"I have a great job for you"

I got a call today from someone who found my resume on LinkedIn. He was seeking a senior exec to lead the company's 42 websites. He told me how much it paid, and it was a lot more than I'm making now.

So I talked to him.

At the end of the call he asked if I had any questions.

I asked what his role was at the company. He said he was the President. He said he doesn't normally do initial screening, but he was for this position.

Oh. Cool.

I asked the name of the company. He said he didn't want to reveal that at the moment, but if I progressed to the final round of 5-6 candidates he'd share more info.

Hmm. Okay. A little odd. Not a big deal.

I asked if the company was based in Maine (the area code of the phone call). He said he was calling from Maine, but that the company was virtual and I'd work virtually. 

Hmm. Okay. Kind of a red flag.

I asked how to contact him if I had more questions (a euphemism that means "What's your email address so that I can send you a thank-you?"). He said I could just call him if I had more questions.

Hmm.

So I came home tonight and typed the few things I knew about him into LinkedIn (first name, state, etc.) and found him in about thirty seconds. Then I typed his full name into Google. The first thing that came up was a website warning people that he was a scam artist. Dozens of people on various sites said the same thing.

Cripes, is everyone in the #$% entire world a #$% psychopath?

But then it made me think about all the genuine people in my life. Jennifer. Samuel. Ethan. My mom and dad. Maybe I just got #$% lucky in life, but I've been blessed to have been raised by genuine people, and I've been blessed to wake up every morning surrounded by genuine people.

I'm glad I married Jennifer. That was a smart move, in retrospect.

And then I felt better about myself too. I've had some successes and I've had some failures, and guess what? They're all real. I don't have to make #$% up about myself and go through life scamming people.

How sad a life is that? I mean, you only get one. Who are you fooling? What's the point? You get to the end of your life, and...poof. You were a jerk and your whole life was a lie. Then you die. Poof.

I don't like that there are phony and dishonest people in the world. It makes the world an uglier place.

But I like the fact that they make me look really good by comparison.

:)