I used to love it when the phone would ring. It meant a change of pace and the chance to interact with someone. Or at least it used to. Now, more often than not, it means frustration or anger or both. No, the bill collectors aren’t on my case. Those calls might be an upgrade from the ones I do get. I don’t have an ex-wife so it’s not that either. No, these calls always begin the same way – “may I speak to the manager please.”This is followed by an immediate disclaimer – “we’re not making a sales call. This is only a survey.” Now, with a background in research and the occasional need to conduct some, I like to hear how surveys are done so I generally continue the call. Do I find it curious that the person on the other end has a heavy Indian accent and the call is clearly not coming from right next door? No! The world is flat, right? Outsourcing is a fact of business life. I mean, the fact that a non-native speaker of American English might miss nuance in my answers or be unable to understand any questions I ask that use idiomatic U.S. language is THEIR problem, not mine. Besides, I’m on every Do Not Call list there is – this must be a legit survey!
“Sir, do you have a web site?” Why YES! Oh good – a survey about the web!
“Is it fruitful?” OK, now we have an issue. Fruitful, as in “be fruitful and multiply?” Are you asking if my site is a Trojan horse site that’s infecting people? Nah, that’s probably not what you want to know. OH! Is it generating revenue. “Not directly, it’s not a transactional site.” “What? I don’t hear what that is.” Ah, quit being so hard on the guy: “Not a store, but it does help people understand what my business does, so YES! It’s fruitful!”
“Oh wonderful. You are thinking for new design?” Things are going downhill here. This is not a survey, is it? “No, I’m not.”
“Sir, you must talk to manager. He will send you codes to make new design – it will cost you nothing.”
I’ll spare you the 5 minutes of evisceration that followed as well as the references to Better Business Bureaus, states’ Attorneys General, and Do Not Call registries. But I will remind you that starting a business relationship off with a lie is a bad way to begin and generally negates the chance for a long and…um…fruitful relationship. Besides being unethical, it’s dumb, and I try never to do business with folks of either sort. I just want them to go away.
By the way, here is a column you might find of interest – it calls for an “ethics czar.” What do you think?
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Consult Keith 
Hear, hear. I could tweet about this all day long, and sometimes have. Ethics, integrity, the golden rule. Where and why have we lost our way, and why do we think that people will have such short memories that they won’t remember? We define ourselves by who we are, what we do, and how we show up. And that’s not about the title on our business card.
I often think that my five year old has a better grasp on these issues than many 50 year old business executives. My job is to keep it that way.
Keep on, Keith. Best to Susan.