I will start this by acknowledging that people lie. That’s a fact. When it comes to friends, it’s a given that all of your friends will lie to you at various points in your friendship. However, there are some who feel lying to you constantly and repeatedly is an okay thing. I have a friend that I will soon fire as my friend spends a lot more time lying to me than telling the truth. In this friend’s case, they are bad at lying; it’s painfully obvious when they are lying. On rare occasions, they may slip a lie by me, but not that often. I would put this friend in at least the Top 10 Bad Liars category, maybe even the Top 5 Bad Liars list.
Each person has their own list of what will get them to fire a friend. A few people I know won’t fire a friend no matter how bad the friend treats them. Others will fire a friend over a perceived slight.
In my opinion, I believe you should trust close friends to lie to as little as possible. This friend has decided lying to me as much as possible is acceptable to them. They also lie to their spouse, children, numerous family members, and friends. I don’t why this friend thinks it’s okay to lie to people as much as they do. I was raised to tell the truth. That doesn’t mean I don’t lie, but I keep my lying to as little as possible.
In this case, firing my friend will cost me more than it will cost them and no doubt they will come up with some lie explaining why we are no longer friends, no doubt blaming me with some lie to explain why the friendship ended. However, I will only put up with so much lying and I am willing to deal with the high price it will cost me.
One of the biggest problems with lying is the lack of trust issue. I have been in relationships with liars. In one case, the liar was much worse than my friend. That liar was probably #1 on my Top 5 Bad Liars list. I did a test one time with this liar and every time I pointed out a lie they said, they came back with why it wasn’t a lie. I stopped the test after over 20 times when the liar came up with immediate responses of why each previous lie wasn’t a lie. I eventually dropped them as a friend.
The above applies to friends that aren’t close, but I tend to drop them a lot faster than a close friend. With co-workers, I wind up documenting things to cover myself. Had a few co-workers who would say that I said something, sometimes within my hearing range. I would point out I hadn’t said whatever they claimed. I have no problem admitting to things I said. I am careful about what I say because I don’t badmouth supervisors behind their backs. This includes supervisors who aren’t my supervisors or in my direct chain of command. That’s a quick way to burn bridges you may need later.
Ups Downs Family History 