adminput on Zimbabweans that forced each person in the country to tell the truth?
No Zimbabwean could lie. The things that we would hear would make all of us want to write a reality series show on the “bizarre occurrences”.
“Sir – I used your car to Kariba to pick up some kapenta for my party coming up this weekend, and while I was at it I swapped out your spark plugs with older ones from my friends van, and no I didn’t service your car. Here are the keys sir – have a nice day.”
1. Be brutally honest and you’ll keep
relationships open, don’t and people will hate you
I had a person that worked for me that I lent my car to. I told him to be back at 10:00am because I had an appointment at 11:00am. At 10:00am there was no sign of him and 11:00 came and his phone was off.
At 5:00pm he pulled into the parking lot with an emphatically stern face. I met him gracefully. I asked him where he’d been and this is exactly what he told me.
“I picked up my girlfriend and went to her house to relax. I wanted her to think that I owned a car.”
I looked at him in unbelief. At least he was honest, and we are still friends because of that honesty.
2. Dishonesty breeds scepticism that will infiltrate your business world
The problem with dishonest practice is that it breeds scepticism. When you’re dishonest you’ll expect everyone else to be dishonest.
When you feel like someone’s always ripping you off and when you do run into a naïve honest businessman selling carvings your memories of other people that have ripped you off, cause you to bargain with the honest person.
The honest person gets screwed and then another sceptical person is born. Think about it this way when it comes to your relationships.
If you’re in a business relationship where you and your partner operate on a bed of lies you’d better watch your partner like a hawk. If their bottom line of business is based on a violation of honesty, you better believe they’ll use that same value on you. Scary thought huh?
When you’re dishonest about a price, about profit margins or about the use of your time you are infecting the already open wound, we have in this nation where truth is but a personal perspective.
3. You always get caught out
I was selling a very old automobile and told a car sales lot in town to price it at US$4 000. We all agreed that the facilitation fee would be 5 percent. All good. I sent one of my friends to see if the car had any serious buyers and while he was there he asked the manager what price the car was going for.
The manager told him that the owner didn’t want anything less than US$7 000!
No wonder the car sat there for over four weeks with “pseudo buyers”. Now I’m automatically suspicious of car salespeople.
It’s not the mark-up that made me disappointed, it was the fact that it was done dishonestly and nullified our agreement for the former price.
Pigs want more food than they deserve and they’ll just keep on eating when it’s in front of them. Where’s the self-respect? Where’s the care for a “good name”? Since then I’ve told 15 people not to use that specific car lot because of the dishonest manager. I wish I could write his name in this article.
No – I am not bitter at all, because in most cases the dishonest person gets caught with his pants down and then looks like a fool when he tries to explain what happened. Don’t go to sleep at night wondering if the person you just lied to will someday find out.
Your imagination will run wild. It’s better to make an honest buck than a dishonest US$5 note. If you’ve been dishonest in the past – the Christmas season is a good time to change.
Online Reporter