Ambiguity is used by disingenuous people……for their own purposes.
In 2008 I was an Associate Director with a business where my part of the business was new but my small team was across two offices – which meant as a family we could move to a different part of the country where essentially we would get more space, live in the countryside, etc.
Due to the impending recession, I had concerns about the commitment to the new part of the business by the FD and Co-owner – and asked him directly if they were committed fully before I relocated my family……and he said they were !
Ten days after moving he called me in and told me my role had been made redundant – just four weeks after the commitment conversation……which I raised ! His response was that he hadn’t said they were committed to me, just the new part of the business………technically right, but given it was a team of only four people and he knew why I was asking it was an arsehole thing to do.
I was out of work for a long period, having moved away from where most recruitment jobs were at time (London) at the height of the global recession ! I now ensure that there is no ambiguity around my questioning – particularly where the wider impact is on my family.