After a lifetime of being considered non-essential, middleman Lance Smith made the decision to spend more time focusing on himself, as well as being surrounded by people who truly see his value. “I’m just so tired of being cut out all the time,” sniffed Smith. “At first, it was something that happened at work, and then it followed me home to my family life.” The middleman said that even his wife and kids thought it was most efficient to work around him on a day-to-day basis, claiming that they would often talk over or around his head in conversations that normally would have involved him. “It’s gotten really bad, it’s almost like a complex,” he said. “After years of being left behind and discarded, I’ve started to question what my purpose is, what I bring to the table. Who is Lance Smith?” Smith said that besides picking up a hobby, he might be investing time in a local support group for other perpetual middlemen who, after years of facing disrespect in both their professional and social lives, are in need of social affirmation.