Let's say he described this new fun activity of using pipes to route water around a building, and then using valves so that you could turn it on and off, and have it pop out of one pipe, get caught in a big bowl, and then go swirling down another pipe.
You would immediately recognize that he was talking about something the profession called 'plumbing' does every day. And while there are amateur plumbers, there are also many many professional ones.
Pretending you are something you are not, in order to gain the confidence of someone so that they will treat you in a way you would like to be treated, is a game of confidence. And some people do this to convince someone else to go out with them on a date, some do it for the 'lulz', and some do it to make a living,
Our intrepid author has 'tricked' people into thinking he belongs at a swank party and has 'robbed' the party of drinks and snacks. He talks about the thrill of getting away with it. And it is a huge thrill. But like plumbing the spectrum of 'con artist' goes from very small (taking candy from babies) to very large (taking millions from corporations). He tells himself its not really stealing (and the rationalizations are fine, there probably is more waste in the system than he is consuming) but he is making people believe something that is false.
My word of caution is that people who are very successful are often quite ruthlessly competitive, and finding out that they had been tricked into believing something that wasn't true, often gets translated into 'losing out'. That can trigger their competitive streak, and that can get your knees broken. Same is true for para-gliding or free-style rock climbing. Not good or bad, just is.
You would immediately recognize that he was talking about something the profession called 'plumbing' does every day. And while there are amateur plumbers, there are also many many professional ones.
Pretending you are something you are not, in order to gain the confidence of someone so that they will treat you in a way you would like to be treated, is a game of confidence. And some people do this to convince someone else to go out with them on a date, some do it for the 'lulz', and some do it to make a living,
Our intrepid author has 'tricked' people into thinking he belongs at a swank party and has 'robbed' the party of drinks and snacks. He talks about the thrill of getting away with it. And it is a huge thrill. But like plumbing the spectrum of 'con artist' goes from very small (taking candy from babies) to very large (taking millions from corporations). He tells himself its not really stealing (and the rationalizations are fine, there probably is more waste in the system than he is consuming) but he is making people believe something that is false.
My word of caution is that people who are very successful are often quite ruthlessly competitive, and finding out that they had been tricked into believing something that wasn't true, often gets translated into 'losing out'. That can trigger their competitive streak, and that can get your knees broken. Same is true for para-gliding or free-style rock climbing. Not good or bad, just is.