To Lie or Not to Lie

Yesterday something interesting happened when I went shopping at White House black-market.  I walked into the store and one of the salespeople there asked if she could help me with anything.  I turned around to to answer her question, and something occurred that had only happened one or two other times in my life.  I was face-to-face and eye to eye with another adult.  I couldn't hide my smile.  I said you're 4'9" too?!  I said it in such a way as to indicate that I was very excited to see somebody else that was the same height as me. I mean, we had something very rare and special in common here.  She said, with a note of displeasure that I didn't quite understand, "No,I'm 5 feet exactly."  Somewhat taken aback, I said, "but...really?"  I didn't say anymore about it and the remaining (somewhat uncomfortable), conversation was regarding clothes.  

Here's the thing, I was looking at this woman right in the eyes.  Not only was she not even an inch taller than I, she clearly wasn't 3 inches taller.  I was completely confused.  Is it possible that she had been measured incorrectly her whole life?  Or maybe someone wasn't telling her the truth?  It took me until almost an hour after I left the store to realize that she was lying about her height.  

This actually brings up a couple of issues.  The first one is the act of lying about yourself to begin with about such things as your height your weight or age, which never occurred to me to do.  The second thing is then, what do you do when you're face to face with somebody who knows right away that your lying?  In her case she just stuck right to the lie.  Which I think sort of made her look stupid and me uncomfortable.  Or was I at fault for embarrassing her even though it wasn't intentional?

Complete Transparency? I Think Not.

When the Air Force (DoD?) announced that it was planning an unprecedented number of personnel cuts for the coming fiscal year(s), I don’t think anyone was shocked. That said, there is a significant amount of stress that is placed upon people whose jobs are now uncertain. When these cuts were announced back in January, there was a fairly clear path forward and assurance of complete transparency in the process. Timelines, programs, numbers, etc., all seemed to reflect that. I think generally, the population affected had a good idea of what was to come. Good or bad.

A couple of weeks back, however, the Air Force slammed on the breaks. They “suspended” the processing of early retirement and voluntarily separation packages. The only tools that were out there that gave members any control over their own destinies. For people who wish to remain, or those like me who don’t exactly qualify for early retirement, but have served too many years to simply quit and lose out on a lifetime of benefits, we are left in a state of limbo.

Questions are being asked that go unanswered, rumors are running rampant. The general statement from “above” is to just keep doing the best job you know how as if nothing is different. Really? That’s incredibly easy to say when your job is secure. When you are afforded the opportunity to retire no matter the outcome. For the rest of us it’s a constant source of stress. Every day we are left to wonder what our futures are going to hold. Every night we lose sleep. It is getting harder and harder to keep a brave face.

There was a great line from the Princess Bride that really sums this up nicely, and I must thank my husband Eric for bringing up its relevancy to this situation. When Wesley was talking to Buttercup about the events that took place during his time away he explained…“Every night the Dread Pirate Roberts would say to me, “Good work, sleep well, I’ll most likely kill you in the morning…”.

Yep. That pretty much sums it up.