A 40-year-old man named John from Orlando, Florida, recently called into “The Ramsey Show” with a plea for help. He said he's been fired 14 times in the last 11 years and is struggling to stay employed due to what he described as “personality and behavioral challenges.”
When Bad Behavior Blocks Every Path Forward
John told financial experts Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze that he's racked up more than $70,000 in federal student loan debt and is currently considering two very different paths: joining the Navy as an officer or starting a podcast with a friend. He added that he relies on his parents financially and said, “I wouldn’t be alive today without God and my parents.”
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Despite trying to apply for low-paying jobs, John says no one will hire him. When Ramsey asked him how many jobs he’s had, John replied, “14 jobs in 11 years.”
Ramsey pushed further. “So what’d you do before 29?” John explained he spent eight years in college without a clear direction. Ramsey then pressed on the root of the problem: “You said behavior and personality challenges cause you to lose your jobs. Is that what you said?”
“Yeah,” John answered. “I have a disability. I have a personality disability.”
He went on to reveal a diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder, as determined through neurological assessments. John described himself as being difficult in the workplace and admitted he tends to challenge authority.
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Ramsey then asked him directly: “So, how does this manifest itself in the workplace? Like, you’re just a butt?”
“It caused me to challenge authority, to be a difficult employee to work with,” he replied. Ramsey said that kind of behavior would typically be considered belligerence, and John agreed that description fit.
He added that he has been given tools to help, but he often brings bitterness from past jobs into new roles and ends up sabotaging himself early on.
Ramsey told him that no career path, especially self-employment, would allow someone to succeed while consistently displaying disruptive or inappropriate behavior: “If you’re my mechanic and you’re a butt when I’m the customer, then you’re not my mechanic anymore and you go out of business.”
When John mentioned the Navy, Ramsey was quick to shut it down. “The Navy doesn’t do well with people who have trouble with authority," he said. "That's going to be a nasty conflict.”
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John also floated an unusual idea about curing his condition using nanotechnology. “I think that it can be cured with nanobots that you can inject in the body and then have them programmed to heal the frontal cortex of the brain,” he said.
At that point, Ramsey said, “You just left me behind at the airport, dude.” The idea was so far-fetched that it completely lost him.
Therapy, Not A Podcast
John admitted he hasn’t been able to function in society and that his resume alone raises red flags for potential employers.
For Ramsey, the priority shouldn't be picking a job or launching a business. “The problem is not the career issue. It’s the symptom,” he explained, offering to connect him with a mental health expert on their team.
Rachel added that creating a predictable environment and being proactive about healing needs to be John's next step: “I think there’s something that you can do, honestly, John, to find healing and to be a productive member of society.”
Ramsey agreed: “I do too. I think there’s something other than nanobots.”
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