Her first day at work went smoothly, meeting her new coworkers and settling into training for the new position.
At the end of the first week, Sarah’s new boss called her into his office.
“Sarah, I can see you have great potential here. In addition to everything else you’re doing, I have one other opportunity for you,” the boss said. “I need an inside person on the team, to keep their ears and eyes open and take notice of everything going on. At the end of every week, you can update me on all of the other team members.”
Sarah was shocked at the suggestion. How could she be asked to report on her coworkers? Wouldn’t that be speaking lashon hara on a weekly basis?
The boss continued: “If you can do this for me, I’ll make sure you move up the ladder. If not, I don’t see much of a future for you here. Give me your answer when you come in Monday morning.”
Sarah spent a restless Shabbat turning the question over and over in her mind. Should she accept the awful demand of her new boss or give up the job she worked so hard to get? As much as she thought about it, she knew she couldn’t speak lashon hara about her coworkers. She had no choice.
Monday morning came, and Sarah headed into the office to hand in her resignation.
“Have you decided what you want to do here, Sarah?” her boss asked.
“As much as I like this firm and would really like to keep this job,” Sarah began, “I can’t agree to talk negatively about other people.”
“Well, if that’s your attitude,” the boss replied, “you’ll fit right in. That was a test. We don’t want employees who would gossip about each other. Welcome aboard!”
Whether or not we see it before our very eyes like Sarah did, we will always win when we do the right thing—especially when it’s avoiding lashon hara.
Here’s your Daily To-Do:
Imagine what you would be willing to give up if asked to do so, in order to uphold your beliefs and values, such as speaking without lashon hara.