Everything I Learnt About Life I Learnt From TV

Part One, Honesty

We’ve all been in embarrassing situations before, and sometimes the best way out of it is to lie. It sounds mean and kind of immoral, but using the truth could make you look like a dick and hurting someone’s feelings. For example, I once ran into a guy from high school whose name I couldn’t remember. We talked for a little while, and ended up getting the same bus. Before his stop, he said that we should exchange numbers. Perfect, right? I gave him my phone and said that he should enter his details because I wanted to make sure I spelt his name correctly. He looked at me funny, but took the phone. Wanna guess what name was written on the phone? Ron*. Yep, three simple letters. I was embarrassed, but said “I meant for you to write your last name” and hoped that it wasn’t Smith. We talked for a couple of times after that. With a simple lie, an embarrassing and hurtful situation was gone.

But sometimes, lying or omitting the truth can make you seem stupid, and honesty is the best policy. In an episode of Modern Family, Mitch was told by two of his colleagues that the office dresses up in costume for Halloween. When Mitch arrived in a Spiderman costume, it turned out that it was only those two who dress up, and they are the laughing stock of the office. Luckily, Mitch had a spare suit in his boot (or trunk) of his car and put that over the top, but it was very uncomfortable. On his way into the office, his boss pulled him into a meeting. Instead of telling the boss the truth, he went along and was eventually found out in a very public and embarrassing way.

As I’ve said before, these situations are great to laugh at because they are a show. But if this happens to you in real life, be smart and be honest. If Mitch was a real person, he should have owned up right away to the boss and told him that the two tried to trick him into wearing a costume, maybe to humiliate him, maybe as a prank on the new guy. Because the boss already hated the costumed “tools”, the boss would go easy on poor Mitch. If you’re in a similar situation coming clean straight up can solve a lot of problems and embarrassment, and can even turn into a funny story down the line.

Kathy



*name was changed for the story, totally not because I can't remember his name. 

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