Games People Play

Antithesis
. The obvious antithesis of TAG is to request immediate payment in cash. But a good 
TAG player has methods for getting around that, which will work on any but the most hard-boiled 
creditors. The antithesis of TAGAWI is promptness and honesty. Since hard TAG and TAGAWI 
players are both professionals in every sense of die word, an amateur stands as much chance 
playing against them as he does playing against professional gamblers. While the amateur seldom 
wins, he can at least enjoy himself if he becomes involved in one of these games. Since both are by 
tradition played grimly, nothing is more disconcerting to the professionals than to have an amateur 
victim laugh at the outcome. In financial circles this is considered strictly Out. In the cases reported 
to this writer, laughing at a debtor when one encounters him on the street is just as bewildering, 
frustrating and disconcerting to him as playing anti-"Schlemiel" is to a Schlemiel. 
3 KICK ME 
Thesis
. This is played by men whose social manner is equivalent to wearing a sign that reads 
"Please Don't Kick Me." The temptation is almost irresistible, and when the natural result follows, 
White cries piteously, "But the sign says 'don't kick me.'" Then he adds incredulously, "Why does 
this always happen to me?" (WAHM.) Clinically, the WAHM may be introjected and disguised in 
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the "Psychiatry" cliche": "Whenever I'm under stress, I get all shook up." One game element in 
WAHM comes from inverse pride: "My misfortunes are better than yours." This factor is often 
found in paranoids. 
If the people in his environment are restrained from striking at him by kindheartedness, "I'm Only 
Trying to Help You," social convention or organizational rules, his behavior becomes more and 
more provocative until he transgresses the limits and forces them to oblige. These are men who are 
cast out, the jilted and the job losers. 
The corresponding game among women is "Threadbare.1 Often genteel, they take pains to be 
shabby. They see to it that their earnings, for "good" reasons, never rise much above the subsistence 
level. If they have a windfall, there are always enterprising young men who will help them get rid 
of it, giving them in return shares in a worthless business promotion or something equivalent. 
Colloquially, such a woman is called "Mother's Friend," always ready to give judicious Parental 
advice and living vicariously on the experience of others. Their WAHM is a silent one, and only 
(heir demeanor of brave struggle suggests "Why does this always happen to me?" 
An interesting form of WAHM occurs in well-adapted people who reap increasing rewards and 
successes, often beyond their own expectations. Here the WAHM may lead to serious and 
constructive thinking, and to personal growth in the best sense, if it takes the form "What did I 
really do to deserve this?"