Status Updates From Ambition Monster: A Memoir

“A French test called the Work Addiction Risk Test (charmingly referred to as WART) is one of the few tools available to help mental health workers identify workaholism in their patients. First devised by Dr. Bryan, WART is built around five dimensions: compulsive tendencies, control, impaired communication and self-ab-sorption, inability to delegate, and low levels of self-worth.”

“The path from contented rube to status goblin is short. One day you're an oblivious normie thinking your nor-mie stuff and normie life are great, then someone comes along and calls your couch plastic and … you feel withered, less than. You feel ashamed. Consumption, then, becomes solely about avoiding this shame, about appearances, about what some unimaginative jerks believe you should do, be, own.”