My pet peeve is people who are passive-agressive and this kind of small lie is their bread and butter. It takes maturity, vulnerability and self-confidence to show up with integrity most of the time, even if you know what you have to say won’t be popular. Most people are not willing to put in the effort it would take to cultivate those qualities so they just do the small lie instead. I understand that, but it still makes me crazy!
Interestingly, I’ve found that the more religious someone is, the more likely they are to do this. It’s just anecdotal and from my own experience living in the Bible belt, but I have often wondered why that is.