We're all here because we're not all there

You know that old gag "You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!"?  Well, here comes one Kevin Dutton, author of “The Wisdom Of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success,” and he put together a list of the ten most common jobs to be held by psychopaths.

It's all so easy to go around saying, "Oh, (he) (she) (Dick Cheney)(that guy down the street who sits on the porch hollering at passing kids)  is a psychopath."   But we should be sure to define the term before we enjoy reading the list.

Whatever dictionary it is that Google consults says that a psychopath is "a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior."

So, the similarity between a psychopath and a wooded path leading to a gingerbread castle is that you don't want to cross either one. Good advice there from Hansel and Gretel.

(By the way, who was it who decided that stories about little kids being tossed into ovens or babies falling out of trees when the bough breaks were good for little kids and babies to hear?)


Back to Mr Dutton's list: in which jobs are we likely to be working with a psychopath or two? He's careful to point out that not everyone in these fields is a madman, but he wants you to know that these are the likely places for a lunatic to draw a paycheck. And if you'll visit his website, he provides a handy test right there online so you can determine if you are, in fact, a psychotic.  Many of you will be aghast at learning that my score was low - 5 out of a possible 33!

Here are the jobs in which Dutton figures you will likely be working with psychopaths:

CEO
Lawyer
TV/radio personality
Salesperson
Surgeon
Journalist
Police Officer
Clergyperson
Chef
Civil Servant

And here are the jobs to have if you don't care to work among the loonies, raving or otherwise:

Care aide
Nurse
Therapist
Craftsperson
Beautician/stylist
Charity worker
Teacher
Artist
Doctor
Accountant

Now here's where it gets a little sticky.  I've had two jobs on the first list and one on the second.  So what does that tell you?