"Rob had long been an unreliable narrator, and his latest story had been a doozy about owing back rent and borrowing thousands of dollars from a shady loan shark who had threatened him with bodily harm if he was late with his payments. There was always a germ of truth in Rob's stories, and this one involved even more disturbing details, but I was going through some of my own stuff at the time, mainly looking for a new job,"
"Rob looked tired and a little more disheveled than usual. His desert boots were all beat up, and the laces were broken. He was growing a beard that was coming in unevenly. "This could be the first time the three of us have beards," I said. "Yeah, I never get to grow one because they're not big on facial hair in the restaurant industry," Rob explained, all of a sudden sounding like Tom Colicchio."
A friend arrived at Rob's Long Beach apartment and they planned lunch, then drove to Del Amo Mall. Rob sounded groggy and changed his mind before getting into the car. Rob appeared tired and disheveled, with beat-up desert boots, broken laces, and an unevenly growing beard. He juggled three or four minimum-wage jobs, worked a graveyard shift as a food and beverage supervisor, and suffered from lack of sleep. Rob told an alarming story about owing back rent and borrowing thousands from a loan shark who threatened violence. The friend was coping with personal challenges and could not engage deeply with Rob's crises.
Read at Psychology Today
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