Was he asking you personally Brian, or was it directed at the dealer, doesn"t matter really. If you choose not to reply, IMO the dealer took charge and made the count for your oppo"s answer. Otherwise the table could stagnate waiting for a reply, you looking at him/him looking at you.
The guy may have poor eyesight etc. I"ve never played at a table where the the dealer can"t touch chips without asking? If he can"t be trusted, well there"s no hope for any of us.
With regards to lying about your stack size, i can"t see this being ethical at all. Would be similar to announcing all in and getting called, only to bet the pot on the next street? WTF. Unlike cards, this is open information, for which the enquirer must be given a truthful answer, aside from joking 26k when he obviously has about 2.5/3k.
On the subject of honesty, ( Friday nigh in B/Head) a young lad brought up the ept Blag, and asked what about chipstacks? Say you had 10k, you could come back and say you had 30k??? After the tables were picked up etc.. I replied most "Poker Players" wouldn"t consider this. I didn"t bother to explain that in the ept most players would know from hand to hand just what yours and everyone elses chipstacks were, at least approx. He completely missed my point about most people are honest, and again asked, well how would they know? Duh! Or am i too naiave or honest for my own good?