Awful analogy. It's far more cruel to tell someone a layoff for non-performance reasons is their fault.

It's particularly obnoxious with theoretically prestigious companies that "hire the smartest people" and then blatantly lie to us as if everyone inside and outside the company doesn't see right through them.

> Knowning when to apply honesty is also important.

> If you tell an ex you left them because they are (fat?), is it honest or is it cruel ?

It's cruel, just like it's cruel to lie to someone they are being fired due to "performance" when the real reason is just a blanket layoff scheme over a whole department.

What would be more cruel: a lie "you are not performing so we are letting you go" vs the truth "the company has decided to layoff some business units we don't believe will be profitable in the foreseeable future".

I believe it's a pretty good case for applying honesty instead of being another lying corporation.

In fact, they are saying that the relationship ends because she's fat, while the most probable cause is that they have more girlfriends than they can handle. I.e. they do the cruel thing when the honesty would be better.