英语小故事第193期：A Little White Lie

Irene was angry at her boyfriend Rory. She was trying to make a business deal. Rory was not a business man. But she needed Rory’s help because she was a woman and business men, she knew, routinely lied to women.

“All you have to do is tell Mr. Lo that you are the sales manager for my company. What’s the big deal? It’s not like you’re in court raising your right hand and swearing to God. You’re just telling a sales manager that you also are a sales manager. That way he has respect for you. He doesn’t want to deal with someone who is ‘lower’ than him. You must be his equal. Then he will have respect for you, and he will tell you the truth. I need to know if he can ship 10 tons of copper to Long Beach every month. He told me he could ship only five. I think he is lying to me, because I’m a woman. But he won’t lie to a man.”

“Ha! You think men don’t lie to other men? Of course they do. But that’s beside the point. I am not going to misrepresent myself in what could be a huge business transaction—that’s fraud.”

“It’s not fraud; it’s a little white lie. Don’t be such a chicken!”

“I’m not a chicken, for crying out loud. I just don’t want to go to jail. You don’t know the laws, and neither do I. All I know is that I’ll be misrepresenting myself; you can call it a little white lie, but the lawyers who prosecute me will call it fraud. Maybe we can think of another title for me that isn’t a lie.”

“You want another title instead of sales manager? You want a title that isn’t a lie? I have a title for you—when you call him up, introduce yourself as my company’s Chief Executive Chicken!”