When I worked at Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, we had a secretary-receptionist who had this problem. Her lies were harmless, so to my knowledge nobody ever called her on them. The little lady was about 40, short, fat, well dressed but homely at the same time. She wanted to be adored, and no man adored her, obviously. This became apparent when each Monday, big gorgeous flower arrangements would arrive for her. She "just happened" to have big empty vases available under her desk. She put the flowers in water and kept everybody regaled with her guessing just which H.P. executive could be sending all these flowers to her. Her "secret admirer" never revealed himself. Finally we found out the florist bills went to her own home and she ordered and paid for all the flowers herself. Not a big lie, I know, but it was just one of many. Otherwise, this was a hard working employee, and did her job well - by most accounts. Sad, really.