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"But Boss, I am telling the truth..."
Posted by: William Amlong
February 20, 2008

"But Boss, I am telling the truth..."

     People lie.

     Supervisors lie to discredit employees whom they dislike. Co-workers lie either to shift blame away from themselves or to tarnish someone of whom they are jealous.

     Because most employers operate on a chain-of-command structure, whatever your supervisor says about you to his or her supervisor is likely to be believed: if the company did not trust the supervisor, he or she would never have been promoted.

     The thing about lies, however, is that they wither in the light of truth. Here is how you protect yourself.

     One, document, document, document. If you get any inkling that there is a controversy looming, or that someone is trying to set you up, not only keep good, contemporaneous notes, but confirm conversations in e-mails. For example, if your regional sales manager tells you to meet the competitor's price, even if that means going below your company's normal margins, do an e-mail that says that you just wanted to confirm that here is what the regional manager said. As much as possible, use exact quotes and keep any handwritten notes you have. In today's laptop world, the time stamp on your e-mail - even if it is to yourself, to a trusted friend inside the company, or, assuming it is not against company policy, to a friend...

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