40+ Individuals Share White Lies That Have Evolved Into Something Much Worse

Published on 02/02/2022
40+ Individuals Share White Lies That Have Evolved Into Something Much Worse

40+ Individuals Share White Lies That Have Evolved Into Something Much Worse

A white lie is a less serious sin than a black lie, right? That such a minor deception can’t possibly result in serious harm? Think again. Even a minor deception can have far-reaching consequences. From altering your destiny to inadvertently deceiving someone for years to simply being wrongly identified for the rest of your life, there are various consequences. White lies, no matter how minor they appear, can cause major problems. This article will demonstrate this point by sharing some personal stories about how a white lie resulted in significant repercussions.

Well, Now I Do

If you need to lie about something, it probably shouldn’t be a lie that can be easily confirmed or denied, like owning a duck. If you own a duck, people will find out. Likewise, if you don’t own a duck but claimed that you did, that too will become obvious pretty quickly.

Well, Now I Do

Well, Now I Do

This guy figured that out only after he told his family he had a duck, and they got really excited about it. So, to prevent the fallout of denying their excitement, he ended up getting a pet duck for real. Is this how most people end up getting a pet duck?

All Worked Out

To impress the girls they like, boys say some ridiculous things. Unfortunately, those silly things can sometimes turn out to be completely false, causing serious problems. However, if you tell a lie and then struggle to make it true, it might end up working out in the end.

All Worked Out

All Worked Out

Consider this individual. He made up a lie about running to impress a girl, but he eventually decided to start running to prove it, and it helped him get into better shape than before. That is unquestionably a positive outcome.

Asking for Help

The issue with cheating in school is that you can’t do it just once. If you cheat once, it appears as if you know what you’re doing, and if you don’t perform as well later, it appears suspicious. This is the predicament in which this unfortunate individual found himself.

Asking For Help

Asking For Help

If you need help, it’s not a bad idea to ask for it. But don’t make people believe you had a certain level of competence based on your own abilities when it wasn’t entirely yours. Otherwise, their expectations will not be accurate.

Ready to Move

We understand that not everyone wants to be a part of politics. After all, they can be exhausting. Is telling people you’re from another country, however, the best way to achieve this? It just seems like too much effort to accomplish the goal.

Ready To Move

Ready To Move

This guy, ironically, lied about being Canadian, but in the end, he set himself on the path to becoming a Canadian. We’re not saying the lie caused it, but there’s no denying it’s an ironic coincidence. So what are the chances, really?

Do It for Love

Many people find it difficult to tell their loved ones that they don’t like something they made for them. But, to be honest, it’s better, to be honest about such things than to lie. Because if you aren’t, you might end up eating a lot of things you don’t care for.

Do It For Love

Do It For Love

That’s right, just like this guy. We understand that you don’t want to offend Grandma, but should you really lie to her? If she cares about you, she’ll probably want to make you things you like. She’d probably feel even worse if she knew she’d been feeding you something you’d hated for years.

Just What I Wanted

Although this is technically another situation in which the lie did not cause the outcome, there is an ironic link between the two. This guy bragged his coworkers about how he could work from home, and then his boss offered him the opportunity.

Just What I Wanted

Just What I Wanted

Obviously, he found the newly offered situation more than sufficient for him, so he accepted it, and his lie became a reality. It’s funny how that happens from time to time. Better yet, no one was harmed as a result of the lie, which is a nice bonus.

Have We met?

They say there are a good number of people in the world who look exactly like you or are very similar to you. As a result, it’s not surprising that people may mistake you for someone else on occasion. Even so, if they keep mistaking you for someone else, it’s because you allowed it to happen.

Have We Met?

Have We met?

Let’s be clear: lying is still lying if you don’t tell the truth, even if someone else made a mistake. While small lies don’t always lead to major issues, they can certainly make your dental visits even more awkward than usual.

Might as Well Roll With It

You may lie to get out of a sticky situation. Then, to make your lie credible, you must actually do what you said you would do. Even though you had no intention of following through, you discover that the thing you lied about doing is actually quite enjoyable.

Might As Well Roll With It

Might As Well Roll With It

So, in the end, you just accept it and begin doing it for real, and it ceases to be a lie. It’s certainly an unconventional approach to entering a new field or hobby, but does the reasoning behind it really matter?

Now a Skater Boy

If you had to choose the age group that is most notorious for lying, it would be children. They lie to avoid punishment, impress their friends, and occasionally just for lying. For example, they could claim to be a cool kid who can skateboard.

Now A Skater Boy

Now A Skater Boy

However, if they decide to turn that lie into a skill, that’s pretty respectable in its own right. Still, it’s preferable to admit that you don’t know the skill but are willing to learn it rather than learning it to hide a lie.

Keep ‘Em Coming

Another situation in which someone lies about liking something and then is forced to live with it for years is this one. This time, despite hating lavender soap, a woman exaggerated how much she liked it.

Keep 'Em Coming

Keep ‘Em Coming

You know, if people were just a little less enthusiastic about their lie, they wouldn’t be able to persuade others that it is their favorite. Simply state that it is acceptable or that you enjoy it sufficiently. Things are going to go south if you say, “I love it.”

My Friend Steve

Here’s another case of name and identity confusion, though this time, the victim wasn’t the one who started the problem in the first place. Instead, her father simply decided to call her by that name after a small child called her by the incorrect name.

My Friend Steve

My Friend Steve

Because Steve isn’t a widespread female name, many people are likely to stare at her strangely. But for those who know it, it could at least be a funny joke on the inside. Unfortunately, however, we can’t tell if she enjoys it as much as we do.

Well, if You Say So

It’s a mystery to us how so many people on this list lied or kept a lie going to get a highly skilled job, and it didn’t backfire in the least. This guy was paid a lot of money to take a job for which he had no qualifications!

Well, If You Say So

Well, If You Say So

Of course, he doesn’t say how long the lie lasted or how well it worked out for him in the end, but we’re surprised it worked out at all. Something like this seems unlikely to happen if the people in question were us!

I Dabble From Time to Time

You shouldn’t tell lies about easily verifiable things. For example, if you claim to have a particular skill, other people can easily verify whether or not you do. After all, they can just ask you to perform.

I Dabble From Time To Time

I Dabble From Time To Time

For this kid, he managed to come out of the situation relatively well off, but we’re going to say that he got lucky. This definitely isn’t something one should expect to happen regularly, especially when telling lies like this one.

Yes, I Speak Computer

When it comes to lying for a job, we’re impressed that this guy managed to lie about a technical job involving computers because that’s something that should reasonably require someone to perform complex tasks regularly.

Yes, I Speak Computer

Yes, I Speak Computer

Even though this person appears to know very little about computers, he has managed to get a job in that field and keep it for several years. Even if we disagree with it, that’s a pretty impressive feat.

Degrees, Who Needs ‘Em?

In today’s society, a degree is required for almost all entry-level jobs, even though the reasons for this are frequently misguided. So, without a degree, getting a career-level job is difficult… but not impossible. When people don’t double-check, a lie can work.

Degrees, Who Needs 'Em?

Degrees, Who Needs ‘Em?

After that, you end up in a situation where you are surrounded by other people who do have degrees, and they all think you are one of them when you really aren’t. Well, it’s not that bad of a thing if you can still get the job done, right?

Guess I Can Switch

It happens all the time: you tell someone what degree you plan to pursue in college and immediately pass judgment on you. So you lie and say you’re thinking about changing your major. That’s usually just a lie told to get them off your back.

Guess I Can Switch

Guess I Can Switch

In the case of this guy, however, he did end up changing his major to the thing he was only using as a cover. Of course, that’s most likely correlation without causation or something, but it’s still a huge coincidence.

You Asked for It

Although this situation may be less of a lie and more of someone simply agreeing to sentiment to move a conversation along, agreeing to things you don’t mean to is similar to lying. This man lied about his desire to have children.

You Asked For It

You Asked For It

And now he’s a father. To be fair, this isn’t likely an example of a lie directly leading to the mentioned outcome, but it is an example of someone who lied about something only to have it become a reality later on.

Yeah, I Was There

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to hang out with a famous person, it’s a story you’ll want to tell all of your friends about. And, in the end, such a story may be embellished, though you may not always do the embellishment.

Yeah, I Was There

Yeah, I Was There

When this happens, you may reach a point where the lie has been told so often and to so many people that crushing all of their hopes and dreams is simply too difficult. We don’t blame you if you just let it happen if you’re in this situation.

When Did This Happen?

This story has a lesson about making assumptions, but it also has a lesson about accepting assumptions. When you read it, you’ll understand what we’re talking about. The man in this story makes too many assumptions, but the woman simply accepts it.

When Did This Happen?

When Did This Happen?

This, of course, causes considerable consternation among those who know them, but it appears to have worked out in the end. We’d like to emphasize that you shouldn’t use evidence like this to determine whether or not a lie will work. Usually, they don’t.

The Thought That Counts

It is possible for your race or religion to be misidentified by accident, even when people are attempting to be courteous. To avoid future confusion, you should correct them in general. You might end up like this if you let them believe the wrong thing.

The Thought That Counts

The Thought That Counts

Allowing people to give you religious celebrations for a religion you aren’t a part of is a bad idea. It’s just inconvenient. Even if you don’t correct them right away, it’s still awkward in retrospect. It’s preferable to simply correct people at your first meeting.

This Is What I Have Now

Here’s the next installment in our “unintentional collectors” series. The items being collected this time are Vera Bradley items. To be fair, the woman in this story didn’t lie about anything, but she did use something she didn’t care for out of politeness.

This Is What I Have Now

This Is What I Have Now

And as a result of her actions, she ended up with a slew of Vera Bradley items because everyone assumed she liked them. She’s now known as the Vera Bradley girl because she owns so much of the brand. It’s just a slippery slope that could have been avoided.

Reasons for Conversion

We have no intention of implying that people must have a specific reason for converting to a new religion. Converting to Judaism based on a lie you told to avoid eating sausages, on the other hand, seems a little strange. At the very least, it’s not normal.

Reasons For Conversion

Reasons For Conversion

That said, we’re pretty sure the sausage incident isn’t the real reason this guy converted, but it does appear to be the catalyst for him considering it as a religion to follow. We can’t speak for him, unfortunately.

Entering a Brotherhood

It is not for everyone to join the military. But it’s difficult to tell your father that you’re not interested when he served in the military. As a result, you might end up like this guy, who claims to be interested but has no intention of joining.

Entering A Brotherhood

Entering A Brotherhood

Then things start to fall into place: your father assumes you want to join, you end up at a recruiting office, and eventually, you end up as a soldier in a foreign country. It seems to have worked out for this guy, but it’s probably best to avoid unintentional enlistment.

Are You Talking to Me?

There are a variety of reasons why the wrong name mistakenly calls people. It’s usually because you believe it would be impolite to correct those who misidentify you. You want to correct them sometimes, but you can’t seem to find the right time.

Are You Talking To Me?

Are You Talking To Me?

It usually ends up like this, no matter how it starts. Too little, too late, and you won’t be able to say what you really want to say. You’re just a different name to that one person at that point, much to the confusion of your friends.

No One by That Name

Some people are simply terrible at naming things. And, for some reason, some people have a hard time correcting others when it comes to their names. They apparently believe it would be impolite or rude to do so. We have no idea why they are grateful for that.

No One By That Name

No One By That Name

After all, it’s feelings like these that lead to stories like this: where you call someone the wrong name for years and years before realizing you were mistaken the whole time, resulting in a lot of confusion and some strange realizations.

When You Assume…

In most cases, the phrase “your old man” refers to your father. That’s how we’ve always heard it used, at least. However, this man apparently mistook the phrase for a reference to a husband, and as a result, this woman unknowingly lied to him.

When You Assume...

When You Assume…

However, when she did find out, she continued to act as if she had a husband for some reason rather than admitting she had made a mistake. It doesn’t make sense to continue a lie like this for an unknown period of time.

A Chocolate Orange

We want to emphasize that you have every right to tell your family if you don’t like something they’ve given you. It is not impolite to appreciate and thank them for their thoughtfulness. But, to avoid offending people, you don’t have to pretend to like them.

A Chocolate Orange

A Chocolate Orange

Because if you do, you might end up like this person, who receives a chocolate orange every year that she despises. You dig yourself a hole, and it becomes increasingly difficult, to tell the truth about how much you like or dislike something.

Girl Gamers Don’t Exist, Right?

In online gaming communities, it’s a common belief that there are no girls who play games, only guys pretending to be girls. Of course, we all know this isn’t true, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of men impersonating women online. Right now, there’s one such person.

Girl Gamers Don't Exist, Right?

Girl Gamers Don’t Exist, Right?

He apparently hasn’t found the right moment to inform his online friends that he is, in fact, male, but it doesn’t appear that his little lie is causing anyone any harm. His friends, on the other hand, may still feel betrayed.

Is This Legal?

Getting free or discounted items is always nice, but if the only way you can get them is by lying or supporting someone else’s lie, we’re going to take a stand and say you shouldn’t do it, if only for legal reasons.

Is This Legal?

Is This Legal?

We’re not sure how much legal trouble you’d get into for claiming to be a first responder when you aren’t, but it seems like something you’d get in a lot of trouble for, so stay away from it just to be safe.

Faking Your Age

Speaking of people lying in online environments where the truth is difficult to verify, this guy also lied in World of Warcraft, though he claimed to be older rather than a different gender. After all, you can’t be cool online if you’re only 12.

Faking Your Age

Faking Your Age

So, to be cool, you have to make yourself older online. Then you find yourself in a situation where you don’t know how to tell all of your friends that you’re actually younger than they are. You could just chalk it up to a particularly long-winded prank, we suppose.

A Weapon to Surpass Metal Gear

Memes are the most popular type of internet joke these days. However, you must have some knowledge of a meme to find it amusing. Otherwise, you don’t get it, just like any other joke. It’s awkward when you don’t understand your friend’s jokes.

A Weapon To Surpass Metal Gear

A Weapon To Surpass Metal Gear

So you pretend to get it, then go home and look up a bunch of Metal Gear knowledge on the internet so you can understand all the jokes in the future. Despite this, you have never played any of the games in the series. What sort of existence is that?

Walked Into That One

There were other ways to call someone out on a lie before the internet when things could be looked up quickly and easily. You could, for example, make something up that you know false to see how they react. That’s pretty much how it went down in this story.

Walked Into That One

Walked Into That One

Fortunately for the individual in question, neither the lie he told nor the fact that it was discovered had a significant impact on his life. To be honest, this is probably the smallest amount of consequence anyone on this list has ever received for lying.

Joking Matters

Food allergies are one topic about which you should never lie. If you lie about your food allergies, it impacts many other people’s interactions with you. And if you continue to lie for years, as this individual did, well…

Joking Matters

Joking Matters

It’s possible that your friends won’t find it as amusing as you do. After all, they’ve been worried about hurting you by accident the entire time, and you were just telling them a stupid lie during that same time frame. Needless to say, that’s not okay.

Do You Like Elephants?

Perhaps we should rename this category “people who become collectors because of a lie.” Because of a situation involving his father and a medical patient, this man became a collector of Indian elephant statues. At the very least, it’s preferable to collecting things they despise.

Do You Like Elephants?

Do You Like Elephants?

In fact, we’d go so far as to claim that this is one of the more intriguing accidental collection tales, but we don’t think anyone would be pleased with being a collector of anything they didn’t want to collect.

He Looked Right at Me, I Swear!

When you come across someone so well-known that the entire world knows about them, such as Stephen Hawking, you will want to tell everyone about it. But, like most people, you’ll probably embellish that story quite a bit because the truth is probably not all that interesting.

He Looked Right At Me, I Swear!

He Looked Right At Me, I Swear!

However, the good news for this man is that no one can truly deny that his story occurred. On the other hand, it’s such an unlikely story that most people are unlikely to believe it in the first place, so it works both ways. At the very least, some people will purchase it.

I Don’t Believe You

The problem with lying is that you can never be sure who already knows the truth. It’s always awkward, especially if you’re telling a lie to someone who already knows it’s a lie. These people learned the hard way about lying about their football positions.

I Don't Believe You

I Don’t Believe You

Fortunately for them, this deception did not have serious long-term consequences. Even so, they were most likely mocked or ridiculed for a short time, so there was still something to be concerned about. But, at the very least, it’s a minor issue.

Oh Yeah, I Play

Instruments are something you should never claim to be able to do because they are simple to check. But you don’t think that far ahead when you’re a kid. So do you say whatever you make feel cool at the moment? Then you tell the truth when it’s necessary…

Oh Yeah, I Play

Oh Yeah, I Play

Alternatively, you could just make up a new, equally ridiculous lie to cover up the first one. This guy can’t play to save his life, so we’re hoping no one challenges him to a life-or-death guitar duel anytime soon: his friends, apparently, still believe him.

For the Best

Okay, so you probably shouldn’t lie, regardless of how big the lies are, but some lies do result in positive outcomes. So we can’t say we blame him for lying to get the job he desperately needed.

For The Best

For The Best

However, we must point out that this is an infrequent occurrence, and you have a much higher chance of things going wrong when lying for a job than you do when lying for a job, as this guy did. He also had someone on his side, which made a significant difference.

Creamy or Chunky?

Some things are simply not worth lying about. As if it were peanut butter. Why should you lie to your spouse about which peanut butter you prefer? These two ate their least favorite peanut butter because they each claimed it was their favorite in an attempt to win them over.

Cream Or Chunky?

Cream Or Chunky?

For years, they did this when all they had to do was be honest about something as simple as peanut butter. You have the right to like foods other than your spouse: don’t like about what you do and don’t like for something so minor and insignificant.

Brought This on Yourself

When you lie about what you like and don’t like, you can only blame yourself when people start sending you gifts. For example, this guy pretended to enjoy a particular show for no apparent reason, even though he didn’t.

Brought This On Yourself

Brought This On Yourself

However, due to his claims, people began sending him gifts related to the show, assuming that he would enjoy them. This just goes to show that there’s no point in pretending to like things when you don’t. Who cares?

Who Are You Again?

We’ve all been there: someone waves in your general direction, and you mistakenly believe they’re waving at you, so you return the wave. When you realize they weren’t waving at you at all, it’s awkward. This scenario is a little different in that there is some waving, but it was done on purpose.

Who Are You Again

Who Are You Again

Even though they had not met, these two had waved at each other for two years. Even though they were strangers, they continued to do it regularly, and they didn’t reveal that they were both perplexed until much later.

A Worthy Sacrifice

This story is a little sad, but it proves our point about how small lies can have a long-term effect. Because she didn’t think it would matter, this nurse told a patient that she liked black coffee despite her dislike for it. However, as their friendship grew, she found herself drinking black coffee every day.

A Worthy Sacrifice

A Worthy Sacrifice

She would not have ended up in this precarious situation if she had simply been honest about her coffee preferences. But, in the end, her coffee misery was almost certainly worth the friendship that resulted.

How Did We Get Here?

Interviews are where people lie. It’s unavoidable. Maybe it’s because people lie, or maybe it’s because prospective employees are held to unreasonable high standards during job interviews. People lie to increase their chances of landing a job in either case.

How Did We Get Here

How Did We Get Here

However, you should not lie about your skills because they can be tested. This guy ended up in a position for which he is completely unqualified, though he didn’t say whether he could keep his job or if they discovered him. Is it possible that they will take legal action as a result of this?

Yep, That’s Me

You do not start some lies, but you choose to believe them anyway, which is just as bad. For example, someone at a fast-food restaurant misidentified him, resulting in free meals for him. We can’t say we blame anyone for being enthralled by the prospect of free meals…

Yep, That's Me

Yep, That’s Me

But, in the end, he allowed a mistaken identity to turn into a lie, which is something you should probably avoid no matter how appealing the benefits are. But, on the other hand, we’re not sure what the consequences would have been if we’d told the truth.

For Your Own Good

There are various strategies for dealing with peer pressure, and we believe that lying is one of them. But, to be honest, we believe that lying isn’t the best option; otherwise, you might end up like this guy. The lie he told was relatively harmless, but it followed him to unexpected places.

For Your Own Good

For Your Own Good

Furthermore, telling your friends that something is potentially dangerous for you when it isn’t may harm their ability to make decisions on your behalf if necessary. That is, of course, extremely dangerous.