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188 SNAKES IN SUITS
terests them at any given moment and then weave it into the story
they tell others. Should something else more exciting come along—
a new job or a new love interest—they will move quickly toward the
new opportunity, a tendency that can make them look somewhat
impulsive and irresponsible to observers. While they may blow up at
coworkers, flying into a rage and then calming down just as quickly
(as if nothing has happened), they can also control their anger if it
is in their best interest to do so—saving their vindictiveness for a
later time.
Another group of psychopaths is much more aggressive. This
group, the corporate bullies, seems to reflect many of the traits of the
macho psychopath: they are primarily abusive rather than charming.
Bullies are not as sophisticated or as smooth as the manipulative
type, as they rely on coercion, abuse, humiliation, harassment, aggression,
and fear to get their way. They are callous to almost everyone,
intentionally finding reasons to engage in conflict, to blame
others for things that go wrong, to attack others unfairly (in private
and in public) and to be generally antagonistic. They routinely disregard
the rights and feelings of others and frequently violate traditional
norms of appropriate social behavior. If they do not get their
way, they become vindictive, maintaining a grudge for a considerable
amount of time, and take every opportunity to “get even.”
They frequently select and relentlessly attack targets who are relatively
powerless.
Targeting the Vulnerable
Among the most attractive targets for a psychopathic con
man are women who are insecure, lonely, or isolated from friends
and family in a foreign country. In Canada recently, a man posed
as a former Hong Kong police officer and claimed he now was
working with the local police. He scammed wealthy women from
Asian “satellite families,” in which the husband worked in Hong