Character & Dealings

As an employer I pay the market wage and my staff accepted it, so am I free of any further duty toward them? At work I sometimes cut a corner when I know no manager is watching. If the result looks fine and no one is harmed, why does it matter? Everyone in my office gossips over tea, and staying silent makes me look cold. How do I protect my tongue without becoming an outsider? I am polite and generous with people I respect, but I get short and dismissive with waiters, drivers and juniors. Why does this keep happening? I confess I show a warm, generous face in public but I am impatient and sharp with my own wife and children at home. How do I close this gap? I feel I must beat my competitors by any means, and everyone bends the rules anyway. Can I really stay fully honest and still survive in business? I hear that good character is half the religion, but surely prayer and fasting matter more than just being nice to people? I keep a strict, honest ledger with strangers but I am careless and unfair in money matters with my own family. Why do I flip like this? I keep meaning to return things people lend me and to pay back small loans, but I forget for months. Is this really a big deal in religion? I make promises to my children and to friends easily and then life gets busy and I do not keep them. Are these little broken promises actually a sin? I often listen to and pass on gossip about public figures and neighbours, telling myself it is just harmless talk. Is this the same sin as backbiting a friend? I pride myself on always telling the truth, but people say I say it harshly. Is blunt honesty enough, or does the tone matter too? I sometimes take small things from work, office supplies, extra time, personal calls, and tell myself the company is huge and will not miss it. Is this really stealing? I want to correct a coworker’s mistake or advise a family member, but I do not want to embarrass them. How do I be honest without wounding? In my business a little exaggeration about the product is just normal marketing. Where is the line between selling well and being dishonest? Is it really true that my everyday dealings, buying, selling, working, can count as worship, or is worship only what happens in the mosque? Sometimes a small white lie keeps the peace or spares someone’s feelings. Is honesty always required, even when the truth will hurt? When I do a good deed or a fair dealing, I feel a strong urge to let people know about it. Does wanting the credit ruin the good I did? When I give my word in a deal but then a much better offer arrives, am I bound to my first promise or free to take the better one? When my friends complain about someone who genuinely wronged them, am I backbiting if I just agree, or is it fair because it is all true? When someone cheats or insults me, my instinct is to answer harshly and get even. Does good character mean I just let people walk over me?