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why are honest people so dishonest?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by IFixEm, May 11, 2006.

  1. IFixEm

    IFixEm New Member

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    So this 06 scion TC shows up at our doorstep on Monday am. Nobody knows anything about it. The glass roof is shattered, the hood and R/F are caved in. About 6-7k damage is my guess. Wednesday customer calls and states he has already contacted scion customer relations and wants the car fixed. He was driving in Seattle, 60 miles north, at 2:15 am when he states the brakes failed...they went striaght to the floor...twice. He hit some gaurd rails and other fixed objects. Additionaly he is upset because the SRS did not deploy. Since it was Toyota's fault he called a "buddy" who has a tow truck in Olympia and had it towed here to the dealership. He did not contact an SPD officer for a report. SPD did see and tag the car but since the customer was waiting in a more convienient location he did not get an oppertunity to speak directly with the police. He did not want his insurance contacted because the incident is Toyota's fault. He is active duty military and I belive they still hand out dishonorable discharges for DUI. 4 days later there is still a faint alcohol smell in the vehicle. Toyota sends a field rep to inspect the car. No ABS codes and no mechanical pressure loss from brake system. I have my own ideas of what happened. What are your thoughts and why is it that normally honest people have no problem lying if there is money to loose, or a piper to pay.
    Regards, Mike
     
    #1 IFixEm, May 11, 2006
  2. San_Carlos_Jeff

    San_Carlos_Jeff Active Member

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    I'm curious why you think this person is normally honest? IMO someone who would stoop to this kind of fraud is going to be dishonest in many other aspects of their lives.

    Edit: Just noticed your user name, I like it :)
     
    #2 San_Carlos_Jeff, May 11, 2006
  3. IFixEm

    IFixEm New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(San_Carlos_Jeff @ May 11 2006, 02:03 PM) [snapback]253712[/snapback]</div>
    I give everyone the benifit of the doubt. I am generally more happy that way. Eveyone is honest...just take a poll.
    Regards, Mike
     
    #3 IFixEm, May 11, 2006
  4. airportkid

    airportkid Will Fly For Food

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    The honesty formula is pretty simple.

    Except for pathological liars or others with certain types of mental or emotional disorders (OK, I realize this leaves only 3-1/2% of the population remaining, but to proceed):

    People are honest until honesty begins to injure their self interest.

    The threshold of self-interest injury people will tolerate before resorting to dishonesty varies, of course, from person to person. Saints will tolerate quite a bit of self-interest injury - losing a job, losing a lover, losing a home, if they believe being honest provides a benefit to a cause larger than themselves. Whistleblowers are saints.

    Most of us are not saints (unfortunately).

    If you ding someone's bumper and there are no witnesses, how many of us would leave a note? (I did - cost me $700 in added insurance premium. But my own bumper had been dinged by non-note leavers at times in the past and I swore I wouldn't be a scum bag like them).

    But all of us, even saints, will tolerate self-interest injury only so far.

    After that, the lies multiply.

    Makes for an exciting world to live in, to say the least!

    Mark Baird
    Alameda CA
     
    #4 airportkid, May 11, 2006
  5. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

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    people are so quick to blame the car for their own inability to drive. oh, wait till DH sees this one. he'll flip out...
     
    #5 galaxee, May 11, 2006
  6. Schmika

    Schmika New Member

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    OMG!!!!!

    Let me tell you there are lots of LIARS in the world. It is usually about self-interest.

    I constantly hear "Why would I lie about such and such" and I want to answer "so you won't get in trouble...DUH!!!"

    Regretfully, I am lied to so much I start thinking everyone is a liar (I still believe most people are honest)
     
    #6 Schmika, May 11, 2006
  7. Bill Lumbergh

    Bill Lumbergh USAF Aircraft Maintainer

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    I'm military, and I can tell you lots of military personnel are dishonest. They didn't join the military because they were honest and they chose not to adopt integrity once they were in.

    The military also has a drinking problem. Operations tempo and unreliable equipment takes its toll on maintainers and from the top down we're told we "work hard, so we play hard". Our base has 11 DUIs this year and we had over 30 last year, despite numerous programs in place to prevent them.

    Those of us in a position to do something about the problems the military faces usually do, but we can't babysit people 24/7.
     
    #7 Bill Lumbergh, May 11, 2006
  8. Mystery Squid

    Mystery Squid Junior Member

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    People lie out of FEAR mostly. THEN self-interest, which I suppose it's intertwined with fear, so yeah, fear and self interest....

    I, on the other hand, take perverse pleasure in telling the truth in uncomfortable situations... In most cases anyway...lol, there are sometimes when you should "white lie" to "ease" things through though.... :ph34r:



    Even when I'm fighting tickets, I do not lie, but rather out detail the cops, and/or frame the details... lol
     
    #8 Mystery Squid, May 11, 2006
  9. jared2

    jared2 New Member

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    More interesting question is:

    How are patently dishonest people able to convince millions that they are honest?
     
    #9 jared2, May 12, 2006
  10. mike0422

    mike0422 New Member

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    My guess is, if you can still smell the alcohol, he was very drunk. Perhaps he thought he was stepping on the brake and actually hitting the gas pedal. Either way he was not honest long before he got into the car that night, he told himself he could drink and drive without consequences.
     
    #10 mike0422, May 12, 2006
  11. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ May 12 2006, 11:26 AM) [snapback]254083[/snapback]</div>
    Excellent!
     
    #11 dbermanmd, May 12, 2006
  12. mikepaul

    mikepaul Senior Member

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    Actually. there's 'honest' and 'pathologically honest'.

    Honest people don't steal, but when God/fortune/whatever provides them extra change they don't run back and return it. Pathologically Honest people do.

    Sure, it's nice to think honesty is its own reward, but what if the reward for the day was the extra change?...
     
    #12 mikepaul, May 12, 2006
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