Always honest.
...saw the light however, when I had to turn in a report for an elderly and infirm family member. When I advised that there was very little time and not sure of the exact amount (as there was some dementia involved!), I was told to simply make up an amount but make sure the report got in before month-end. That was an AHA moment for me.
What was even more troubling though, was that although the dear old publisher was extremely forgetful, not truly 'preaching with a full deck' so to speak, the amount of TIME put in was all that they were concerned about.