There's No Way Around Being Accused Of Lying When Answering These 6 Questions
Asking somebody a question should be a straight-forward process. The question gets asked, the answer is given and everybody is happy. Well, well, well: not so fast, because sometimes the latter part of this process is full of ambiguity. Ambiguity in the sense that the answer is probably 100% factual, but it doesn't suffice a questioner's desire. Desire to know every single little detail possible. In the case of these questions, many, many follow up questions will be needed to get to that point.
The question seems easy enough: who's going to be there? The person just wants to know who will be at this gathering of people, but no matter the answer they get to this question, it'll sound like information is being withheld. Rattling off a few names just doesn't do it justice, even if that is the entirety of who will be in attendance.
Answering any of these questions will sound like a lie, even if being completely positive. "The movie was…good." "This food is…spicy and tasty." "This music is…chill." "That person is…nice." Asking a person why they like something puts them on the spot, and no matter what they say, it'll come out seemingly fabricated. That's when the questioner will follow up with a "really?" just to reconfirm and make themselves feel better.
The best answer to this question is, "When I'm (we're) ready." Too bad anybody who continually asks a question like this will think you're a lying asshole and want an exact date and time frame and an idea of the gift registry. You can't ever give the correct answer when this question is asked, because nothing is correct in the mind of the questioner unless the answer is "today."
This question always gets an intuitive answer like: "Out with friends," or "The store," or "On a walk." None of those are lies, but they just seem to have a little mystery behind them that begs for more answers.
"Why such a short answer?" the questioner might wonder. "Are they really going to that place? Or, are they lying to cover up where they are REALLY GOING?!"
Anytime you ask a person how they or why they feel that way, their answer will come across as the biggest lie of all time. The biggest of the lies? "Nothing. I'm fine." Maybe the person is fine and doesn't want to talk about it. Too bad the questioner is picking up on some vibes they don't understand and will feel the need to incessantly pester this person, until an actual emotion, such as crying, comes out of them. Not so fine anymore, are they? Guess they shouldn't have lied.
We'll never know why telling someone work/day/life is "going good" seems like such a lie, but it always will. On the contrary, saying anything besides that will be overwhelming: this is the trickiest of all the questions that produce lie answers, because the lie is what's wanted.
*Maybe I'm just picking up on the sadness in their eyes when they pretend everything is okay. OR maybe, I should just stop reading so far into everything everyone is saying to me. Just maybe.*