How Not to Gain Trust: Obviously Fake Camaraderie

I got a cold-call email at work today from a person who tried to make herself seem like a friend or contact so that I'd be more likely to respond. If you work in a corporate job you probably know the kind of thing. There's the classic fake "Following up on our last conversation" intro (there was no previous convo) or "More info you asked for about XYZ" (never heard of XYZ). This one tried to play to the college listed in my LinkedIn profile to come across as having something in common. It was like, "Oh, wow, you went to Cornell, too, I bet you're really looking forward to the Cherry Blossom Festival!"

This bombed as a gambit to establish rapport because I'd never heard of a cherry blossom festival at Cornell. It certainly wasn't a thing during the 4 years I was a student there, and I'm virtually certain it wasn't a thing for at least 10 years prior (it still would've been talked about as campus folklore) or 10 years since (I would've read about it in alumni newsletters they were regularly sending me). It's a fail of an attempt to seem familiar.

Now, if the same person had reached out with, "Cornell! Wow, it's almost time for Dragon Day, and I'll bet you have memories!" I might actually have responded. Even to a complete stranger I might have replied with something like, "I sure do!" and mentioned the time I participated in a Dragon Day parade as an act of civil disobedience after craven university administrators tried to declare it illegal. Or the time my friends stole a dragon— a baby dragon—and drunk, angry dragon-parents swarmed the house I was living in, demanding it back. Good times! But alas, no, this stranger's attempt at camaraderie was to cite a nonexistent cherry blossom festival.

BCS 2.01: One Last Con Before Jimmy Goes Legit

Season 2 of Better Call Saul begins right where season 1 left off, with Jimmy declining an offer with high-end law firm Davis & Main because he found being a con artist so much fun. In fact episode 2.01 even replays the scene from episode 1.10 where Jimmy has second thoughts outside the courthouse and decides to bail. This version of the scene is modified, though, to show that Jimmy goes inside to meet the Davis & Main partners and decline their offer, rather than just ghost them like the version in 1.10 implied.

During the revised scene, Jimmy also pulls attorney friend Kim aside to ask her if "us"— his clumsy onscreen way of implying that he wants something more from their so-far platonic friendship— depends on him taking the job. Kim is confused at first then says no, they're separate issues. Jimmy confidently declines the job offer and leaves, stopping to chat with parking attendant hit-man Mike on the way out about "What stopped us from taking that $1.6 million?"

We next see Jimmy at a resort hotel in the area, relaxing on a pool float while enjoying food and drink. Kim accosts him and demands to know why he's throwing away a sterling opportunity for his law career. I'll skip the explanation and cut to the chase; Jimmy agrees to meet Kim in the bar to talk about it, and their (mis)adventure goes from there.

In the resort bar, Jimmy invites Kim to "follow my lead" as he approaches a fellow patron who's conducted an obnoxiously loud mobile phone call about his stock trading advice. Jimmy is onto another con. He poses as a man who's just inherited a sizable sum of money and has limited understanding of how to invest it. He deftly draws in the broker— the "mark" in con artist terminology— getting him first to offer a tiny bit of advice, then more advice, then invite them for a sit-down to discuss them signing him up as their financial broker. The con isn't to actually hire him as a broker, though. It's to scam free drinks off him at the bar.

Jimmy asks the mark if he likes Zafiro Añejo tequila. Jimmy had seen it on the menu before coming up with this con and noted it was $50. The waiter assured him it was worth it. (BTW, Zafiro Añejo is a fictitious brand of tequila. It's a bit of a Breaking Bad Easter egg as it featured as the instrument of revenge in episode 4.10 where Gus Fring poisons the entire leadership of a drug cartel.)

Working the name Zafiro Añejo into his con, Jimmy gets the mark to order a round for the table without looking at the price. Then another round. And another. Pretty soon Jimmy, Kim, and the mark have consumed nearly the entire bottle. Their bar tab is likely north of $1,000— in 2002 prices. Jimmy and Kim sign the broker's papers (with their fake names) and scoot before he sees the bill they've stuck him with.

Jimmy and Kim, both drunk, hook up that night back at Kim's place. In the morning neither seems to have any regrets that their friendship has turned romantic. Kim does warn Jimmy that "I can't continue like this"— but what she means by that is that she, a lawyer, a member of the state bar, cannot be known to associate with a con artist. Jimmy decides that he's has hid last hurrah and tells Davis & Main that he'll accept their job offer.

One wonders, now, how long before James M. McGill, Esq. slips back to being "Slippin' Jimmy" again.