To be irritated by colleague constantly complimenting herself?

She just sounds friendly. I would be OK with that so long as her narcissism doesn't become bullying at any point.

I had lunch a couple of weeks ago with someone who went on and on about the extremely expensive skin cream she had just bought. "I've used it for years," she gushed, "It's kept my skin so youthful!"

MNers, I hope you will be very proud of me for confining my comments to, "Mmmm!"

😂

I would not be able to refrain from saying, “Mirror, mirror on the wall….Have you finished Evil Queen? We have work to do.”

Maddening. She’s probably actually deeply insecure though.

My DH used to tell me about a man at his old work place who did this all the time. Everyone laughed at him and took the piss.

I'm not sure that the original question was asked in good faith, because who tf doesn't know this by now?

She will go far.

No, she's citing a well-known phenomenon!

Yes this does sound irritating - but maybe she's just trying to boost her low self esteem. Wonder if others find it equally annoying.

@bridgetreilly Nice bit of racism for this casual topic.

It wouldn’t irritate me at all. How other people feel about themselves has absolutely nothing to do with me.

Good for her if she loves the hair that grows out of her own scalp. What is it to anyone else?

I'm curious, OP - what happens if you answer her properly?

“I’ve curled my hair, I think my hair looks so gorgeous when it’s curled”
I preferred it straight but, yeah, you have done a good job.

“My exam is next week, I’m so academic and really good at exams”
Hope you've revised more than last time! Good luck!

“Yeah I’m actually so good at making calls”
Love your confidence! What did the client sign up for?

"Your hair looks well choppy today."
Yeah, d'you like it?

Saw an old photo of me and said “you look so different … you’ve got a chin”
Are you saying my face is shapeless, Sandra? Are you really?

She would make me laugh to be honest.

@badger2005
foreverstardust
Oh she tells me my faults to my face.

Shes repeatedly told me how choppy my hair looks, when she’s well aware I don’t like my hair at the moment.

She also saw an old photo of me and said “you look so different … you’ve got a chin”

Now I don’t think she’s jealous of me at all. But I still don’t get the need for the put downs.

I'd guess that this (criticizing others) is the real issue. I've made a habit of only saying positive things about my appearance in front of my dd (negative comments are limited to things like 'I don't think these are the right shoes for this skirt - I'm going to try my boots' etc). She hears so many women and girls around her putting themselves down that I am trying to model some self-love! But on the other hand I also throw around lots of compliments and positive comments about all other people too! as I think I read here on mumsnet (as said by a teenage boy if I remember right) we will have no body shaming in this house!*

OMG @badger2005 I read something similar here on mumnset about 20 years ago about giving yourself compliments in front of your children.

I did it all the time, I'd look in a mirror and say aloud "Oh my legs look great in these jeans" when inside I was cringing about a tiny bit of muffin fat.

Or "Wow my eyes look really blue and sparkly today"

I never made a negative comment about my face or my body within her hearing.

She has the best body confidence of anyone I know. I don't think I've ever heard her say a negative thing about herself. She's 19 now.

I don't give a shit if English people think she's cocky (she's not) but the tall Poppy syndrome in England is awful.

Some of the replies on here are heartbreaking. I would have no problem with a colleague saying her hair looked great today. Although your colleague OP does sound a bit deranged.

Blow your own trumpet, and bang your own drum, no one else will!!

@Liripipe One of the ways I used to make my fellow students at uni was if they complimented me or something I was wearing, I'd deliberately say 'I know! :)'. I don't think I ever got a negative reaction, although that could have happened I suppose.

She sounds like a breath of fresh air, I’d swap her for one of my non stop complaining colleagues in a heartbeat, this colleague sucks any goodness out of the day with their incessant moaning and complaining about the simplest things. We are all too polite to say anything to her, we just avoid spending one minute longer than we have to with her, lunch time comes and we scatter before we have to listen to her then as well. Honestly, she’s like water torture. We don’t understand how she doesn’t get that non stop whinging about the same things over and over again is the reason why she hasn’t got any friends, people can only tolerate that for so long before they are worn down to a nub.

Get back to me when you’ve had to deal with one of these badboys/girls day in and day out, your colleague would be a dream!

I read this post and imagined your colleague to be Jennifer Coolidge

Self praise is no recommendation!

Seconding saying “good for you” but do it in an accent like Hyacinth Bucket.

We should all talk like this to ourselves (possibly not say it aloud).

I'd be amused

It’s unfortunate that some people never learn to have an internal thought process. It is also very irritating.

Ooooh, this too.

If someone's over-pleased with themselves, you can just smile and nod. But you're right, the alternative... 😬

She sounds tedious, does she have anyother conversation other than herself?
Self praise is no recomendation.

I live my life by motto no.2.