Career Day
Trevor Thompson, internet ad salesman, does career day at a public school in Queens and enters a shame spiral of compulsive lying.
In the second class I visited, I told the kids I used to be a cowboy. Having grown up on a horse ranch, I knew much more about equines than I did about space flight, and therefore found it much easier to play a convincing cowboy than an astronaut. Not that I stopped introducing myself as an astronaut. It was a great way to get the kids' attention. Also, I took a perverse pleasure in knowing I had the power to make children so happy or so sad with such little effort. First, I'd tell them I was an astronaut. After their cheering subsided, I'd tell them I was really an Internet Salesman, which would almost shatter then with disappointment. Then, while they were totally depressed and perplexed, I'd strike with my cowboy story.
For those of you have never tried it, it's really easy to lie to children.
