Honesty, no longer the best policy

Today i learned that being honest can do more harm than good.

After a long morning in Barkantine, i headed library to print out my ssm report which was due today at 5pm.

Hmm..2 copies of reports - checked; plagiarism declaration sheet - checked; cover - checked

Pheww..was relieved that i got everything nicely printed and ready to submit.

Slowly, i went up to the 6th floor of Dental institute and saw Ms Job (the person in charge of collecting our assignments) waiting in a small room by the entrance.
With a smile, she took my assignments and flicked through

"All right, you've got plagiarism form, cover, 2 copies of reports....where is the evaluation form?''
''Pardon?''
"The practitioner evaluation form that marks your performance at the practice,'' she showed me a sample of the paper she was talking about.

Dammit!I dun have it!!

''err..I din know we have this evaluation sheet. I din give it to my practitioner''
That was the truth, i swear.

She stared at me with the you-are-an-idiot look and said,''You'll have to speak to your practitioner about this and get him to fax the evaluation form over. I can't let you sign in until you have got this form back. It is part of your assessment.''

She then turned her back on me.

Since i didn't have the dentist's no with me, i had to rush back to my room to make the phone call.

................................................................................................................................................

Outside, it was raining and i left my umbrella in the room.Drat!

It took me 10 min to look for the contact no thanks to my messy room and another 10 min to connect to the dental practice. Yes, Bricketwood Dental Practice is a busy buzzy practice.

''Dr. Patel is away. He will only be back tomorrow. Can I take your message?"the lady on the other end of the line just trashed my hope.

"Could you put Dr. Liyanage on the phone, please?'' sounded desperate

"I'm sorry.There isn't any dentist available today. Dr. Patel is out for jury service and Dr. Liyanage is only coming back on Wednesday.Is there anything i can help?''

Bleak!

I was silent for a second but soon i recovered from my disappointment and told the lady the reason i called and the urgency of the evaluation form.

"I see you have to hand in your work by 5 o'clock. I will do what i can to pass your message to Dr. Patel but i can't guarantee you will get it back by today. Anyway, I'll fax it over to your uni when the dentist has signed it. What is the fax no?"

''owh..can i call you back later coz i dun hav the fax no at the moment.''

Again, i dashed out of my room without realising that i left my swipe card and assignments behind.

It was simply silly to run all the way up to the 6th floor jz to get the fax no. but i guess that was my punishment for being so careless and unorganised.

After i gave the lady the Uni fax no. i thought might as well submit my work since i was there. To my horror, my assignments were not with me! I was so in a rush that i forgot to bring them along...arghh!! No choice...had to run back n get them. It was still raining hard outside and i forgot my umbrella for the second time.

Only did i realise i 4got my swipe card too as i was running towards Floyer. Honestly, i felt like stabbing myself with a knife at that moment.

Anyhow, God still loves me. A familiar lanky figure appeared far ahead.

ASH!!!!!!!!

I screamed on top of my voice.

Panting and gasping, i ran to her. I wanted to hug her to show her how grateful i was when i saw her but i din have the time to do so.The clock was ticking! If i din get my work signed in by 5pm i would be doomed.

Quickly, i grabbed my papers and of coz, swipe card, headed Dental Institute for the third time around.

Guess what i 4got this time....umbrella? correct and one more....MY BAG!

So you can imagine how devastated i was as Ms Job asked me to call the practice again for their fax no. when in fact my mobile was left in the bag.

The rain poured heavier as i was sprinting back to Floyer. I wonder if the sky was grieving for me.

"We have been having problem receiving fax with the machine. I can only fax out but not in. Anyway, i'll give you the no. if you want.''

Sigh!

At least, they have a fax machine which can fax out.

I looked at the clock, 4.25pm. 35 min to go before the deadline ends.
This time, i checked if i've got everything with me - handbag, mobile,assignments,swipe card,keys and the last thing, umbrella.

......................................................................................................................................

"So, you have got everything complete now?" Ms Job threw me a sharp look.

"Erhmm..sort of...i spoke to the dentist. He said the earliest he can fax it over to you is tomoro...''

"Did you fax the form to him?'' she interrupted.

"No, i din. Apparently his fax machine can only fax out, not in. But i have given him all the details on the evaluation sheet.Only that the format wont be exactly the same.''I explained

She looked at me skeptically, as if i was making up a story to cover my ass!!

''I need to speak to Dr. Islam and ring the practice to find out what is exactly going on. You wait there for a moment. I'll get back to you as soon as i've spoken to them." she disappeared with a box of papers and the register.

Tick tock tick tock...I was left sitting in the room for a good 20 minutes, keeping my fingers crossed that everything went smoothly. After all, i just wan to hand in my coursework.
Is that too much to ask for??

.............................................................................................................................................

"Right, Dr. Islam said he will get in touch with the dentist tomoro to get it sorted out. And now, you can sign in and leave your papers with me. The time is 4.50pm.''

What more can i say?Signed the register, clutched my bag and went off as fast as i could.

Just before i left the dental institute i bumped into some of my course mates. I was told many people actually forgot about the evaluation form but they got away with the excuse that they misplaced it and were going to hand it in some other time. Some of them didn't even bother to go in for work placement and fabricated the evaluation.

I was speechless. Guess I would have got away easily like them as well if i did not tell Ms Job the truth. All the troubles i had just gone through could have been avoided if only i were not being so frank in the first place.

Honesty is the best policy.

Says who?

I told the truth but i paid a big price for doing so. They lied but they got off scot-free. How ironic!

In reality, masters of deception survive better.