‘It’s dishonest’, ‘No it’s not. It’s wisdom’, ‘It’s just withholding of information… not telling a lie’. This was the argument back and forth at my adult Sunday school class. It was becoming heated and the class was divided. Divided between the business owners who felt withholding information to a customer was dishonest and those who said it was just being wise. As I sat quietly, listening to all the views being shared, I wondered what I would do if I found myself in their shoes.
Let’s review the experience that led to this conversation.
Tinu was a trader who sold fresh vegetables at the nearby market. Most of her produce were straight from the nearby farm her sister owned so she had a steady daily supply. She was known as the fresh vegetables woman because buyers could always trust that her vegetables were straight from the farm and healthy.
One weekend, she couldn’t meet up with getting her daily supply from the farm because her truck broke down so she decided to buy from a nearby supplier whose products were slightly cheaper but not as fresh and healthy as her sister’s. She certainly didn’t want to disappoint her customers especially as it was a weekend.
As usual, her shop was full of people asking for fresh vegetables and who were willing to pay a premium for it but somehow, she felt uneasy because she knew she was not selling her usual fresh vegetables and she was even going to make additional profit on them.
Should she let them know that the vegetables were not her usual fresh and healthy ones? They probably wouldn’t notice the difference if she did not tell them. Should she sell them at a slightly cheaper price (maybe call it a one-off discount) and forfeit the additional profit she would make? Well, that may raise some questions or give the impression she was being generous (which was not true either).
How about just telling them the truth? But wouldn’t that put a dent in her reputation for selling only fresh vegetables? Besides, some of her customers may just go over to Nkechi’s shop — her neighbour and biggest competitor. She desperately needed to sell off those vegetables that day otherwise they’ll go bad and she would most likely make a loss.
Put yourself in her shoes. What would you do?
