What a Guy's Job Can Tell You About His Soul

Sure, we all want relationships with guys who a) have a job, and b) can keep a job, and c) make a comfortable living. We want to sleep at night.

We also want an equal.

And I got that, I'm grateful to say. However, it was also important that I marry a guy who, in the words of a good friend, "had a soul." (Said friend is a hotshot in the financial industry, who has worked alongside plenty of people who don't.)

To me, having a soul means treating another person as you'd have them treat you. It requires empathy and compassion. Yeah, money, style, and flat abs are great, but since we're all going to die one day (sorry for the reminder), it would be best to do it in the arms of a fine man who's happy to forgo a golf game to spend a little time at our bedsides.

So what does all this have to do with a guy and his job?

Well, two years ago, I attended a Christmas party chock full of corporate types. Two of the super-successful guests were an attractive married couple. Over dinner, the husband held court, telling us about his job at a major credit card company where he was paid to come up with schemes to induce customers to add charges to their accounts (and subsequently pay interest) for services they'd probably never need.

More than a few of us at the table were shocked.

"Is that even legal?" one woman asked.

"Don't you get sued?"

The guy answered smugly, "Of course we get sued, but not enough to make us stop."

I hated the guy instantly, and I didn't quite understand the proud look on his wife's face, either.

Fast forward two years.

Peter and I went to a Christmas party on Saturday, and who turns up at the end of the evening but The Credit Card Bandito, sans wife.

"I'm single!" he announced.

Big surprise.

He proceeded to regale anybody who'd listen about his new job at some other seemingly legitimate firm that specializes in defrauding the American consumer.

When a good friend of mine told him that she'd recently been hit for a series of monthly charges for some "shopping service" she'd never even signed up for, the guy responded, "That's right! You gotta watch those bills! Most people aren't looking at their bills! That's how we get them."

So, if you're not looking at your bills, you may have fallen victim to one of his scams yourself. He's handsomely paid for his efforts, and I'm sure he looks great in a suit, but it didn't surprise me that he's on the market again. He's a creep. His wife probably figured that out.

Seriously, I would have married a professional pooper scooper over a man who makes his living like that. How far's a guy willing to go to make a buck? Find out. It speaks volumes about his character.