Summary

A father recounts his experience with his daughter's elaborate attempts to lie about breaking her tablet, revealing insights into the nature of lying and the importance of honesty.

Abstract

The article "Six Truths Nobody Tells You About Lying" by Smillew Rahcuef narrates the story of the author's 10-year-old daughter who intentionally broke her tablet and tried to cover it up with a series of lies. The author, a former Apple repair shop employee, uses his expertise to deduce the true nature of the damage, which contradicts his daughter's fabricated story. Despite her efforts to manipulate evidence and feign outrage, the daughter's acting skills and subsequent online research to support her lie are no match for her father's professional experience. The situation escalates with emotional outbursts and further deception until the daughter finally admits the truth, implicating her younger brother who had actually broken the tablet and struck a deal with her to take the blame in exchange for his chocolates. The article underscores the complexities of lying, the emotional toll it takes, especially when involving loved ones, and the importance of understanding the motives behind lies.

Opinions

Lying effectively requires research and good acting skills, but it is difficult to maintain a lie, especially to someone who has expertise in the area of deception.
Lying can lead to feelings of guilt, particularly when the lie is directed towards someone the liar cares about.
Mixing truth with lies can make deception more convincing, but it may not stand up to scrutiny by those with relevant knowledge or experience.
The motivation behind lying, such as protecting someone else or personal gain (e.g., the daughter's deal for chocolates), can be a driving force in the decision to lie.
Persistence in lying, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, is a common strategy among those who are trying to conceal the truth.
Emotional manipulation, such as crying or shouting, can be part of the act to sell a lie, but it may not be sustainable or effective against a discerning observer.

Six Truths Nobody Tells You About Lying

My 10-year-old daughter broke her tablet yesterday.

She broke it intentionally.

At first, she tried to cover it as an accident because she thought it would be easy to lie. But I worked in an Apple repair shop for 18 months a few years back.

I can tell the difference.

Truth #1 — Do your research before lying

I confronted her. Kindly.

She told me what happened and I explained that the angles and the specific lines of damage to the screen looked like someone had smashed the tablet hard on a table.

“Would it be possible you got angry after something and smashed the tablet hard on your desk?” I asked.

I tried to be as kind and comprehensive as possible. After all, I smashed a few things myself over the years. Nevertheless, she cried.

And then she surprised me.

Truth #2 — You will feel bad about lying to someone you love

She said she was crying because I didn’t believe her.

“HOW COULD YOU NOT BELIEVE ME?” she shouted. And then she started crying again, even louder. “GO OUT OF MY ROOM,” she screamed.

It was intense.

I almost believed her. But we have been to improv classes together for a year now. I can recognize her acting style.

Anyway, I didn’t want to hurt her pride and left the room.

Truth #3 — Good lying requires good acting skills

She came to me 40 minutes later and said she was sorry for yelling at me. It’s just that she got angry because I didn’t believe her. The broken tablet was an accident, she still insisted.

“Let me see the tablet again,” I asked.

Someone had tampered with the tablet in the meantime. The cracks on the screen had different patterns now.

I realized my daughter had added some to cover the original ones.

I could still see something was off because of how the corners looked. Three of them were indented in the same manner, while the fourth one was intact.

I had never seen such a pattern in my three years of experience as a repairman.

Truth #4 — Lie till the end. Never give up

“See! I checked online,” she said, “these crack patterns mean the tablet fell as I told you before. Why wouldn’t you believe me?”

I was impressed. She had searched online for the “correct” crack patterns. But instead of lying about it. She was telling it to my face. Except she had searched for the “correct” crack patterns to modify the tablet accordingly, not to confirm her version.

Very clever.

Truth #5 — Cover your lies with some truths

“Nice try,” I said, “but I’m a professional repairman; I can see what you did. You can’t trick someone with ten years of tablet repairing experience.”

She tried crying and shouting again, but I stayed in her room this time, silent and waiting. I knew she didn’t have the chutzpah, or the acting techniques, to throw a fake tantrum for long.

“It’s not me; it’s [her younger brother].” She finally relented.

“He got mad and broke the tablet, as you said. He smashed it hard on the desk. And then, he was afraid you’d be mad at him, so I told him I’d take the blame.”

Truth #6 — Always start with why you want to lie

So, I confronted my 6-year-old son.

My daughter had told the truth. What she had forgotten to mention was the deal they had made. She was supposed to get all his remaining chocolates in exchange for taking the blame.

I can understand why. I’m eating the chocolates as I write this article, and they’re delicious.

Smillew is a Medium liar who writes about work-life balance, his Medium newsletter, and his Medium referral link. No need to follow him; he’ll show up in your feed.