Lie Count

When I started working I was a naive, fresh out of college kid.  I assumed my coworkers always told the truth.  Why would anyone feel the need to lie to someone on his own team?  It seemed to me that sharing the necessary information with everyone would help the team to draw the correct conclusions and be able to help if needed.  Clearly, I knew nothing of the real world; the world of corporate politics, information hoarding, back stabbing, ladder climbing and watch your back paranoia.

I went on being naive for a couple of years.  Sure, I knew people might stretch the truth on how hard they work or how great their accomplishments are, but never would I have imagined what I have since discovered.

It only took one lie to set off my internal lie detector and leave it on permanently.  It all happened during a small meeting of just four people.  We were discussing a project one of my suppliers was working on.  That morning we had received an overly apologetic e-mail from the supplier.  I was wondering what had prompted such a response.  I had not yet contacted the supplier about the problem he was apologizing for.  I spoke to my commodity manager, she had not contacted the supplier yet.  Her manager had not contacted the supplier.  We all turned our heads to the remaining person in the room. 

"I didn't talk to the supplier", he claimed. 
"Well, I didn't, the commodity manager didn't, and yet something must have provoked this response", I stated accusingly.
I knew this person was prone to talking to my supplier behind my back, often making my job more difficult.  I had addressed that issue with him before.
He sheepishly replied, "Well....maybe I faxed them".

Faxed?  Really?

1. Who communicates via fax?  E-mail and phone are available and far more efficient
2. The overly appologetic supplier e-mail seemed to be a response from having been yelled at.  As the e-mail was not a reply to another e-mail, I'm nearly certain a phone call was made.
3. The liar would be more prone to a phone call as it leaves no record of the conversation.

I was left wondering why anyone would waste their breath on such an obvious lie.  Everyone will figure out you contacted the supplier, and if somehow this lie is not caught, what will be gained from it?  I pondered, if he would tell such an obvious lie, what else had this man spouted that was complete and total bullshit.

And so it began.  I started keeping a tally of his lies.  I heard four lies in that meeting alone.  Those were just the lies I knew to be false, things I could prove.  I'm sure there were more that went undetected.  The commodity manager and I discussed the "maybe I faxed them" lie and I told her how I was now keeping a lie count.  Soon the lie tally found its way to my whiteboard, coworkers learned of it and would tell me when to add to it from meetings they had attended with the liar.

Lies varied from big to small.  From having a huge impact on things to not even needing to be mentioned.  Some examples ended up in a file I created to help remind myself not to trust the liar, and partially as evidence for when things would go poorly.
Example lies include:

• "We could just print those here, on the color printer on the floor".  When questioned on the existence of this printer, "the color printer we use for [customer] labels".  Those labels are supplied to us.  Rather than verify his information, he fabricates supporting evidence for his original lie.
• Withheld information that a supplier had made a 4 cavity mold when a 1 cavity mold was requested.  When someone else started to share this information, he tried to stop them.  The mold being 4 cavities made the inspection report useless.
• When no progress was made on a project, something was made up so progress could be reported
• "I don't remember who said it, but they said that's how we ordered it the first time around"  Umm..this is the first time around, and you don't remember who because no one said it.

Before long half my whiteboard was covered with tally marks.

One day the liar brought a supplier to my cube with a question.  The liar asked about my whiteboard.  With the large label of 'Lie Count' there wasn't much I could say.  I told him, "I've been tracking lies.  It helps me know what to believe and act upon".
He questioned,  "Is that between all of us here  [indicating our facility]?" 
"Sure" was my one word response. 
I'm not rude enough to say "no, it's just your lies" in front of the supplier, as much as I may have wanted to. 

As the tally grew, the lie count became more and more conspicuous.  My manager asked me about it.  I explained what it was and how it helped me.  It had started as a joke and a curiosity, but I learned a lot from it.  I noticed the liar's patterns, which helped me recognize when he might be lying, despite my not having proof.  This allowed me to act accordingly.  Listening for lies even helped me pay closer attention during meetings.

My manager told me my lie count could no longer remain so public.  I wanted to ask, "could his lies stop being so public?" but didn't. And so the lie count died with over 350 distinct known lies in 5 months.  I still doubt most of what the liar says and I still hear obvious lies from him.  I recognize his back-tracking patterns and ocassionally I wonder if I'd still be naively believing the liar if he hadn't, "well...maybe faxed them".