NOTE: All names have been changed to protect my innocent ass.

Getting away with corporate espionage

Actually, I’ve had at least five supervisors with psychopathic traits — this post will focus primarily on one. This story takes place in the early 90s, during the same time I was married to a psychopath. Back then, I didn’t even know what a psychopath or sociopath was.

Background

I got deeply involved into computers in the early 1980s. Within a couple years, people began to refer to me as a guru.

I was a few years ahead of the cusp of the digital transition era for print graphics. I slowly discovered that I continue reading…

Continued from Part 3 …

2001 Nov 11, Sun PM

Karan, the super lady who originally drove me to the hospital on the previous Wednesday, was there to pick me up and take me home. After the hour drive, I asked her to stop by the post office, so I could check my mail. When I returned to the car, and just about to get in, Karan screamed.

The back of my shirt and pants were saturated in blood, but when I had gotten out of the car, my back was dry. Apparently the pressure of leaning against the seat back was enough to contain the blood flow until I got up.

Karan immediately demanded to take me back up to the hospital, but I refused. The top surgeon said it was OK for me to go home, so I felt if we made the drive all the way back up, they’d just turn us around and send me home again. She reluctantly obliged and took me home. continue reading…

UPDATED: 2011 Jun 20

2010 Jul 13

I just received a very unexpected note from Christopher — the old kind of note: in an envelope with a stamp. For those not familiar, Christopher is the guy that my soon-to-be ex-wife Julie was having an affair with, then married, when she left me and our two kids in 1995. I was granted full physical and legal custody. Within five years, they added three more messed-up kids to the planet.

That’s not what he was apologizing for …

Reading this letter immediately reminded me of a statement Christopher made back during the divorce. Now, 15 years later, Christopher’s letter completely contradicts his previous recorded comment … or does he apologize for it?  continue reading…

Our Judicial system is crumbling. What would be the chance of it ever getting fixed? Let’s think about that. There are three branches of the Federal government: Executive, Legislative and Judicial.

• Which branch has the most power? Judicial.
• Which is over all three, including policing itself? Judicial.
• Potentially, where does the biggest problem lie? Judicial.

The Judicial branch is our system of courts. A courtroom is where the common man is likely going to get closest to one of the three branches of the federal government. The top court in the country, the Supreme Court, is potentially as political as the other two branches of the government. continue reading…

 
Maybe you’re in a position now that requires you to hire staff. That usually means you also have the responsibility to let others go.

People working for me had to work really hard to lose their job. When I identified someone as losing focus, passion, or ambition, I’d climb aboard. I wanted to find out what was causing the change. Generally, one doesn’t go from a valued employee to a questionable employee just as a whim.

It may not be something they wanted to talk about at first, and that’s OK, as it was not the most important aspect. I respected their privacy, and they knew that. But after they realized I was truly concerned about them, and my focus was on their well-being, they virtually always opened up. When we got to that point, I felt fairly sure that I saved a good employee.

There’s usually something at the base of it all, something responsible for the trauma — potentially outside the office environment — and that “something” can usually be fixed. Usually.  But what if it’s an excellent employee who became ineffective, virtually overnight, as well losing his ability to keep his high performance and work-quality ratings? This is someone who’s been with the company a long time. continue reading…

An overwhelming trait of sociopaths is that they are void of common human emotions. Besides having no remorse or guilt, they do not have the ability to love, feel compassion, or be passionate. They are busy building their following, spewing their manipulative lies, and feeling the need to be the center of attention.

Therefore, it would seem to infer that those who are genuinely opposite to the above — individuals with true human emotions, and are content with a few good friends over a mass of gullible followers — are less likely to be sociopaths. Maybe not just less likely, but most likely.

The Process of Elimination

Maybe the process of elimination would be an accurate determination of not only who isn’t but who may well be.

The Shy-Types

In very general terms, how about people who have a quiet disposition, generally stick to themselves, those who may be considered shy. At work, they actually spend their time doing their job instead of schmoozing with whoever happens to be in the lunchroom. Sociopath? I would bet not. continue reading…

. . . continued from Part 2
Back Surgery, November 7, 2001, 06:00, Piedmont Hospital.

2001 Nov 7, Wed

Karan, a woman I had met just a few months earlier, had offered to drive me to the hospital. It was not convenient for her in the least, either.

She had to drive an hour to get to my home from her’s, then travel another hour to get to the hospital. When we pulled up, I told Karan she could just drop me off at the entrance.

Her response was a very firm, “No way, I’m walking in with you.”

Karan won that dispute as she drove right to the parking deck and found a convenient spot. As soon as I checked-in, I was told they were ready for me in pre-op, so Karan gave me a hug, and wished me the best.

Within minutes of arriving in pre-op, they had run an IV, and suddenly, I had not one single care in the world. Shortly thereafter, my life was in the hands of an unnamed anesthesiologist.  continue reading…

continued from Part 1 . . .

January 2001

In late January, I began getting muscle spasms in my left shoulder. Within a week, I could no longer lie down, forcing me to sleep in a chair. The pain in my upper back and shoulders was becoming unbearable.

One evening, I was in my daughter’s room when I tossed her comforter onto the bed. That simple action almost took me out, by a new level of intense, acute nerve pain, unlike anything I had ever felt. continue reading…

 
Besides the evil perpetuated against me by my sister, Kathy, and Julie, my ex-wife, the 2000-2009 decade was also pay-back time for all the physical *fun* I had growing up. I had a passion for life, and that often meant living on the edge to place it all into perspective. But I must start at the beginning …

Age: 2-4
Being Grounded

This has nothing to do with being placed on restriction, as that would be a bit odd for a toddler. This is about that other ground, the ground that electricity always looks for. Based on my size and the layout of the house, this has to be one of my earliest memories … which also could have ended my race before I ever got out of the gate.

I was crawling on the floor in our family room, and I happened to squeeze in behind an overstuffed chair. There, in front of me, were two things that seemed to go together, at least based on my limited-life experience.

On the floor was a metal bobby pin and on the wall was a small, rectangular plastic covering with two slots on top, and two on the bottom. I know my mom stuck things in there. So, I recall seeing no reason, whatsoever, that the two sides of the bobby pin should not go in the two little slots on the wall outlet. continue reading…

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Synopsis :: If you’re looking for the “cheat-sheet” of rules to identify a sociopath, this article is a must-read.

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Google the phrase: “how to identify a sociopath” and you’ll find pages, upon millions of pages, with 1-10 lists, bullet-pointed lists, all written defining how to spot a sociopath, and what to do when facing one … sort of like the Web’s version of sound-bite plagiarism.

Sorry, but my subject line is intentionally misleading, and is so to make a very important point — don’t be suckered. The Web is filled with new sites featuring short “how-to” articles, written by a new breed of amateur writers looking for their 15-minutes of fame, and to make a buck.

Non-jounalists, non-experts, and non-experienced individuals writing about very serious topics that they simply re-purpose from others like them … and it goes on and on.

More of these “public-reporting” Web sites are popping up all the time, allowing virtually anyone to write about topics without any sort of “check” on their sources or accuracy. If the Web has succeeded in spreading any character flaw, it’s got to be “gullibility.” Blind leading the blind? continue reading…