Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Whether it is a client, vendor, employee or business contact, at some
point in your business career, someone will lie to you. Your vendor will
promise to deliver and fail. Your customer will promise to pay and they
won`t. Anticipate it, and you can at least limit the harm.
In a previous business, my partner was in negotiations with a vendor and
was pitched a deal that just sounded "to-good-to-be-true". My partner
told the vendor that he would need my OK to close the deal. I gave the
vendor a call to discuss the details but before we began, I asked the
vendor for his permission to record the conversation since "I am forgetful
sometimes". Of course he obliged but somehow, when I mentioned the
deal he spoke of earlier to my partner, he denied any knowledge of it. Of
course, any deal should be ultimately put in writing with signed
acknowlegements. But sometimes, to get a meeting with you, or to just
limit competitors, people/vendors will say and do anything to get you to
talk to them.

WHAT?!! They Will? No way....!

I wonder if understanding that things don`t always go the way you planned them isn`t part of what used to common sense? I read a news release, a couple of years ago, that Common Sense passed away. I wasn`t sure at the time, but as we`ve moved through the ensuing years, I`m starting to think....maybe it`s true?

What ever happened to things like honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, respect, and a whole slew of similar ideals that seem to have been tossed to the wind?

It`s a shame that these days, people seem to consider whether they can get away with certain things rather than whether it`s right to do them in the first place.

Imagine trying to do business with just a handshake today?

(I know there are many out there who have worked long and hard to build a good reputation for themselves. Wouldn`t it be nice if they could all band together and squeeze out the bad apples?)

So, Lesson #1: People WILL lie to you.

Lesson #2: They WON`T think twice about it.

As for common sense, sometimes I think it may be on the Endangered Species list...

 

 

-------------------------

Rosanna Tussey
Owner
New Mexico Candle Co.
http://www.nmcandleco.com

Actually, you`re talking about a symptom....or an effect...of the deeper issue of values and traditions, culture and social organization. The whole "family values" debate and even conservative politics revolves around your observations.

Many people believe that older people always grumble and complain, and always say that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. By making that statement, they can avoid actually determining if the world really is changing.

But as a philosopher, keeping an eye on history, America is indeed changing. It`s a process that`s taken about 100 years, and we`re now in the "end game" of the overall trend. It`s why we`re re-hashing today, the same discussions we had in te 60s, then previously in the 30s.

Values are under attack, mostly by the so-called academic philosophers. They`ve been trying to bring about a belief system where nothing is valuable, it`s all relative to the "eye of the beholder." The trend has been going on for decades, reaching a pinnacle in today`s universities.

They`ll say to you, "What`s a lie? What`s truth? Isn`t truth a matter of opinion? What`s one person`s truth is another person`s lie. Who`s to say?"

For conservatives, such an assessment would point to a pathological liar who truly can`t distinguish reality and truth from illusion and lies. But for today`s academic professors, it`s claimed as "free speech," and "freedom of expression" relative to "having your own opinion."

That is so true!

However, the notion that right, wrong and truth are relative to the individual seems to take the backseat once such a "free-thinker" has been treated unfairly in some way. Then they want justice.  How ironic.

 

-------------------------

Rosanna Tussey
Owner
New Mexico Candle Co.
http://www.nmcandleco.com

LOL! Why yes, indeed. It reminds me of the many gun-control people who want us all to "just get along." Then they have a home invasion and some violence one night, and next day, they`re out applying for a gun license.


It`s amazing how quickly feel-good beliefs change when there`s a difference between those beliefs and reality.

honor and integrity don`t seem to mean as much as they did "way back
when"... just take a look at all the head honchos of those fortune 500 co.`s
going down for being greedy... they bring a whole new breed of regulations
that never existed before.

Exactly.  We end up regulating ourselves to death, and at the end of the day, these schemers still find some work-around or loophole to bide them more time as they suck the life out the companies they are supposed to protect. Catch them if you can, but the money has been spent.

So not only do we have to deal with these "snakes in the grass", but we find ourselves also trying to anticipate whatever scheme they will think up next in order to protect ourselves and our investments, which borders on the impossible.

So what exactly happened to honor and integrity? Did they leave on vacation and decide not to return?  Where can we go to catch up with them?

It used to be that you didn`t have a good name, you had nothing at all. Today, you can just change your name once you have damaged it beyond repair.

 

 

-------------------------

Rosanna Tussey
Owner
New Mexico Candle Co.
http://www.nmcandleco.com

An ongoing philosophic (as well as political and legal) debate is whether or not it`s possible to legislate morality. People say, "Well, ya can`t legislate morality," but tend to imply that it`s just not a good idea. But it actually does ask about the fundamental possibility.

No, it isn`t possible. Totalitarian governments have tried throughout history to "force" a morality onto a citizenry, and it simply fails. Lots of people get killed who don`t follow the rules, but there always are rule-breakers to follow on their heels. Why?

The most reasonable explanation is that morality is a function of the intrinsic process and structure of the human mind. And a morality that includes free choice of action is the most in alignment with the natural workings of that mind.

Morality is an articulate statement of the policies and rules any individual uses in their interaction with life, experience, and reality. So it isn`t about whether or not a morality exists; it`s rather an issue of examining each person`s morality---stated or unstated.

We can continue to try an regulate each new set of actions, by every individual who causes harm to anyone. The end result will be a legal code that matches the population of the country, and separate legal codes for every separate nation on the planet. We`d need some really good administrators to handle that amount of paperwork, though.

What would be even more interesting would be how someone would hire an attorney. If everyone has their own legal system, their attorney would have to study that person`s individual legal system entirely for each individual case. The code would then also have to have all statutes, all punishments, and all penalties listed, for that individual person`s actions and all possible actions.

Nah...it wouldn`t be TOO unwieldy, right?

Shocking!!  People lie????  Really???  Can we get that Duh with a big D or a little D?  There is a saying about that, believe what you are told but check your facts.  Especially true in some places more than others.

-------------------------

Dale
www.ourbestidea.com
www.maskerinsurance.com
www.maskercreations.net