Then, pull out a cigar and ask for a light. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/10 "2016-09-01T14:57:03Z")
If most people saw that they’d characterize it as a simple mistake or even as a small good will gesture or gift since being on the project the entire time looks better than being a temporary participant. Maybe he didn’t want to go to the trouble of looking up the exact months of your participation. People do this kind of thing all the time Calling it a “lie” with all the negative connotations that implies is a bit odd. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/11 "2016-09-01T15:19:05Z")
I think the OP is making a little too much of it. Most prospective employers don’t analyze everything down to that level and would never notice any discrepancy. If - if and when - they ask any question about that letter or that project, slipping in a gentle correction will reflect well on you. If the situation were the other way, that you were a charter member of the project and the letter only credited you with part of that effort, you could only correct it by looking like a jackass. So it’s all in your favor, whether passively or if needfully, gently and humorously corrected. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/12 "2016-09-01T15:39:36Z")
You could use it as an example of honesty and say that your boss exaggerated a little and you were’t there right on day one. If nitpicking detail is important to this new job maybe that would help, but if not it could make you sound pointlessly obsessive instead. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/13 "2016-09-01T15:50:51Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > You should make clear that you essentially contributed nothing to the project, call your old boss an idiot and tell the prospective employer that you hope your new boss will be smart for a change, unlike the string of morons and bitches you’ve worked for in the past. Then, pull out a cigar and ask for a light. You left out the part where you tell him that if you _had_ been involved with the project from the beginning it would have been an even bigger success, and finish up with “Their loss, your gain-Am I right?” ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/14 "2016-09-01T17:02:11Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > You should make clear that you essentially contributed nothing to the project, call your old boss an idiot and tell the prospective employer that you hope your new boss will be smart for a change, unlike the string of morons and bitches you’ve worked for in the past. Then, pull out a cigar and ask for a light. Man, the people at my old job were TOTAL NAZIS. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/15 "2016-09-01T17:43:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You left out the part where you tell him that if you _had_ been involved with the project from the beginning it would have been an even bigger success, and finish up with “Their loss, your gain-Am I right?” Go on with “I was the smartest guy on the team, in fact, the smartest guy at the company. I was the best, and I AM the best. Just ask anyone. And BTW, I’m running for President.” Seriously though, if a boss has responsibility for several projects, is s/he really going to be aware of what month/day you started? It’s not his job to closely monitor your time, only your results. And clearly he was impressed with your results. Your co-workers might be able to pinpoint when you joined the project, but this level of detail is not something bosses should need to care about. Every time he looked in on a meeting or read a report, you were there or your name was on it. I wouldn’t even call that an exaggeration or (for purposes of your interview) a mistake. He stated it the way he remembered it at the level of detail warranted by his position. To further belabor (because I’m in a belaboring kind of mood), yeah, he could have asked someone for the detail, but clearly it wasn’t an issue for him. Now if the project had been going well and right after you joined the team, it began to derail and wound up in a pile of smoking rubble, he might have remembered in excruciating detail, \*"Oh yeah, it’s coming back to me now… the project was roaring toward a brilliantly successful finish and then \*\*boffking \*_joined the team. :smack: I remember it was right before Christmas because when I got the bad news I was so mad I decapitated with my paper cutter the IT Barbie I had bought for my daughter. The project went straight down the tubes and the lawsuits started coming in right after New Year’s."_ Be glad he doesn’t have that level of detail about you in his memory. Thank you for indulging me. I’m having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Picturing headless Barbie cheered me up. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-work-reference-lied-about-me-could-this-be-an-issue/764482/16 "2016-09-02T15:16:17Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > You should make clear that you essentially contributed nothing to the project, call your old boss an idiot and tell the prospective employer that you hope your new boss will be smart for a change, unlike the string of morons and bitches you’ve worked for in the past. Then, pull out a cigar and ask for a light. Other than changing “cigar” to “joint”, exactly correct.