Why would someone lie about this?

Laura, co-workers are like family.....you can't pick 'em - you just gotta put up with them!!

People's behavior often perplexes me. Other than the drama queen who is frustrating to be around, the other kind of "liar" that frustrates me is the one who always has to top you. Like you say, "I lived through a tornado once" and they, "I lived through a hurricane!" You say, "My labor and delivery of my baby was so hard because of (stick whatever in here)" and they, "well my labor and delivery was so hard because I gave birth to 13 babies all weighing over 12 pounds each, no pain meds, in the middle of the desert, standing on my head!" (You get the picture)

The person originally telling their story is not doing it in a big wow, look what I did way, just simply talking but there always seems to be that one person that has to one up you with so many outlandish stories, they could not possibly be true!
 
Worknprogress said:
Other than the drama queen who is frustrating to be around, the other kind of "liar" that frustrates me is the one who always has to top you. Like you say, "I lived through a tornado once" and they, "I lived through a hurricane!"
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Ha. I know someone like that. :D She knows everything and has done it all. At first, it's funny. Then it gets irritating.

We also know someone ~ a long-time friend of DH's ~ who loves to play "Guess what happened" with us. Whenever we talk to him, he always has some outlandish story, and it usually involves the Emergency Room or some life-threatening situation. Every single story ends up with, "I almost died." If I didn't know him to be such a serial exaggerator, I'd think the Universe was trying to kill him. :p

His former wife was just as bad. She almost died in childbirth too...with the children barely making it...4 times. :rolleyes:

I kid you not. One night he called and asked what we were doing, and I explained that we were leaving to attend my grandfather's wake. He actually said, "You think that's bad..." and then laid another one of his stories on me.
 
Worknprogress said:
Laura, co-workers are like family.....you can't pick 'em - you just gotta put up with them!!

People's behavior often perplexes me. Other than the drama queen who is frustrating to be around, the other kind of "liar" that frustrates me is the one who always has to top you. You say, "My labor and delivery of my baby was so hard because of (stick whatever in here)" and they, "well my labor and delivery was so hard because I gave birth to 13 babies all weighing over 12 pounds each, no pain meds, in the middle of the desert, standing on my head!" (You get the picture)

The person originally telling their story is not doing it in a big wow, look what I did way, just simply talking but there always seems to be that one person that has to one up you with so many outlandish stories, they could not possibly be true!
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LOL! ITA! I know someone just like this at my job and it is sooooo annoying. I think they do it because they are insecure.

Kristin
 
LauraMax said:
I'm trying very hard to figure out our secretary. She just had eye surgery & she claims it was to have cateracts removed, but she took out a $5000 pension loan to pay for it. Our insurance covers cateract surgery. I'm pretty sure she had lasik done. What I can't figure out is why she'd try to hide it. It's pretty common & there's nothing to be embarassed about. ...

She was also out for 6 months about 3 years ago for back surgery. She claims she had all the muscles removed from her lower back. Now, I'm no doctor, but how can someone sit, much less stand and/or walk if they have no muscles in their lower back? When she came back from her surgery she was wasted every day.
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I think she's a mythomaniac (which is a nice way of saying she's a chronic liar).

The only reason I can see for someone lying about having Lasik, and rather saying it was cataracts, is they have some kind of compulsion to lie. IMO, cataract surgery seems more 'shameful'' (not really, so don't anyone who had it get on my case, okay, LOL!) than having Lasik, just because cataracts are associated with old age.

As for her second claim: all the muscle removed from her lower back?? WTF?? :confused: (Play "Twilight Zone" theme song here).

I cannot think of any situation in which that would be done (cancer of the back muscles?:confused:). Either a gross exaggeration (she had some of the muscle removed for some reason) or a complete lie. Or maybe she believes it's true? Like you, I don't think someone with 'all their lower back muscles removed" would be able to do many things normally.
 
Laura, I know someone who is a chronic liar like the woman you mentioned - he lies about the most random, unimportant crap. Unfortunately, he is my son's father:eek: There's no closing my office door to his lies! He is affecting the shaping of a human being here - kind of a big deal! So while I don't really have any advice, I certainly sympathize.

And FWIW, I didn't see anything wrong with Laura's OP - I totally get it. I have wondered time and time again why *certain people* fabricate things for no apparent reason. I am just a person who often wonders why people do what they do. I don't see anything wrong with that...
 
If this co-workers stories are a bother for you to listen to I would suggest either staying away (if you can) or letting her know that you would prefer that she not share her personal medical information with you. I also suggest that you not spend your time and energy thinking about it and letting it annoy or bother you. Those feelings are a waste of energy and her challenges really have nothing to do with you. I find that complaining about someone only usually feeds my ego and makes me feel better than that person, which is not the way I want to live my life. I know we can't all be perfect though. Best wishes in your dealings with this person, hopefully you can let it stop bothering you.

Monica
 
I think that some people see their real lives as so boring or shameful that something else - anything else - sounds better. They make up lies so that they can get others' sympathy or admiration without showing their actual vulnerable selves. That way, if the lie doesn't get a good reaction, they can soothe themselves by knowing it wasn't true anyway.

I used to work with someone like this. She said she was the inventor of the Sea-Do!! At first, naif that I was, I believed her, but over the next couple of years that she worked at my company, I learned that she was also a famous fashion designer who had worked with all the top models, was a top photographer whose work was regularly in Vogue, and had all kinds of patents from her many inventions as she was a top scientist as well. In addition to working full time in software development, she was also able to maintain an office in the most expensive part of Toronto's business section, where she went every day after her job at my office - her office was apparently somehow associated with research. After awhile people started pressing her for more details, such as where her other office was, and what issues of Vogue she had photos in, and she never seemed to be able to give direct answers. This was before the days of the Internet so it wasn't as easy to double check things. I kind of admired her ability to talk her way out of anything, although I was disgusted by her at the same time.
 
Stebby said:
I think that some people see their real lives as so boring or shameful that something else - anything else - sounds better. They make up lies so that they can get others' sympathy or admiration without showing their actual vulnerable selves. That way, if the lie doesn't get a good reaction, they can soothe themselves by knowing it wasn't true anyway.

I used to work with someone like this. She said she was the inventor of the Sea-Do!! At first, naif that I was, I believed her, but over the next couple of years that she worked at my company, I learned that she was also a famous fashion designer who had worked with all the top models, was a top photographer whose work was regularly in Vogue, and had all kinds of patents from her many inventions as she was a top scientist as well. In addition to working full time in software development, she was also able to maintain an office in the most expensive part of Toronto's business section, where she went every day after her job at my office - her office was apparently somehow associated with research. After awhile people started pressing her for more details, such as where her other office was, and what issues of Vogue she had photos in, and she never seemed to be able to give direct answers. This was before the days of the Internet so it wasn't as easy to double check things. I kind of admired her ability to talk her way out of anything, although I was disgusted by her at the same time.
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It would be almost fun to egg her on just to see what she says! Once you know she's lying you can just consider it entertainment. There was a guy our workplace that claimed to be an ex-c.i.a. agent. I never believed a word he said but would ask him all sorts of questions 'cause his stories were so much more fun to listen to than the true stuff people talk about! I really missed him when he got fired.

On a more serious note, I think the ones like Laura's co-worker and my ex-friend actually start believing their own lies.
 
Stebby said:
I used to work with someone like this. She said she was the inventor of the Sea-Do!! At first, naif that I was, I believed her, but over the next couple of years that she worked at my company, I learned that she was also a famous fashion designer who had worked with all the top models, was a top photographer whose work was regularly in Vogue, and had all kinds of patents from her many inventions as she was a top scientist as well. In addition to working full time in software development, she was also able to maintain an office in the most expensive part of Toronto's business section, where she went every day after her job at my office - her office was apparently somehow associated with research.
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:confused:
Sounds to me like this goes beyond just 'telling lies" and gets into the pathological.
 
I once had a coworker that lied about having breast cancer of all things! Also her car got repoed and she told everyone at work it was stolen. I suppose I can maybe get why that would be an embarrassment , but why cancer?
 
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