I was talking to a male ESI friend of mine, who has faithfully but sometimes begrudgingly worked in the shadow of an LIE for twenty years, and I asked him if he thought that people of my type (he knows that his boss and I are the same "type") are exploiters and swindlers.

His reaction was remarkable. He got this big, incredulous grin on his face and then started laughing. Now, I've known this guy for a long time and I've never seen him laugh like that.

When he settled down, he said, "Present company excluded." Which I thought was rather nice of him, but I said, "No, probably me, too."