Maya’s Own

Recently questions arose in a discussion about lies in business; more specifically when is it ok to lie in order to get sales, not big lies, just itty bitty ones. Is it OK to lie to keep the peace, or to avoid an argument?
A while back I went with someone to purchase a used car, the salesman assured us that this particular brand and model was such a good car even his wife drove one! The following day a friend was also told the same story about a different car, maybe the salesman had more than one wife!
Knowing this I hesitated and thought to myself that if he is so desperate to sell a car maybe his cars are not very reliable.
Look, it was a very small lie really, we made good fun of it but I did not buy a car from him.
How small is a small lie and how do you differentiate it from a big lie?

Someone suggested that small lies don’t hurt anyone but big ones do, this sounds fair, but say that you have a lot of small lies and those lies become huge:
“no I did not have sexual relations with that woman” comes to mind.

I would like to say I never lied, or never will lie again but I can’t, I may lie to save myself from some sticky situation or because the truth could be too hurtful, let the one who never ever lied cast the first stone.

What I can make sure of is that I will endeavor to be as honest as possible without compromising my safety, “Do I look good in this?” one question I would rather answer with a lie if I have to.
We all tell lies, small itty bitty ones on a daily basis, if someone asks you:
“How are you today” do you answer
” I feel awful, my head hurts and I just don’t really want to talk to you, also I think my boss wants to fire me…” no, you wouldn’t dump like this on anyone, you just smile and say:
“I am very well, thank you”.
In this case are you an awful liar or just being sociable?

We seem to accept that it is OK for some people to lie to us, politicians, people in the media and advertising, after all you can’t really believe that you will end up looking like Paris Hilton if you buy her perfume, or that you will be dating that super model what’s her name if you use a certain deodorant. We are sold lies and we know they are lies, but we like to pretend otherwise.