I've seen it more often that I'd like. It's not just co-workers, but I've caught supervisors in lies too. Drives me nuts. I try to treat everyone equally with a blank slate. Lie to me, or lie about me, and I won't ever trust that person again. Sometimes, it ends up getting pretty messy. Examples:
1. First job out of college, a job at a stock brokerage that I took to pay bills while looking for my first "career" job. I was an administrative assistant (AA). A senior AA started taking longer lunches, cutting into my time, as I wasn't allowed to leave until she returned. At first, it was just a few minutes, which was fine - stuff happens once in a while. But it became a regular event, and my lunch break time wasn't shifting. Then it started being 10-15 minutes, leaving me only 15-20 minutes of my 30-minute lunch break. And then she started coming back at the end of my lunch break - taking her half hour plus my half hour. I finally said something to the broker I primarily reported to. Sure enough, that day, she left at her appointed time, and didn't come back until my lunch break time was over. The broker called her into the office, and apparently, she tried to lie and tell him that she hadn't been coming back late. He called her out on it, and I could see her face getting red and her hands waving around as she tried to wiggle out of it. He wasn't having it. She finally walked out of the broker's office, stormed directly over to where I was sitting, and before I could do or say anything, she slapped me as hard as she could across the face with the entire office - and some stock brokerage clients - watching. You could have heard a pin drop in the moment that followed. The broker flung his door open, and the broker in charge of the office suddenly made himself available too. We both were told to get into broker's office, the Senior AA started trying to lie and say that she hadn't been taking any long lunches, etc., started to say this "whole thing" was *my* fault, and the broker I reported to basically told her to shut up - he'd seen the whole thing. I was sent home for the rest of the day (with pay) and told to report back the next day, and they would figure out whatever they were going to figure out. The next day, I was told we would both get to keep our jobs, but that we had to be more cordial to each other. I'm sure the expression on my face was **** - so I was then told that in the future, if the person who had lunch break before me started to routinely take my break as well, to let the broker know. As far as I know, the Senior AA had no penalites applied to her either.
2. Left the job above to start my first "career" job. I wasn't that thrilled with the salary offered. I asked if they could increase the offer, and I was told that the amount offered was the absolute maximum for that position title. I took the offer, and then six months later, found out that another person, who had been hired at the same time as me, by the same person, for the same team, with the same job title, responsibilities, etc... had been hired at about 12% higher salary than I, despite my credentials being better. Poor guy was so upset, because I helped him a lot, and he thought I had to be making more than he was. When I confronted the manager, I was informed he was given a higher salary because he was a man, and if I hadn't liked the salary offered, I shouldn't have accepted the job. My response was that I had only accepted it because I had been informed that was the absolute max for a new hire, which was now an obvious lie. I ended up having to mention that what they'd done was illegal; they countere with increasing my salary to just under what my male coworker had started at. They laid out a "plan" where it would take about 2 years for me to get paid the same as my male coworker, because it wouldn't be fair to immediately pay me as much as him, since he was expecting a baby soon.... let's just say my days there were numbered, and they were pretty unpleasant.
3. It's not just employers or coworkers. When I tried to get a mortgage, there weren't many lenders willing to underwrite a mortgage for a young couple with only a year of job history. To get the loan, the lender required that I sign a statement that I would not get pregnatn for the next two years, since my income was going to be counted in their loan underwriting process. I thought that might be illegal, but they said it wasn't. Found out afterwards that it most definitely is illegal to require a loan applicant to essentially sign away their reproductive rights for any period of time.
Anyone wonder why I try to double-check pretty much anything anyone tells me, if they haven't already earned my trust?
