You read that right, have covered this subject with prospective employees as early as their first interview and orientations. I believe that the most clever and intelligent crew members realize this, as well as people that have something to hide. You may want to take notes on this if you are about to change companies, or if you are a “job-hopper”. Think about it. Assuming that nobody at your new job knows you, you have the power to be a completely different person than who you really are. You can be the silent-but-strong type, speaking infrequently on what is considered an important topic, the outgoing life-of-the-party animal, always in on the crew’’s after work life, or the mysterious, spooky type, that seems immune to even the most vicious gossips and naysayers. Be the person you to be, want to be or really are. Your coworkers only know what you let them know (unless, of course, it’’s in the local police blotter!). I have seen this countless times in women with a horrible life mate, kids with overbearing parents and loners that don”t have any social life to speak of outside of work. Unhappiness at home causes much of this. Most of them practice this unconciously and out of necessity – socially gasping for air, trying to preserve what self identity they still have. Have you ever heard of another employee suddenly being escorted out of the building, in handcuffs, by Sherrif Andy and Barney? You had no clue that they were “wanted”. Same thing. I”ve also witnessed this “life-out-of-life” behavior in very intelligent, contriving people, almost as if they were trying to amuse themselves, while escaping the childish ongoings that are often unchecked in some workplaces, and preventing what seemed to be the dull and the petty. Some individuals can construct quite elaborate “realities”. I remember one bartender who claimed he was a painter/sculptor from Greenwich Village, and who went so far as to claim that the dirt on his civilian clothing was modeling clay, as he hurriedly would redress into his uniform in the men’’s room. It turned out that he really worked a construction gig for his dad during the daytime. It probably got him laid more than he would”ve been. It doesn”t take much to shape a stranger’’s image of who you claim to be. Spend a few minutes thinking about who you are, and who you want to be before your next “first day at school”.

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