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Hey G,

I am currently reading the novel “I Am Charlotte Simmons” by Tom Wolfe.

It's not exactly a page-turner but is overall quite decent.

There are some good observations about women, though much of it seems bizarre and suggests that the author may not have a lot of firsthand experience.

However, I found the depiction of a spiteful woman in the book very well-written.

It describes a woman who completely ruins her ex-husband, ignoring that it would negatively affect her as well.

One side character in the book is a Jewish boy whose father is a restaurateur and a fraudster, and his mother is a crass, uneducated woman who fills her son’s head with tales of Jewish supremacy.

At one point, the father wants to leave his wife for a much younger woman, which his wife obviously opposes.

Instead of being content with a one-time settlement payment, alimony, and child support, she exposes her husband’s tax fraud, financially ruining him completely.

This results in her getting no money at all in the end, forcing her to take up tedious work.

The woman’s lawyer is perplexed by her actions.

There is the well-known saying that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

This aspect of women disregarding legal consequences is not uncommon.

Think of all the false rape accusations out there.

The legal system doesn’t treat women as harshly as men, but if it did, many women still wouldn’t think ahead.

In the moment, it feels good to them to hurt their ex-boyfriend’s best friend, accuse an ex-lover of rape, or slash the tires of a guy who dumped her, and they would still do it.

I don't think Tom Wolfe intended to depict realistic female behavior in this example.

Yet, he hit the bull’s eye as nothing seemed exaggerated to me.

While this isn’t the expected behavior, it’s not rare to encounter women who make grave missteps without caring or being aware of it.

I remember sitting in a work meeting a few years ago where a woman said she had access to a competitor’s files because she used to work there and downloaded everything she could before leaving.

She laughed, saying “one obviously is not supposed to do this.”

This is a clear breach of contract and could get both her and her current employer into deep trouble.

I wonder how many more such cases exist.

In any case, I don’t recall ever working with a guy who showed such a disregard for ethics and compliance rules.

Until next time

-MOS