“Even worse, it renders the actual truth to be incredible…”
Some time ago I delivered a new Somero Mini Screed C to a customer.
It was a distance from our premises, and I was driving in unfamiliar territory. I missed a main intersection I meant to turn at and finding a small gravel sideroad at the next intersection, I proposed to cut across there.
In the ditch on each side of the small road there was a glaring “No Exit” sign. Although the road was small, it did look well-travelled and maintained. I pulled up my google earth and upon further inspection I was sure the road went through.
It did go through and in fact, quite nicely. It served my purpose well and spared me from turning around on a busy road.
Why then, the “no exit” signs? Perhaps they lingered from a recent bridge repair or something, but more likely they were a ruse to discourage people from escaping traffic and taking a rural shortcut. Currently we have large “ROAD CLOSED” sign sitting at a local intersection. The road in fact is very open, but the sign is a vain attempt at routing drivers from using the road as the most convenient detour from a nearby bridge rebuild.
Both incidents are an example of what I call “the fallacy of strategic lying”.
Of course, the issue isn’t isolated to road signs. It is prevalent in our own industry. We get told the ready-mix truck is on its way when in fact it hasn’t been loaded yet. We get told the check is in the mail when the bill hasn’t been opened yet. We say we will show up next week to do the exterior slabs, when we know it will be a month. We tell the caller we will think about it, or send us an email, to get them off the phone.
Strategic lying is typically an attempt at deferring the inevitable. Even worse, it renders the actual truth to be incredible. A sign goes from meaning “No Exit” to whatever we want or hope reality to be. In other words, there may as well be no sign at all.
I have a friend who moved to a different part of the country and started a concrete contracting business. This guy does what he says he will. When he tells his clients that he will show up in 3 weeks and he follows through, they are ecstatic. They simply weren’t used to believing it.
We are all familiar with the maxim that a bad apple spoils the whole basket. One dishonest client will spoil the credit of 10 honest ones. I am reminded of this every time I visit a gas station in USA. The one element of trust we still enjoy in Canada is the privilege of pumping gas before we pay.
All of us have a desire to preserve our honor. The same desire should preserve our industry.
Concrete by its very nature is a symbol of truth. There is no sham, no pretense, it simply is what it is. It is a herald of unyielding strength and permanence.
We are trusted to pump gas before we pay, can the same always be said of concrete?
