I told a lie in order to get a much a needed repair done. I had mentioned it more than once,  didn't want to nag. So I told a fib that made it seem more urgent, and it was taken care of quickly with little trouble. Venial or Mortal?

I told a lie in order to get a much a needed repair done. I had mentioned it more than once,  didn't want to nag. So I told a fib that made it seem more urgent, and it was taken care of quickly with little trouble. Venial or Mortal?

You need to educate yourself on the subject of venial and mortal sin.

You need to learn the principles involved so that you are not wondering about each and every sin.

Catechism books explain it all very well

You have more than "a" venial sin, the one of pride. To commit venial and be proud of it, leads you very easy to mortal.  Pride is the sin you harbor.  Pride will take you easily into mortal and hell.

Venial or Mortal?

That is not important. A "lying tongue" is "an abomination unto [the Lord]". All of it is vicious and evil. Satan is "the father of lies".

Surely there was a way to accomplish this without lying. Do I understand you were paying for a service? If that was the case, you could have threatened to take your business somewhere else if they didn't hurry up.

This is one of the problems of a nonconfrontational personality, resorting to lying.

The answer to this question is somewhat obscure, some of the church fathers thought that lying may be done if it is not in malice (AKA, to lie would save another man's life is fine). Saint Augustine held that lying was always wrong, and I think St. Thomas did as well. Plato thought that it was ok for doctors to lie to patients about their condition if it would promote the time it takes for them to get better (via Placebo affect). Here's an article on the moral dilemmas concerning that of lying:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09469a.htm