Georgians will step out on their spouse before they’ll steal time at work, according to new data that reveals the Peach State’s peculiar moral compass points directly away from the office and straight toward the bedroom.
Why it matters: While Georgia brands itself as a business-friendly state built on reliability and ethics, a new survey shows residents save their integrity for the workplace and spend it everywhere else.
What’s happening: Solitaire Bliss surveyed Americans across all 50 states about their everyday cheating habits, and Georgia’s results paint a picture of a state with selective morality. Georgians rank second-highest nationally for admitting to cheating on a partner (52%) and seventh-highest for cheating on a diet (84%), according to the survey. Yet when it comes to self-checkout theft or cutting corners at work, Georgia suddenly finds its conscience.
Only 30% of Georgia residents admit to cheating at self-checkout, making the state sixth-lowest nationally for retail theft. More telling: just 26% say they’ve cheated at work to get ahead, the second-lowest rate in the country.
The tax line splits the difference. About 18% of Georgians admit to cheating on their taxes, landing the state at 11th-highest nationally— high enough to be notable, low enough to maintain plausible deniability.
Between the lines: The data suggests Georgians have internalized the state’s decades-long pitch to corporations: we’re reliable, we’re business-friendly, we won’t cheat you. They’ve just decided that promise doesn’t extend to their personal lives.
The disconnect is sharp. A state where more than half of residents admit to infidelity somehow maintains one of the lowest rates of workplace cheating in the nation. Georgians will betray their marriage vows but won’t fudge their timesheets.
The big picture: There’s a redemption angle buried in the data. Seventy-eight percent of Georgia residents say they cheat less than they used to, according to Solitaire Bliss. Whether that applies to relationships, diets or both remains unclear.
The sources: Solitaire Bliss.
B.T. Clark
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
