This morning I have been ruminating on the white lies we tell every day, and what they really mean… for example:
“I
really enjoyed our date tonight. I’ll call you.” = “I would rather take a
bath in a tub full of razor blades than go on another date with you."
“My
Phone Died.” = “I was screening your call.”
“I
have homework.” = “I have other things I would rather be doing than
whatever it is you are suggesting we
do.”
“It’s
not you, it’s me.” = “It’s you.”“We’re
just friends.” = “We’re just friends that make-out sometimes. And I
fantasize about having children with him/her. And he/she might be in a
backup position if this relationshipdoesn’t work out.”
“I am
____ years old.” = “I just subtracted x number of years from my actual
age.”
“I
love that movie!” = “I never saw it.”
As easy as our culture has made it to lie about everything
from the real color of our hair to where we were last night, when it comes to Lawyer/Realtor/Client
relations, there is no game… it should always be truth.
Perhaps you have years of child support payments that you
owe that you were hoping might slip under the radar. Maybe you sort of fudged
the numbers on how much you owe on that recent judgment against you, or what
was agreed in your divorce decree. The list goes on…
Thor Roundy of EVN Law shared a story with me that demonstrates
the ways telling these kinds of lies can really cost you.
“One day, one of my partners came out of
his office screaming, ‘You can lie to your wife! You can lie to the police! You
can even lie to your bishop! But NEVER LIE TO YOUR ATTORNEY!!!’”
Later he came to find out that the client
was negotiating a settlement on a $700,000 judgment against him. He wanted to
negotiate for a $100,000 payoff—his reasoning was that there were 6 other
creditors with judgments who also had liens on the building.
“My colleague negotiated the $100,000
payoff, with the condition that the creditor receive proof of the other 6
judgments,” said Thor. “When he called the client to inform him, the client
stammered and confessed that they other debts didn’t exist anymore. As a
result, the creditor demanded payment of the full $700,000.”
You pay your
Lawyer, Realtor, and other professionals to represent you. The only way
they can do their job is with the facts that you provide to them. “I can
afford a million dollar home” is no substitute for “I wish I had a million dollar
home!” And “The mold problem was never that bad” is no excuse for
withholding the issue from your agent. When you hire a professional, save
yourself time and money by telling the truth.
