Do you ever get frustrated by the outright lies you get told? I thought I’d share one of my favorites now that it has been several years since it happened.
A client of mine had a young team member, Jess (not her real name), taking a lot of time off work to help her grandmother, Fran (not her real name either) who was very sick. Then Grandmother Fran died. Jess took 6 days off work as (so she said) she had to arrange the funeral because it was all really horrible with the family… and her grandmother was going to be buried at Midland cemetery on Wednesday and the funeral was going to be at Bowra and O’Dea… and… and… and… (I could go on with the details).
However, what Jess didn’t know was that I knew her grandmother quite well. Fran wasn’t dead. It was a complete fabrication. An elaborate fabrication with so many details it was incredible.
Needless to say, Jess didn’t last long working for my client after that. She resigned a couple of weeks later. No need to wonder why. It’s so common for someone to lie and then leave.
Why am I telling this story? Because most of your team members are honest. And sometimes a small few of them won’t be. Your job is to encourage your team to be honest with you at all times. Perhaps we have to tell them this when we interview them for the job in the first place.
Incidentally, about 2 years later, Jess’s grandmother passed away for real and I was privileged to attend Fran’s funeral. Guess who was there? Yep, Jess was there. The funeral was wonderful, full of laughter with the family there to celebrate her long life.
Did I say anything to Jess? Yes, I did. I went up to her and reminded her who I was, and that I really loved her grandmother. But I left it at that. A funeral is not the time to call out the bad behavior of others.
By Linda Steele
If you would like some assistance with your business, contact Linda Steele and Steve Hansen on 0417 940 501. We can show you how to get things DONE.