A well dressed lady with a basket came to the door of our new house. We recently moved and met most of the neighbors, but not all. “Nice,” I thought. “She brought muffins.”
No muffins but she said she was here to welcome us to the neighborhood. That’s nice too. She asked if we had a few minutes to talk. For a new neighbor? Of course we do. I offered her coffee or a la Croix. Everyone is a VIP at my house.
She started by showing us the county’s recreation activity catalogue then jumped into one of those free community magazines you can get in front of Harris Teeter.
“What the f–k is this?” my wife and I thought, “no muffins?”
She got deeper and started talking about select businesses in the area. Each talk accompanied with a typical pamphlet and a cheap trinket with the company’s logo stamped on it.
“Do you work for the town?” I asked.
“Yes!” she said, “Well, with the town. I work with the town and with these local businesses.”
It turns out each of these businesses paid to get into her muffin-less basket.
It also turns out that we will never go to any of these businesses because they invited themselves into our house under false pretenses.
Public affairs people understand the need to be forthright and truthful. Not everyone does.
Be careful of the people you choose to represent your organization. You have to weed out the people who think they’re doing you a favor by duping the media and public.
Pick your spokesperson well and educate them on the need for truth.
Word will get around about the fake muffin basket lady and her team of con-artists. Hopefully the small businesses she represents will not be too badly damaged. You can’t afford the bad news and organizational reputation damage that will come if you appoint a dishonest spokesperson.
Photo by Staff Sgt. Timothy Koster
