Wednesday, November 19, 2008
On lying.
One could make a case to call me an individual with grey toned morality. I generally believe that lying has its place and time. Given that I'm not entirely sure why I feel so built up over the last few days.
The story goes something like this:
I've been waiting on the Navy. I started applying back in May, when I graduated. I grabbed an office job in the meantime to bridge the gap between getting my diploma and getting passing my licensing exam. I passed my licensing exam in August. This is where the problems started. I needed a Physical Therapist (PT) job but I was also getting married in the middle of October. After October I thought (which was my first mistake) that the Navy would have made a decision by then and accepted me.
The timeline in my head went something like this: diploma, office job, license, temp PT job, married, temp PT job, Navy Officer School, Navy PT job.
It has gone like this: diploma, office job, license, no PT clinic wants to hire me because I'm waiting for the Navy, married, no one wants to hire me because I'm waiting for the Navy.
So I decided to look at permanent jobs and travel positions (which are usually for a set short amount of time). Here is my dilemma:
1. The travel job is 1.5 hours away and starts December 15th.
2. A permanent clinic wants me if and only if I am committed to staying there for a significant amount of time, i.e. bail on the navy. They haven't specified what that time is but if I agree I can start immediately.
3. I'm still at the office job.
4. The navy says I have been "professionally recommended" and am in the "final selection" process. There has been no answer as to WHEN I would be picked up, if ever.
Now what is my problem? Why not just take the permanent job? More importantly why did you ever tell them about the Navy at all? This is also why I mentioned the moral grey thing earlier. I feel like I would be lying by omission if I didn't tell them about the navy. I also feel like I would be lying if I just accepted the job saying that I would be committed to staying for a long time. This is really out of character of me. Since when did I care about something like businesses and jobs? Am I being professional or am I more scared of hurting other people's feelings?
The advice to me has been overwhelmingly: take the permanent job. I'm going to make a compromise here. I'm going to talk to the clinic and essentially say the following:
1. I really want the job.
2. This job has everything I want right now: outpatient post-op setting, supportive staff and competitive pay.
3. I would be awesome for this clinic: no seriously, I am friendly, polite almost to a fault, hard working and a quick study. I am morally grounded: I could have never mentioned the navy at all!
4. I am still interested in the navy: the benefits are some that I will not be able to find elsewhere and I would be a fool to turn them down IF they ever come calling.
5. The word if is important! I have no idea how long I'll be waiting for them and when they call me to join, if they even do, I might say no if I like the clinic enough.
6. The point is that I am being honest and went out on a limb to even try to convince you I'm worth the effort.
We'll see how that works out. Maybe I will be waiting around until December 15th for the Woodstock job? Will my honesty pay off? I hope so. Trying to be a good guy sucks something awful.
The story goes something like this:
I've been waiting on the Navy. I started applying back in May, when I graduated. I grabbed an office job in the meantime to bridge the gap between getting my diploma and getting passing my licensing exam. I passed my licensing exam in August. This is where the problems started. I needed a Physical Therapist (PT) job but I was also getting married in the middle of October. After October I thought (which was my first mistake) that the Navy would have made a decision by then and accepted me.
The timeline in my head went something like this: diploma, office job, license, temp PT job, married, temp PT job, Navy Officer School, Navy PT job.
It has gone like this: diploma, office job, license, no PT clinic wants to hire me because I'm waiting for the Navy, married, no one wants to hire me because I'm waiting for the Navy.
So I decided to look at permanent jobs and travel positions (which are usually for a set short amount of time). Here is my dilemma:
1. The travel job is 1.5 hours away and starts December 15th.
2. A permanent clinic wants me if and only if I am committed to staying there for a significant amount of time, i.e. bail on the navy. They haven't specified what that time is but if I agree I can start immediately.
3. I'm still at the office job.
4. The navy says I have been "professionally recommended" and am in the "final selection" process. There has been no answer as to WHEN I would be picked up, if ever.
Now what is my problem? Why not just take the permanent job? More importantly why did you ever tell them about the Navy at all? This is also why I mentioned the moral grey thing earlier. I feel like I would be lying by omission if I didn't tell them about the navy. I also feel like I would be lying if I just accepted the job saying that I would be committed to staying for a long time. This is really out of character of me. Since when did I care about something like businesses and jobs? Am I being professional or am I more scared of hurting other people's feelings?
The advice to me has been overwhelmingly: take the permanent job. I'm going to make a compromise here. I'm going to talk to the clinic and essentially say the following:
1. I really want the job.
2. This job has everything I want right now: outpatient post-op setting, supportive staff and competitive pay.
3. I would be awesome for this clinic: no seriously, I am friendly, polite almost to a fault, hard working and a quick study. I am morally grounded: I could have never mentioned the navy at all!
4. I am still interested in the navy: the benefits are some that I will not be able to find elsewhere and I would be a fool to turn them down IF they ever come calling.
5. The word if is important! I have no idea how long I'll be waiting for them and when they call me to join, if they even do, I might say no if I like the clinic enough.
6. The point is that I am being honest and went out on a limb to even try to convince you I'm worth the effort.
We'll see how that works out. Maybe I will be waiting around until December 15th for the Woodstock job? Will my honesty pay off? I hope so. Trying to be a good guy sucks something awful.
Labels: honesty, jobs, lies, lying, Navy, physical therapy, PT
