I’ve often wondered the following: Is it moral to lie in order to preserve a secret, in a situation where refusing to answer cannot preserve the secret? I think there exist a continuum on whether someone is blatantly lying to you or simply withholding information in order to preserve the integrity of a secret they may have or even something that is simply none of your business. There does not exist a finite answer on this subject and each situation has to be carefully analyzed.

One really has to analyze the kind of relationship they have with the person they suspect is lying or withholding information. Are you friends where the information they are “withholding” is simply just not any of your business? Is the information they are withholding contrary to your personal belief system which in turn effects (in their opinion) your relationship with the person. Is this information vital to your personal well being or the well being of people you care about? Are you business partners where the information is vital to the success or failure of your business, which in turn may directly affect your personal endeavors?

I mention this after being a victim of the latter…. but it was much more than that and I’m deeply involved with the person on a personal level as well. I was always warned, perhaps rightly so, not to mix friends and business… friends do not make good business partners I was told… Being warned a countless number of times, I have done just that. I do not have any regrets and it has worked out to everyone’s advantage thus far. Each one of us has brought something to the table that the others clearly lack. I was just made aware of some vital information that was unknown to me for over a month. I was led to believe a situation existed that in fact did not exist. I was allowed to worry over things that, if I had known the information, would have freed my mind much easier of the burdens we are facing. Honestly, I can not say that I was lied to, because I was not. Information was withheld from me that I should have been made aware of.

When can you claim to be an honest person if you are withholding information from important people in your life? Is there a continuum of honesty, or is a lie a lie? Is your resistance to telling people what they need to know considered a lie in itself? I continue to remain uncertain about the answers to these questions, there are too many variables to consider. My advice to anyone who may be engaging in this activity to ask yourself: Does this person really need to know, would you tell them the truth if they knew the questions to ask? Think carefully when you speak and when you act, people effect others more than they realize.

Or at least return phone calls and/or emails… It simply amazes me how many people in the business world do just that: not answering emails or phone calls. I do not consider myself a flunky or tire kicker, I own or have interest in several pieces of property… When I ask a question or need something of a realtor, would it not be to their benefit to at least acknowedge I called?

We made an offer on a house and garage apartment that was accepted… due to our interaction with the current owner and his apathy towards having any gutters on the house, we decided to have a formal inspection done on the house. I scheduled an appointment with K&B Pest Control and Home Inspections on Monday (which by the way are top notch, very nice to deal with). I notified our real estate agent that the inspection would be done on Friday… and for him to please acknowledge he recieved my message…. and that we were clear to have the home inspected on Friday.. I called every day and still did not hear from him. Friday comes (today) and the occupants of the house understandably refused to let the inspector in the unit to do his job. He also called our real estate agent along with myself and no answer.

To say the least I am very disappointed…. Everyone knows how important I feel about having a winning team.. We are looking for a competant real esate agent and thought we had one. We were under the impression, in the beginning, he would be an asset to our business endeavors…. Because of his apathy towards our goal of buying this house and garage apartment, he may have just lost out on a signifcant amount of commissions during the lifetime of our business… not to mention “bad blood” that will exist for the unforseeable future… We have 14 days to have the inspection done and the clock keeps ticking.

On a side note, I have been trying unsuccessfully to have the leasing office of Pullman Square contact me about an inquiry…. she has yet to cal me back after repeated attempts… Is the economy so good that one can ignore phone calls and leave emails unanswered….. ?

I must say I love the idea of having a virtual assistant… I use them often to proof read articles I have written, or sometimes, if qualified, use them as ghost writers. I also use them to make up for my deficiencies in certain computer languages. Often I can quickly pay someone to figure out a problem that I am having that would take me hours to figure out.. The only problem I have sometimes is hiding the part of the code that I do not want the coder to see…. These are smart people and they can quickly see what I am up to, replicate it and outperform me.. and I don’t want that. I am a fan of scriptlance, elance, getafreelancer with elance being my favorite. I consider myself to be a general contractor in the internet world.. sometimes you need an expert to figure out something.. Someone who is committed to one thing and does nothing else.
Another plus; I do not have to share the toilet in my office, worry if they are hot or cold or any of the other aggravations of a permanent employee.. Wow, we live in good times!