My company offered free tickets to a minor league ballgame for free. I asked if I could get some for a certain date, and I never heard back. So, I assumed they went to someone else. Now, a week later, I get an email from an Admin “how was the game?” Now…
A) Should I be honest and say I never received word the tickets were mine (and waiting at the ticket window)?
B) Should I say the game was great and let the matter slide?
C) Other?
If I lie, will they know the tickets sat at the ticket window unclaimed? I don’t want to be caught in a lie. Do unused tickets get trashed? Or, will they resurface somehow, perhaps as refunded tickets for another game…and my employer will know? Also, bear in mind I am a new employee in a small company, and I don’t want to make any waves. I’d rather forget it because it’s just not worth discussing.
Why lie about something as trivial as this? You did nothing wrong.
IME, Honesty is the best policy. That way you do not have to remember the lie, so you can keep your story straight.
Besides, if the “powers that be” catch you in a lie, they will judge you to be unreliable, which is not going to be a plus for your “upward mobility”. In my industry, you would get fired for such a lie.
Tell the truth and go with Option “A.” You’ll make far more waves if you are caught in a lie at work.
Rules of Life:[ol]
[li]Do not lie.[/li][li]If you disregard Rule #1, do not lie at work.[/li][li]If you disregard Rule #2, do not lie about anything that is verifiable.*[/li][/ol]
*For example:[ul]
[li]Telling your boss that you feel ill when you feel fine is not verifiable. Nobody knows if you are feeling ill or not.[/li][li]Telling your boss that you were seen by a doctor when you weren’t is verifiable. Your employer could always get a bug up their ass and ask you to prove it. [/li][/ul]
True story: My sister once told a lie at work (at a hospital) years ago that snowballed out of control. She missed work for some stupid reason and told her boss it was because her (and my) niece had died. :eek: (She hadn’t.) She apparently didn’t think this through, because her employer wanted to send their condolences for the funeral…and things went downhill from there. Not only did she get fired, but she was basically unemployable in the area after that fiasco. :rolleyes: She ended up having to leave the state to get another job, and is apparently consigned to the home health care industry for the rest of her career.
Don’t overlook the possibility that in fact the tickets did go to someone else, and the “how was the game?” e-mail was sent to you in error. If that’s what happened, and you pretend to have attended the game, detection of your lie is highly likely.
I agree with the other respondents; I cannot see any reason why you would be hesitant to tell the truth here. What is it that you are afrai of?
You answer back that you never heard back from your request and didn’t realize the tickets had been assigned to you. If this wasn’t an error they might want to look into how they inform employees about the details of this perk. You don’t have to tell them that, but informing them that you thought there’d be a reply should be harmless.
And if it causes a problem, at least now you know you have a real reason to be paranoid about interacting with your employer.