Truth AND Consequences

When you meet or even exceed expectations, you gain trust. Doing the opposite also has consequences.

Hermes Ordering Calypso to Release Odysseus by Gerard de Lairesse, 1670 (public domain - Wikimedia Commons)

You may be too young to get this reference.

That isn’t a compliment; it’s a fact — the game show Truth or Consequences got its start on radio in 1941, with Ralph Edwards hosting. It moved to television in 1954 with Jack Bailey until 1956, and then Bob Barker (hey—there’s a name you might recognize!) hosted it until 1975.

It was basically a broadcast version of the old parlor game Truth or Dare. A contestant is selected, and they either have to answer a question correctly or perform a stunt. As you can imagine, it was designed for the audience’s entertainment.

As observers and audience members, this is perfect. We love to see people get embarrassed. In many cases on that show, people would purposefully answer the question wrong in order to get embarrassed by the stunt.

But when you’re a consumer, the last thing you want is to feel humiliated or embarrassed.

If you’re paying for a serv…