Recently I had to go pick up a parcel from the post office as the delivery company left me a note to do so as there was no one available when they arrived at my home. I thought this would be pretty straight forward and when I arrived the person scanned my slip and proceeded to look for the item in the back. She then came out trying to clarify what company I got the package from as she couldn’t find it. It was clear she couldn’t immediately find it and so she actually told me it wasn’t there. I thought that was a lie but had no issue going the next day.
When I went back a day later it was the same employee and she then told me today she can actually spend time looking for it. Clearly with that point she wasn’t truthful the first time and makes you wonder if it is a wise thing to do. I can imagine other types of businesses like a restaurant lying to the customer that they are sold out of certain items because they simply don’t want to prepare it for whatever reason as an example. Would you think that is okay rom a customer’s perspective?
In the end she did find the item. I was thinking though, if it was an item I was expecting and needed immediately then I would have probably insisted that they find which would make it look odd afterwards I would imagine. In that case it wouldn’t have been good to lie about it versus just being upfront and asking if one could come back another time as an example.