---
created_at: '2013-11-14T19:04:16.000Z'
title: How I became a con artist (2010)
url: http://www.salon.com/2010/11/30/life_as_an_amateur_con/
author: gscott
points: 83
story_text: ''
comment_text: 
num_comments: 65
story_id: 
story_title: 
story_url: 
parent_id: 
created_at_i: 1384455856
_tags:
- story
- author_gscott
- story_6734607
objectID: '6734607'

---
I discovered just how susceptible people were to the right persona when,
for over a year, I attended my local gym in California without becoming
a member. I never knew what I was going to say to the worker at the
front desk. This is because when you're conning someone, you must always
give the illusion that your mind is on something else. Affable
indifference works well. For the gym, I used athletic focus. Never once
did I approach the front desk walking. I was always running, always in
the zone, always pumped. I'd have my earphones in, music blaring, and
say that I'd just taken a run around the block (interval training); I'd
have my basketball shoes in hand and feign anxiety as I approached: Did
the game start already? I'd shake my head impatiently and say that I had
to feed the parking meter, briefly criticizing the city's parking
regulations, and every time, the worker would sympathize, hand me a
towel and tell me to have a good workout.

Yes, it was all about persona, and every encounter enabled me to tweak
my persona -- a regimen of creation and re-creation, a perpetual
self-sharpening: Hi, I bought this book the other day and I got it home
and found that there was writing inside\! (Of course, beforehand, I'd go
hide the remaining copies of said book so the cashier would be forced to
give me a store credit); hi, I bought this shirt the other day and the
cashier said that it wouldn't shrink if I washed it, but it shrunk; hi,
you know, I'm not really sure, I'm just making this return for my wife …
my mother … my sister … my sick grandmother; hi, I got this as a
graduation gift … a christening gift … a shower gift ... a birthday
gift; hi, I forgot my key card upstairs in my room, is it possible to
get another one to get into the fitness center?; hi, no, I'm sorry, but
I don't have my receipt; hi, well I would like to speak to the manager,
please.
