You know, as we travel this road of life we meet all different types of people. The people we come across, like ourselves, bring their own personal baggage and idiosyncrasies to the meet and greet. The ones I find particularly amusing are the super-frauds. The folks who want you to believe they’ve got it going on when they don’t.
You’ve worked with Brenda for 10 years now. She’s always well dressed, wearing only the top designers, and is quick to point out that you do not. If you were meeting her for the first time you’d swear she has a doting husband, a daughter whose the perfect princess, and lives in a palace. She even has such conversations with you, somehow forgetting that you know her reality. Brenda’s doting husband is prone to spending nights away from home. Her daughter, the princess, has a D+ grade point average and quite a reputation with the boys basketball team. Her palace is a pretty nice home in a fairly decent part of town. The problem is she struggles to pay the $1,900 a month to her landlord (she doesn’t own her palace), and owes the utility company so much money that they won't turn the lights back on without a $2,000 payment.
Then there’s Greg. Greg is 36 years old, drives a beautiful car, is always well groomed, smells amazing, must have 30 designer watches, is extremely charming, and his Armani suits show off his very perfect body. Greg is great eye candy. Unlike many of the other women in your office, you know the candy is sour! Greg can drive his beautiful car because he lives with his girlfriend in her subsidized apartment in the projects. His designer watches are all replicas he bought off the streets of New York, and the “Armani” suits are bought from a guy selling suits out of the trunk of his car (they’re not real either). The bag of chips the other women think he is, is mostly air.
We all know a few frauds, and we’ve all done some defrauding of our own from time to time. It’s perfectly natural to want to present you and yours in the best light possible. But some people take it to extremes; super-frauds. They throw the fraud in your face every chance they get, forgetting you know the real deal. They can get so bad sometimes that they attempt to belittle you in order to bolster their fraudulent credentials. Brenda talks about your small house and your husband the garbage man. You own your home, and your husband is handling his business and holding it down. Greg makes subtle suggestions that you’re not attracted to him because you’re secretly gay – you’ve had him. His equipment is inadequate, his technique is nonexistent, and he’s a minute man.
When facing the super-fraud its very tempting to say something to bring them down a notch. You usually don’t because it’ll only lead to an ugly confrontation. But when the super-fraud is belittling you it is perfectly ok to give them a gentle reality check. For Brenda, you could walk over to her desk and quietly give her the numbers to organizations that they may be able to help her with that utility bill. Ask Greg what days the guy he buys his suits from is set up outside his apartment building.
Put the super-frauds in your life on notice. You’re more than willing to let them have their fantasy so long as they leave you out of it!!
“Better is a person of humble standing who nevertheless has a servant, than one who pretends to be somebody important yet has no food.” (Proverbs 12:9)
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