It may be a white lie, but it’s still a lie
The phone ringing in the next office pierces the silence like a crack of thunder. Your assistant answers the call and asks who it is, then pages you to see if you want to take the call. It’s that same customer you’ve talked to three times this week because of a billing dispute. You ask her to tell the caller that you’re not there.
That’s a lie… you are there. You may be busy, but you are there. So how can you justify your anger when you call a customer and you are told they aren’t available? If you use lies, fibs, or half-truths to avoid customers and vendors, it will happen to you in return. That’s how the universe keeps everything in balance.
One Moore Thing: Stop lying to your customers. There may be times you are too busy to take the call, and if that’s the case, tell your assistant that you’re in the middle of something and you’ll call the customer back when that task is done. Then do exactly that.