Man Pride

“Take away a man's pride when it's all he's got left,” Michael tells me with a sigh, “And there's no telling what he's likely to do.”

We are in the midst of a spirited debate about the best way to handle our latest deadbeat client. I have a personal interest since I haven't been paid in two weeks, first due to his check not being here and second due to it bouncing like a ping pong ball. I'm in favor of billboards all over the city, preferably with lights, calling the scum out by name and warning people about him although, I grudgingly admit, I'd settle for resinstituting a debtor's prison or stocks on the courthouse lawn. Michael is less vindictive and playing with the idea of a simple breach of contract lawsuit but I know for a fact that kneecapping the self-important, sleazy little prick has crossed his mind.

“It's something about a man's psyche,” he muses, more to himself than me, “Humiliate him when he's down and he's got nothing left to lose, no reason not to turn violent.”

This strikes me as a preposterous idea but when I say so, it earns me a dark look.

“I've seen it happen.” he assures me and I shrug.

It's unsettling to realize that Michael, who normally stands just a little to the right of Ghengis Khan, has a generous streak far wider than my own. It may be that his newfound poverty has released some buried treasure of tolerance, I think, but the thought is erased quickly.

“I'm not in the mood to have pot shots taken at me,” he says and he's not entirely joking, “So we'll try to take the high ground as much as we can.”

“Man's a pathalogical liar,” I argue back but without much enthusiasm, “And he can't make up his mind which works best, being a braggart or a victim. I don't like being played.”

This works its way into a final email and immediately elicits another hollow promise to pay - “Within the hour!” he writes - and a veritable shopping list of personal hardships and new scapegoats.

The hour passes. Then another. And another. There's no money.

I'm up to my knees in man pride.