So at my last job I was one of the top performers in a call center, and then our department's entire management quite/retired within the span of two months and was replaced by entirely new management (who was super corporate). This new interim management was entirely clueless and way more corporate compared to the previous management who was pretty chill and lax. We got the sense they didn't like most of us. I was very vocal about not liking some of their new ideas. So one day I get a call on a Friday and they fired me along with a bunch of other people (who were coincidentally my best friends in the office). The reason they gave us was “we saw evidence of you 'manipulating call logs'” but they never gave us any more detail than that nor did they sit us down to discuss it, give us a warning, or let us tell our side of the story. Everybody (including me) wasn't 100% perfect and cut a few corners at the job but it wasn't like we were committing massive fraud or anything. We were pretty much following the rules by the book, so we felt the firing was unjust.
Fast forward to now I almost have job offer. The employer asked me a few questions to answer and email back and one of them asks “have you ever been fired from a previous employer for performance reasons, and if so, feel free to share any details pertinent.” Many people are telling me to say no, because it depends upon if your reason would be considered “performance-based,” or because there's a good chance they won't ask about performance when they contact the previous employer for verification of employment during the background check (which the employer does do). But then a few of my friends are saying to tell the truth because if I say no and get caught, then they will ban me from applying again. But I feel if I tell the truth that they won't hire me anyway. I am in a desperate financial situation at the moment and in need of a good job and I would love this job but I just don't know what to do.