is he a compulsive liar?

useful_contacts · 24-03-2008 6:21pm #1

I have this friend, known him for 3 years, lives in a diff town but we talk every day etc. Anyway im beginning to think he has become a compulsive liar. There is a HUGE list of things im pretty sure he has lied about but its too long to go into.

There always seems to be something happening to him, theres a death/accident in his family/friends nearly every week,everytime theres a car accident/shooting on the news he "claimed" he knows that person and 2 days later he says hes going to their funeral.

I caught him out on one of them cos there was a shooting about a year ago and it was a girl i knew that id been to school with and i had just met out 2 weeks before with her fiance. Anyway my friend calls me the next day claiming that was his ex who was shot and thay had just broken up (i caught him out big time on that one when i told him i knew her and she was engaged the last 2 years) He then "claimed" he must have mixed her up with someone else

He is in hospital at least once a month(and one of these times I saw him in a nightclub)and recently he told me he was going to england to meet his "Natural" mother, however once again i saw him in ireland when he was supposed to be in england and had just text me that morning to say he was getting on great with his natural mother.Also he called me from an irish number when he was supposed to be in england.

On sunday he claimed he was going over to manchester to the united/liverpool game (this was 2 hours before kick off), i didnt hear from him all day- then today he text me and said he got "attacked" in manchester and was in Crumlin in Dublin getting stitched up. Now im no doctor but i know if someone gets stabbed in England they dont wait till they get back to Ireland to go to the hospital.

I just lost the rag told him it was bull**** and to **** off. Am i right here, is he a compulsive liar?

MrJoeSoap · 24-03-2008 6:22pm

Sounds like it...

colly10 · 24-03-2008 6:27pm

Ye theres only so much of that you can listen to, defenitly not someone I would hang around with. Maybe he might cut the crap after you brought it up

sharkie2008 · 24-03-2008 6:44pm

definitely sounds like a compulsive liar, i have a friend who is the same and always gets caught out with lies but never stops and never such extreme lies.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 24-03-2008 6:56pm

Sounds like one insecure person. If you hadn't give nout to him, I'd have said to him that you know he's lying, he'll get into trouble if he's not careful and would he consider professional help beforehand?

board om · 24-03-2008 8:38pm

sounds like it. i used to work with one of those eejits. in the beginning its funny but after while it gets a bit annoying. it feels like they are insulting your intelligence. it got so bad that nobody in our office would listen a word he said anymore and we were really convinced that he had some serious mental issues to be making all this rubbish up. and the stuff he made up wasnt little lies, they were big blatent whoppers. he even lied to the guys in the office about how he had slept with a couple of the girls in the office, and actually went into great detail about it. unfortunetly the girls knew nothing about these liasons. they actually felt sorry for him so didnt take it up with management, they just completely blanked him. in the end nobody would speak more than 2 words to him.

i took the opposite stance on it though and i used to wind him up about it. i would let him dig a hole for himslef about knowing such and such a person when i would actually know them myslef. or let him tell one of his mountin climbing, sky diving, scuba diving stories, and then quiz hm on every little details until he tripped himself up and then we would all lay in to him. pretty sad of me i know but i cant stand a blatant liar. someone exagerating is bearable, but an out and out liar is just insulting.

allybhoy · 24-03-2008 8:48pm

Sounds like he's major insecure alright
Has he always been like this and you've just taken it with a pinch of salt or has it been getting progressively worse? I mean these arent little white lies, theyre like major pinnochio specials, and from what it sounds like theyre is no reason for him to lie, he's just making them up so you think he's really interesting etc. Does he fancy u or something?

board om · 24-03-2008 8:57pm

allybhoy wrote: »

Does he fancy u or something?

yeah. i was kind of thinking that myself when reading your post. i thought he might be looking for sympathy and a shoulder to cry on after one of these 'funerals'.

maybe the next time he is in hospital you can tell him you visited him but they had no record of him there and see what he says.

starky · 24-03-2008 11:51pm

board om wrote: »

sounds like it. i used to work with one of those eejits. in the beginning its funny but after while it gets a bit annoying. it feels like they are insulting your intelligence. it got so bad that nobody in our office would listen a word he said anymore and we were really convinced that he had some serious mental issues to be making all this rubbish up. and the stuff he made up wasnt little lies, they were big blatent whoppers. he even lied to the guys in the office about how he had slept with a couple of the girls in the office, and actually went into great detail about it. unfortunetly the girls knew nothing about these liasons. they actually felt sorry for him so didnt take it up with management, they just completely blanked him. in the end nobody would speak more than 2 words to him.

i took the opposite stance on it though and i used to wind him up about it. i would let him dig a hole for himslef about knowing such and such a person when i would actually know them myslef. or let him tell one of his mountin climbing, sky diving, scuba diving stories, and then quiz hm on every little details until he tripped himself up and then we would all lay in to him. pretty sad of me i know but i cant stand a blatant liar. someone exagerating is bearable, but an out and out liar is just insulting.

We have one of those guys in our office at the moment. Every day he soars to new heights with the stuff he comes out with. He has come out with some real crackers. I would love to post some of them, they would literally have you in tears of laughter but I better not, as loads of people are aware of the things he says.

It was funny at first but it now it’s a bit old. It amazes me how delusional this guy is, I mean he obviously thinks we believe everything he tells us, but you would want to be seriously gullible to fall for any of the “stories”

Management in my company have started to slowly cop on that this guy is maybe not quite the full shilling but they are the ones that hired him so I guess they are reluctant to admit they got it wrong with this guy. It will obviously end in disaster I reckon, people like this evidently bring about their own downfall during the creation of their quite frankly weird fantasy worlds.

Until then his stories will get bigger and better I have no doubt ……

board om · 25-03-2008 1:34am

starky wrote: »

We have one of those guys in our office at the moment. Every day he soars to new heights with the stuff he comes out with. He has come out with some real crackers. I would love to post some of them, they would literally have you in tears of laughter but I better not, as loads of people are aware of the things he says.

It was funny at first but it now it’s a bit old. It amazes me how delusional this guy is, I mean he obviously thinks we believe everything he tells us, but you would want to be seriously gullible to fall for any of the “stories”

Management in my company have started to slowly cop on that this guy is maybe not quite the full shilling but they are the ones that hired him so I guess they are reluctant to admit they got it wrong with this guy. It will obviously end in disaster I reckon, people like this evidently bring about their own downfall during the creation of their quite frankly weird fantasy worlds.

Until then his stories will get bigger and better I have no doubt ……

yeah, funny in the beginning but after a while just sad.

you have to think what makes these guys tick? i mean, something must have happened to them at some stage in their life for them to need to make up a 'walty mitty' style existence for themselves. and what i always wonder is do the believe the BS themselves? or do they know they are lying?

we had the same situation where he had management completely BS'ed and then they started to realise there was something fishy going on with him. took them long enough though becuase we all noticed in the first month he worked with us. considering he was telling stories that involved people who were sitting in the same office as him and they knew nothing about the story, it was pretty obvious he was full of it. management didnt want to face up to hiring a complete loony so they just nodded and agreed with him after a while.

it sorted itself out though becuase after being caught out on one too many tall tales, he just never turned up for work one day and we never heard from him again. it turned out it was his fouth or fifith job in 2 years becuase the same thing kept happening everywhere he went. you think he would have learnt his lesson. so no more entertaining stories for us now. i have to read 'weekly world news' or 'the enquirer' now to get my daily fill of BS

Mimikyu · 25-03-2008 5:14am

This post has been deleted.

Overheal · 25-03-2008 7:23am

he wont change overnight - not when he goes to that much effort. just tell him bye bye. If he asks why tell him your mom was mauled by a panda and youll have to live in china for a while.

Caoimhín · 25-03-2008 8:03am

I knew a guy like this. Tried to tell me he invented the Addidas "3 stripe logo". In fairness though he was a highly strung 16 year old so maybe he grew out of it.

dudara · 25-03-2008 8:45am

He's obviously quite insecure about something and feels the need for attention that his fantastic stories bring him. Perhaps you might find a way to point him in the direction of professional help.

useful_contacts · 26-03-2008 7:42pm

allybhoy wrote: »

Sounds like he's major insecure alright
Has he always been like this and you've just taken it with a pinch of salt or has it been getting progressively worse? I mean these arent little white lies, theyre like major pinnochio specials, and from what it sounds like theyre is no reason for him to lie, he's just making them up so you think he's really interesting etc. Does he fancy u or something?

I used to believe his lies, his mam had cancer and was cured by a vodoo priest, his dad had cancer and the same priest couldnt help his dad cos he wasnt a "believer"- Munster want him to replace Stringer (he plays rugby)**** like that. But i copped on and didnt say anything.

I know he fancys me he told me a year ago but he was making up these storys way before then, i just figured he was lonely cos hes an only child but sure now i know hes just crazy

useful_contacts · 26-03-2008 7:44pm

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

would he consider professional help beforehand?

i know he went to a phycirist before when he found out he was adopted but it didnt help him it seems as he stopped going after 3 weeks

Overheal · 26-03-2008 8:05pm

caoibhin wrote: »

I knew a guy like this. Tried to tell me he invented the Addidas "3 stripe logo". In fairness though he was a highly strung 16 year old so maybe he grew out of it.

My friend went through a flying bicycle phase for a while :pac:

but like dudara is saying about insecurities: the kid was adopted and frequently expressed issues with it too.

useful_contacts · 27-03-2008 1:36pm

Overheal wrote: »

but like dudara is saying about insecurities: the kid was adopted and frequently expressed issues with it too.

we all have problems- we all figure out horrible things about our lives but it doesnt mean we go around telling lie after lie after lie its a joke

mountain · 27-03-2008 1:44pm

i worked with a man who we called "the biggest liar in cork"
his stories were amazing, eg. "i had snow in my garden this morning" in the middle of june,
or " is have special insurance for my car, i can only drive to and from work, no where else".

Entertaining, but tiresome after a while.

OP, with regard to your friend, either decide to treat his stories as nothing more than stories, or play along with him, and start to make up some of your own,
that may put a stop to them.

littlebug · 27-03-2008 1:46pm

useful_contacts wrote: »

i know he went to a phycirist before when he found out he was adopted but it didnt help him it seems as he stopped going after 3 weeks

Emm. are you sure that's a true story? Is there a reason for you being on the phone to him every day?
I know someone who failed some exams because she'd spent all night comforting a friend over his imaginary cancer. I'd back off a bit before getting too caught up with this one.

Miss Fluff · 27-03-2008 2:18pm

OMG this crazy psycho I used to work with sounds exactly like your friend, she was a compulsive liar and was fixated with me (telling people at work all kinds of CRAZY stories) and that her father is part of the Russian mafia etc, the word looney does not even skim the surface. All you to have remember is that your friend is mentally ill, compulsive liars can't help it, it's as natural as breathing to them. Why do you talk to this person every day if they annoy you so much OP?

chilli_pepper · 27-03-2008 2:26pm

I know three people who were adopted and the three of them are compulsive liars...

zuroph · 27-03-2008 2:47pm

amazingly i know a person who "was going to be replacing stringer" on the munster team too! and once went to the effort of hiring a mondeo then mounting blue lights behind the grill, installing a siren, a lock box in the boot, and gettin a keyring engraved with a garda station address to pretend he'd been given a loan of a detective car for a week.

useful_contacts · 27-03-2008 3:21pm

Miss Fluff wrote: »

Why do you talk to this person every day if they annoy you so much OP?

i felt sorry for him- but the day i told him to **** off he did and i havnt heard from him since

useful_contacts · 27-03-2008 3:22pm

zuroph wrote: »

amazingly i know a person who "was going to be replacing stringer" on the munster team too! and once went to the effort of hiring a mondeo then mounting blue lights behind the grill, installing a siren, a lock box in the boot, and gettin a keyring engraved with a garda station address to pretend he'd been given a loan of a detective car for a week.

im listening...:D

Grawns · 27-03-2008 4:52pm

me too :pac:

Miss Fluff · 27-03-2008 5:22pm

zuroph wrote: »

and once went to the effort of hiring a mondeo then mounting blue lights behind the grill, installing a siren, a lock box in the boot, and gettin a keyring engraved with a garda station address to pretend he'd been given a loan of a detective car for a week.

ROFL x 100:D

zuroph · 27-03-2008 10:14pm

he was also once living in a penthouse apartment in cork entirely covered in stainless steel with r o gara, cos it was convenient for "training".

board om · 27-03-2008 11:20pm

well its obvious there are few of these walty mittey characters out there because we all seem to have met one at some stage in our lives. but can anyone answer the question i asked earlier whch is this,

"do these characters believe their stories themselves? or do they know they are lying?"

it might seem like a silly question but i am dead serious. i have always wondered this because obviously they know they are making up the story, but they must justify doing it in some way or another. so is it a fact that they actually believe it, or is it that they want to believe it or whats th story?

by the way, great story on the 'borrowed garda car'. absolutley classic

is he a compulsive liar?

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