I shoulda been a spy

I missed my calling in life, I think. I shoulda gone into industrial espionage.
Remember that movie about the English chap who got himself a Russian mail order bride who didn't speak English, only she really did? Or that story about the Chinese house boys in the American embassy who were supposed to just be barely bright enough to serve tea. Such invisible non-entities as these pass through the lives of big important people unnoticed. Or even if it isn't the language thing it's the status thing. Have you ever confided in a complete stranger of low status just because you presume they can't do anything with the information.

This is one of the ways I know that I'm an invisible non-entity. Sometimes big important people whom I run across are just bursting with some knowledge but they can't share it with any other big important people because they know that the other big important people are just as ruthless as they are and might use the knowledge to gain some advantage. They presume that I can't or won't, and so they tell me.

And so I know a lot of things about a lot of people. And they're mostly right about me not using the knowledge to screw them over. How would I do that? By spreading it around? Consider the source. The other big important people would probably assume I was making it up. So I keep my mouth shut. I'm very good at that.

I should have been an industrial spy. I could get an id badge and a clipboard and look like I had some kind of job checking the fittings on the flobbermeister stamper machine or something. No one would ask me any questions. I already have spied on several local businesses. The easiest way is to just call them up and ask them whatever you want to know. I got one local business to tell me what equipment was best, where to get it, how much it cost, how they break down the pricing for their services, who their best customers are and how much they turn over per job. I guess a non-entity is recognizable even over the phone.

We'll explore some day how you get to be an invisible non-entity. Maybe it's not such a bad thing to be. At least I will probably never be the target of a hit man.