"...the deprecation of success."

Seen it myself, throughout my long career...in business.  It boggled my mind.  Surely my clients were all for increased levels of business?  Surely they'd do just about anything to achieve bigger success?  Sometimes...no.  The worst excuse I heard in response to my marketing concept for a hotel pub was "Gee, that's great, but we couldn't do that..."  Why?  The parking lot was too small.   "We just couldn't handle the increased business..."

True stuff. And then they paid me for a job well done.  

And sometimes, because I was "pushy", "forward" or "aggressive" in my business attitude, many suspected I was (wait for it) an American...