Friendships

Friendships are, in many ways, the key to fraudulence. Because interpersonal relations (or lack thereof) provide us so many opportunities to live fraudulently, it's important to look at how we can have the correct type of friends and what to do to keep them. 

Making friends can be hard. Most times you'd probably rather go home and eat cookies than try to chat up a new person in an effort to befriend them. Cookies don't tell long, boring stories about people you don't care about. Cookies don't expect you to remember their names or whether or not you've met them before. Cookies don't--without the help of drugs--ask you what you do for a living and expect to hear something interesting. And with cookies, there's never a serious question about whether or not they'll end up being touched and in your mouth. 

But what about the friends you already have? I'm glad you asked. These are indispensable because if they've stuck with you for a good amount of time, that means they're not disgusted or horrified by your neuroses and can generally be counted on in good times and bad. In this way, the friends you already have, unlike ones you're trying to make for the first time, are very much like cookies.  

But true frauds should test the limits of their friendships all the time. Call your friends to discuss every bout of hypochondria, even if you're sure they're no longer listening. Discuss controversial matters about which you know you'll disagree simply to see if your relationship can withstand a blowout argument. Ignore them when things are going well in your life and then desperately attempt to reconnect when tragedy strikes. 

True friendships should be able to stand up to even the strongest of tests: your personality.