One-upmanship. Do we all know someone like this?

Georgiagranny

Georgiagranny

Well-known Member
My co-worker drives me right around the bend. Doesn't matter what it is, if it comes up in conversation, co-worker has BTDT except longer, sooner, more, better, worse.

The only thing co-worker can't one-up is "When I was your age..." 🤣 I've tried to shut it down with a benign response or no response.

"I'm in so much pain." (Me: Sorry to hear that. There's Advil and Tylenol in the First Aid Kit."

"It's hard to stand for so long." (Me: You should consider a different job.)

"I've had so many surgeries that I've lost count." (Me: Sorry to hear that.)

"I have to have more surgery." (Me: no response.)

"I've lived all over the world." (Me: Yes. Me, too.)

"My husband died." (Me: I understand.)

"No one except another widow understands." (Me: I'm a widow.)

"Health care costs me nothing because I'm a military widow." (Me: no response.)

"I had a miscarriage. It was like losing a living child." (Me: I'm sorry [but without mentioning that my son died...I have no idea how she knows what it's like to lose a living child].)

"I don't need the money I make here." (Me: no response.)

"You have to pay taxes. I'm tax exempt." (Me: no response.)

"I don't do it like that for my catering business. (Me: It's not up to part-time, hourly employees to question the way corporate wants it done.)

"I own my home, no mortgage." (Me: How nice for you.)

"I always pay cash when buying a car." (Me: That's nice.)

"I have two boyfriends. They're both very well off." (Me: That's nice.)

🤯
 
Ear plugs and nod a lot.
05
 
NIx ear plugs because I have to hear the oven and proofer timers, but absolutely yes to nodding a lot. I do that for sure!

Co-worker claims she can't hear instructions. It might have something to do with the whatever they're called...air pods?...worn to listen to music and narratives for videos.

The other co-worker, Retired Lady whose first language isn't English, said yesterday "You know that saying 'God grant me patience and please hurry'?" LOL

@fuzzybuddy Yup. Grin and Bear It Department. Nothing else to be done about it except as @Bella said "nod a lot" 🤣
 
One place I worked, we had the lady we called "The Woman Who Always Does it Better Than You". She was very pleasant, so it was hard to dislike her, but she never, never, never had the problems that 99.999% of the rest of the world does.

You'd say, "My husband never puts new toilet paper on the spindle/never picks up his wet towels/forgets half what I send him to the store for/never remembers our anniversary/......" and she'd say, every time, "Oh, my husband goes around putting toilet paper on the spindle whenever he sees that it's almost empty/my husband never ever leaves his clothes or wet towels on the floor, in fact he always immediately puts them in the washer and starts a load/he always remembers what to buy...in fact he must be psychic because he gets things I was only thinking about/my husband brings me presents on the anniversary of our third date because he says that's when he realized he loved me/....."

You'd say, "My kids won't eat anything but chicken nuggets and fries; it's driving me crazy trying to get them to eat vegetables." She'd say, "Oh, my children have never had chicken nuggets and fries, they prefer tofu-stir-fry and vegetables and my oven-baked basil and rosemary potato rings. They don't like Kool-aid or Sprite, they'll only drink milk and water. I had to actually force them to eat a bite of birthday cake at a party last week."

You'd say, "My mother-in-law is a witch! You wouldn't believe what she's done now..." She'd say, "My mother-in-law is my best friend. She's always so thoughtful and never interferes in any part of our life and if she did, she'd take my side every time."

You'd say, "That #@%!*& auto mechanic/plumber/electrician/roofer ripped me off!" She'd say, "Oh, we have the best plumber, electrician, roofer, mechanic in the world. They're always fixing things for us without charging and they'd NEVER overcharge us or do a bad job."

You get the picture. Her life is perfect. Yours isn't. She's either a big liar, delusional, or she really, really IS one of the .0001% of people in the world who bad things don't happen to.
 
@Georgiagranny, She's right about one thing. It probably IS COLDER in the Dakotas!

I had one co-worker once who would take my finished reports and hide them under a sofa or under a rug.
But she had mental problems of some sort.
Hope you don't have to work with her too long.
 
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