You know the types-charming and engaging to a fault, so much so that they can get away with stuff that mere mortals like us would receive a severe lashing for. I’ve had a few students like that-you just tend to give them a little more rope as a matter of natural course, because they can disarm you with a silly opportune joke or something and make you completely forget what it was that irked you in the first place. Good kids all of them mind (no psychopaths), but easily capable of wrapping themselves around your little finger even without meaning to consciously.
Yeah, I’ve known several sociopaths like that.
Yes. Thanks to them, I now have an aversion to charming people.
Can’t say I’ve ever gotten away with murder (and I wouldn’t if I could), but I am a charming rogue.
OJ? (not to me, but evidently to a jury of his peers)
Bill Clinton.
I possess a pretty skeptical outlook and a gimlet eye, so the first thing I think of with an overly-charming bastard is, “He’s up to something.”
That would be a former college roommate. He was from wealthy family in the Philippines. (At least they were wealthy enough to have more than one house and bodyguards). I think his dad was in some version of the Asian Mafia. He had the perfect “evil” hair and the charming personality but his nickname was “The Mad Doctor” because he talked about ways to exploit international laws and human decency for his personal gain. He was big into anime and killer robots. He could also lie through his teeth and make people believe the most outlandish things. Heck, I don’t know if half the stuff I learned about him is even true. He would make a great Evil Overlord or politician. That’s why I’m careful to keep in touch with him by sending a Christmas card every year.
(I’ll also put in a good word for all the Dopers so you get nice jobs like working in the salt mines, and not targets for his giant killer robots).
This happened to my folks. Not murder but financial ruin. When they were newly weds they met a very charismatic couple from England. They were so convincing they had my parents all signed up move to England and start up a business. My parents sold all their belongings and gave the man the money to go buy the tickets at the airport where he promptly disappeared. They waited at the airport for hours and lost everything. My mom only told me this after my Dads death as he was so ashamed. My Mom said they were very convincing people.
They weren’t necessarily charismatic in the sense of being charming, but I’ve known several people who effortlessly convinced their friends to pump time, money and energy into them–in some cases until their “helpers” were bankrupt and homeless.
Scary, scary folk.