Yes is a yes

I know a young man who wants to be a mate on my boat. He is constantly calling me wanting to go fishing and he often offers to wash and wax or otherwise work on my boat and/or fishing tackle. He is an excellent fisherman/mate and would be a tremendous help to this old man, especially at the end of the day when it comes time to clean the boat and the fish. His problem is that he is unreliable. One time I scheduled to pick him up at 6:00 A.M. to go fishing. He did not show up or call. After waiting for an hour, I called him and he had overslept. The reason he overslept was that he had gone to Miami the night before and had not arrived back home until 4:00 AM. Why would anyone schedule a trip to Miami that would last until 4:00 AM all the while knowing that they were scheduled to go fishing at 6:00 AM?

That incident in itself almost ended our relationship, but he is a nice kid otherwise and I allowed him this mistake figuring his daddy was AWOL when it came to training this young man and shaping his character. A few weeks later he told me he was going to come over to my house and change some line on some of my reels. He said that he would be there in about an hour. Needless to say he did not show. I saw him a week later and I asked him what was up with him telling me he would be over in an hour and then I do not hear from again for a week. He said, “It hasn’t been a week, it has only been about three days”. Duhhh! What kind of thinking is that? Three days, a week, one day, “darn son, three days is not an hour!” When I was a kid I saw my brother do very similar things. Once I heard him tell a friend on the phone that he would be right over to go to a movie with him. He hung up the phone and went directly to bed.

The trait I admire most in employees is honesty and right below it is reliability. I absolutely cannot stand for someone to lie to me and I detest unreliability. I’m always early to appointments and would consider it to be an insult to the person with whom I have an appointment if I were to be late. To do so sends a message that their time is not as important as mine. I believe that one must do what they say they are going to do at all costs and if for some “worthy” reason it becomes impossible, then by all means one should immediately and “personally” call the person and explain the situation. I know plenty of people who make a habit of always being late and if someone wants to put up with it they must tell them a time earlier than they really desire for them to be there in order to get where they are going on time. I will not voluntarily be around such a person regardless of their good traits.

A companion to unreliability is lying. The Bible tells us to let our yes be a yes and our no a no. “Thou shall not bear false witness” is number nine on the “big ten”, (commandments). God takes lying seriously and so should we. If someone lies to me, they can tell the truth for 100 times and I still always wonder if they are telling the truth “this” time. People make mistakes and it is human to do so. Lying is one mistake that I cannot just administer discipline and go forward. If someone lies, it is all over with me for the first incident. I cannot remember ever allowing an employee who was caught in a lie to remain employed with our company. I taught this concept to my kids and try to preach it to employees. At the end of the day if your word is no good, your life will be no good. It is vitally important. If you make a mistake, own up to it and take your medicine. In no way will telling the truth and admitting to making a mistake be worse than trying to lie your way out of it and end up getting caught in your lie. Lying ALWAYS makes a situation worse. The Bible tells us that God cannot lie and satan is the Father of lying, and there you go

Titus 1:2
In hope of eternal life which God,
who cannot lie, promised before
time began.