Honesty

[redprospector]

I attended a class on integrity that was taught by a government employed attorney. He was teaching that integrity was a relative thing. What I considered to be wrong may not be wrong to someone else.  ??? During the question and answer part, I asked what an attorney that works only for the government actually knows about integrity.
One test of honesty that I believe The Good Lord gives us all from time to time is when we go to a fast food joint, or convenience store and they give you change for a 10 when you know you gave them a 5.

[coxy]

terrifictimbersllc,if I said grits was great my Father would climb out of his grave and kick me in the seat of my pants and tell ne not to lie. I am not upsetting him again.  ;D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Woodboogah]

That was one of my parents biggest things with us.  If they were asking us if we did something most likely they already knew the answer.  If we lied and they found out we would get in more trouble for lying then for whatever it was they were questioning us for.  If we just out right told them and not lie we would not get in trouble.

[Holmes]

My go to question to myself is " what is the right thing to do?"

[goose63]

I absolutely agree. And for those that think no one is looking, there is.

The man up stares is all ways looking
and santa too

[Billbob]

I consider myself an honest person but my wife is even more so.  Several times over the years we have found articles laying in a parking lot that were purchased by someone else.  My wife would grab it and return it to the store.  She says that "someone has paid money for that item and would want it.  Besides that if we don't do what we know is right, something bad will happen to us down the road".  She is a strong believer in karma and so am I.

[cinnabar]

This reminds me of when I had a job working in the Middle School lunch room, i.e. lunch lady.  When I was a new employee, the only training was on-the-spot to learn the computer code-in system.  This is a bit nerve racking with 800,    hungry,  walking hormones coming at you in an hours time.
Goes without saying I messed up the first week.  :-\  When the boss asked who had entered the non-existent codes, I just said, "that would be me".  The other lunch ladies all looked at me, jaws dropped, they were amazed that I was so honest to fess up to the errors.  Just normal to be up front and tell the truth, was way I was brought up.  Plus, I got a little extra help on learning the codes. Gets you ahead eventually.  Not to mention being truthful with them, they would know what kind of person I was.

[Magicman]

Not to mention being truthful with them, they would know what kind of person I was. 

Nice story. Had you not been truthful, they would have still know what kind of person you would have been.   :-\

[LeeB]

Quite a few years ago, I had a $6MM train wreck at work. Myfault. I told the truth to the best of my knowledge about what happened to my employer and to the authorities that came to investigate. Because I was honest about the whole thing, I remained employed and no repercussins toward me.

[Red Good]

You don't have to worry about where you are when you stand on the truth . Red

[Gary_C]

Insurance companies and their lawyers are exempt from the truth. Or so they believe.

So I hope some one is watching, and keeping score.

[chain]

A somewhat distrustful Society of which we live in today had evolved from very honest, hard-working pioneers. The honest person is one who will try to find and report ALL their income to the IRS. :D

A employee's wife works and demands cash payment, no checks, she says, "so we can qualify for food stamps". :-\ 

Guilty dogs bark longest, loudest.

[thecfarm]

I ran a forklift at work. And I run into things.  :  But I would go tell the boss what I did. Sometimes it cost a few dollars to fix. But I kept the mechinacs busy. Poor guys. I did hear once through the grapewine that something got run into and bent,Wasn't Ray,he would of came and told me. I just did it so I would not get in more trouble. It was not a big deal to do damage,the big deal was not telling someone about it.

[martyinmi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWu0N0qPeME

Here's one of my favorite Billy Joel songs.

[Alcranb]

Better to fall on the sword and tell the truth than to be buried in lies and mud on the face.

[r.man]

Like most people I find myself tempted by things, especially when you know there are no repercussions, but whether it is behavior, or the chance to acquire something that I am not entitled to I have always managed to resist mostly by saying to myself  "that is not who I am." The black and white issues of the world are easy but there are a lot of grays that can be tempting. I once put 30 dollars worth of gas in my car in a town that I had never been in before and would rarely get back to and when I went to pay I found the door locked. I could have really used the 30 that was owing but it wasn't my money anymore. Had to bang on the door a few times and then gesture numerous times to get someone to come over and talk to me so I could pay my bill and tell them the pumps were still turned on. There is an interesting game called Scruples that deals with gray areas very well for anyone who enjoys board games with friends. Can be very enlightening.

[SawyerBrown]

One can never say that you can "get away with" something because no one is watching, or no one will ever know.  Someone is watching and someday each of us will be held accountable.

To me, though, it's about sleeping at night.  Possessions are one thing, but if I don't come by it honestly, I don't want it, because my gain will result in someone else's loss.

I just can't get my mind around how anyone can live with themselves if they're not honest

Yesterday I went to a neighbors to cut a few logs ... it was terribly muddy and I ended up burying truck and mill ... and we spent a couple of hours with 2 4-wheel drives getting to higher ground.  When I went to set up, there was a problem with the mill, the details I won't get into here. The customer felt terrible and offered to pay for half the repairs, but I knew it wasn't his fault, and in fact it was absolutely my fault (I had backed into it in the dark with my trailer a few days earlier).  I could have easily taken his money and he never would have known the difference, but I would have!  It would have been no different in my mind if I'd walked into a bank with a gun  ...

[red oaks lumber]

back in the day i worked in town at a large tool and die shop. managment position, there were days i just didnt want to work so, i'd call my boss and tell him i'm not coming to work today . why are you sick? he'd ask . no just don't feel like working there today. he'd ask again and i'd still say no i'm not sick if i was i would tell you , ijust don't want to work there today. he always asked why not just call in sick? because that would be a lie and that would make me a liar ,which i am not 
few years ago has a customer put 1/2 down on a job paid cash gave recipept a few weeks later job was done builder pick up the material so the customer put a check in the mail. the dollar amount was for the whole bill, i called them and told them they over payed, after several minutes i just decided to agree with them that they were right. the next day i put a check for the amount they overepaid in the mail, never heard another thing about it.
honesty is always the best policy(old saying)

[timberlinetree]

Couple of times we had costumer order 2 cords of wood. We had a 1 cord truck. After dropping the first load they would try to hand me the check for 2 cords and say " see you next year" and I would tell them " I'll see you in an hour, you have one more cord coming".

We had an employee once and all he would do is lie so we called him story teller. Kinda felt bad for him.

Mom always said "don't lie, cheat or steal" and that's our family motto. " the truth will set you free" was another one she would teach us and boy is that the truth!

[Freedom6178]

I just had an oops at work the other day. A part didn't fall out of the mold and did some damage when the mold closed on the part(bent some pins). I didn't know there was damage done at the time. We had a meeting 2 days later and we were asked if anyone knew what had happened. I raised my hand and explained what happened the plant managers attitude completely changed he was very happy I admitted to it. They have walked out a few people for not admiting they damaged something or outright lied when there was proff they did it. I always goto my super when I know I messed up. The truth is so much easier for everyone