My friends, you mean? My friends who had options in Go2Net that were underwater a year before they vested? My friends who were among the first 50 employees at Snapfish but then got laid off when HP bought it? My friends who were VPs at RealNetworks back when people put up with 40kbps RA for a fee?

Yeah, they're fucked for life.

The entitlement is kind of amazing. Because they were overpaid once, they think they deserve to be overpaid always so they walk around with this chip on their shoulder as if the world owes them not just a living, but a cushy living. And they don't get it, and they're defiant, and they go withdrawn, and they change careers a dozen times, and they spend the next 15 years (at least) chasing the dragon.

One of those friends occasionally flies helicopters on Hawaii. His parents mostly pay for him. Another did freelance advertising and now wants to get into video editing at 41. Her living situation ain't great. The third - well, he's doing okay. He founded a software studio that codes apps for other people and I think he's got like 15 employees and good on him. But he also got headhunted out of Real before it went tits-up. He also kinda saw the writing on the wall and got while the getting was good.