Portrait of an Asshole
It’s slightly unfair to judge our Total Asshole without knowing something of his background. Knowing his background won’t really excuse him, but you’ll be better placed to judge him than you are now.
His father worked “in construction” and did well at it, it turns out there’s a lot of money to be made for a general builder with a talent for choosing the right sub-contractors. He never made it spectacularly big, but he had enough money to be ostracised by the people from the neighbourhoods he came from. One of the hazards of being the son of a builder is living on a building plot. And our Asshole grew up on what was essentially an enormous square of land with a comfortable detached house in one corner.
Building sites make wonderful, if slightly hazardous, playgrounds for growing boys, and our asshole spent an awful lot of his childhood running rampant across muddy fields, and playing with shovels. He grew up, grew bigger and stronger than most of the other boys, and with his father’s determination to succeed and wits as an example, he scorned the swots and students at his school. He inherited his father’s business, and was a ruthless businessman. He grew the building business, made a few enemies, and a fair chunk of money. He never settled into any of the neighbourhoods he moved to, and consequently ended up travelling a lot on business.
Where his father had been kind during his childhood, our asshole had seen uncharacteristic weakness. Where he had been thoughtful our asshole had seen his father being slow and stupid. Where there had been every possible moral lesson he had seen the wronged as being flawed. When he had been wrong, he had blamed himself only for being caught, when he had caused others distress he saw only their weakness.
He now finds himself, friendless, surrounded by business partners who joke about him behind his back. His life is full of those he deliberately screwed over, those he failed to show any sympathy for, and those who could have helped him, but were rejected.