ONE MAN'S MISERY...

On a ten hour flight to Atlanta Andrew befriended the gentleman sitting next to him, a thirty-something businessman from Houston, Texas. Andrew was sorry to hear that the guy had just gotten divorced, had financial difficulties and was on the brink of losing his job. Having been the victim of divorced parents himself he was also saddened by the notion that his ex-wife was considering filing for full custody of their kids. Here was a broken shell of a man, at the end of his pitiful rope and with seemingly no desire to go on with life...Pitty aside however Andrew wasted no time at all in rinsing the poor fellow for 200 dollars in a game of poker, luring him in under the premise of not knowing how to play in order to cheer his opponent up and then mercilessly rinsing him for the contents of his wallet... As the guy sat back, now positively suicidal and depressed having lost even more, Andrew called for the duty free and used part of his winnings to buy a 1/2 litre bottle of Jim Beam which he polished of merrily right in front of the hapless man...Whom it turns out was also a recovering alcoholic. 

"These things always come in stages" philosophized Andrew,  "I'm sure he'll bounce back."