In finding “I’m crazy!” people boring & annoying

[Sittinonthefloor]

The type of person who is all loud and “life & soul of the party” often saying “I’m so crazy... I’m mad, me!” talking about themselves all the time and oblivious to others. I’ve recently encountered such a person, who’ll be hard to avoid. Any coping strategies? Or am I just a dull, misery guts?

Teachers and social workers too!
I used to live next door to a “social worker” who was exactly like that, the “I’m so wacky” I’ve painted my entire house in primary colours and knitted my own clothing
People who are genuinely crazy don’t know they are and generally don’t have to make an effort to be!
Bit worrying that these people seem to end up in jobs that inform children. The kids have probably got more sense!

@Craiglang - was her name Jane?

These sort of people can make really shite friends.

I know one who most people love when they first meet as shes so 'fun' and 'querky' but what they dont know is she also feeds off other 'fun querkies' and has no time for anyone with a snifter of a problem. Shes unkind about peoples MH as it's too much 'drama'for her. I think she probably only associates with other people who have the emotional intelligence of a 10 year old, or who dont share their problems with her.

Annoying yes.
I wear them down with my boringness and mundane nature.
It might take a few days

Colin Hunt vs Colin Robinson
Someone somewhere make this happen

Yes annoying as F. I can't stand people who are all up and zany.

As a general rule I dislike anybody who tells you what they are - I prefer people who are more confident in themselves, who don’t have to tell you what they’re all about, just letting you naturally find out.

I think this type of behaviour stems from insecurity & a lack of strong identity.

@Margerine78 agreed. They’re just different versions of the same personality type - attention seeking.

I wonder what it is that makes us all so annoyed by attention seeking though. When a child does it, it’s cute. But for an adult it tends to really rile almost everyone. What is it about it that gets under the skin of so many.

I wonder what it is that makes us all so annoyed by attention seeking though. When a child does it, it’s cute. But for an adult it tends to really rile almost everyone. What is it about it that gets under the skin of so many.

Well, sometimes genuine attention-seeking is the equivalent of someone tugging on your sleeve and trying to make you pay attention to something you're not interested in when you're focusing on something else.

I think the kind of people being talked about on here are desperate for acknowledgement and their 'I'm craaazzzy, me' schtik is aimed at getting you to agree ('Yes, gosh, you are amusing and crazy and I am registering and remembering you, and once you are satisfied I also think you're Big Fun, you will be able to believe in this version of yourself more strongly') and bolster their fragile sense of self. Which is a bit like a puppy jumping up when you're trying to do your tax returns, or being chased by a street chugger when you're late for a bus.

But I'll admit I see accusations of 'attention-seeking' on Mn which say a lot more about the people making those accusations than the people exhibiting the behaviour they view as attention-seeking. It can be anything from 'Gay people holding hands on the street is attention-seeking and unnecessary' to 'Wearing a short skirt on the school run is attention-seeking' to 'Calling your child XXX is attention-seeking and pretentious'. And in some cases, it seems to be a dislike of other people's confidence and lack of interest in blending in to the background.

I wonder if the 'I'm kerrrazzzay!' people thing is a newish phenomenon based on people wanting to have notoriety; to be remembered. How many people who genuinely have something that they will be remembered for (good works, creations that will continue after they are gone with their name on, that sort of thing) have to play the 'kerrazzzay' card?

Do these people just want some kind of legacy to leave? 'Remember Angie? Who always wore those purple trousers and drank vodka out of her kettle?'

Nobody wants to be forgotten. Maybe this is just their attempt at leaving a memory.

@Scentsandsensible I think you just nit the nail on the head when you said it's cute when kids do it. It's a childlike thing so weird for adults to have not grown out of it.

I can only go on my experiences but I've had acquaintances, and once a friend, who was like this and there's an element of bad manners to it as they command all the attention as if no one else matters, and in my ex-friend's case she would talk over me all the time, or do something stupid like 'accidentally' fall into the pool if we were on holiday if someone was asking me questions and not her. It was relentless.

In a similar vein to this,I have a friend who describes himself as “controversial” but what he means is he Is economically a Tory and he likes to post on Twitter about it. I guess in our age and social group that’s a bit unusual but hardly controversial. In person he is utterly mild mannered and I’ve never seen him say or do anything particularly outlandish. I think it’s a bit of a persona he has built in his head to defend the fact that he disagrees with a lot of his friends.

WRT “I’m so keraaaaaazeeee!” I did this in my early teens. It is pretty childish and attention seeking and I did it because I wanted to control the way other people perceived me instead of them realising I was insecure, lonely and very very shy. People who don’t grow out of it probably have similar issues and haven’t learnt how to handle them in a more appropriate manner.

@OxenoftheSun I’m not sure - if for example I see a blatant attention seeker on tv - and I don’t mean someone trying to be entertaining or someone trying to stay relevant - I’m thinking more the Roxanne Pallet on BB, or similar - it does enrage me. And I don’t know why. They’re not interfering in my life, but there’s something so desperate about it - which should make me think “poor you” but it does get my goat and of course many people do feel the same.

Agree it’s very easy to be accused of attention seeking on MN though.

Or I see someone on Facebook who’s attention seeking (tagging themselves up the hospital with no context, “tell me how we met”, vagueboomong etc.
I should just find it sad but again find it irritating. What is it about other people’s attention seeking that is so aggravating.

@Scentsandsensible

Or I see someone on Facebook who’s attention seeking (tagging themselves up the hospital with no context, “tell me how we met”, vagueboomong etc. I should just find it sad but again find it irritating. What is it about other people’s attention seeking that is so aggravating.

I wonder if it's because we'd all like lots of attention but most of us are socially conditioned to know when it's acceptable to 'attention seek' and when it isn't. When we see others who seem to have skipped that particular bit of socialisation, we feel a combination of embarrassment by proxy and annoyance that WE don't get to be centre of attention more often.

I'll admit I see accusations of 'attention-seeking' on Mn which say a lot more about the people making those accusations than the people exhibiting the behaviour they view as attention-seeking. It can be anything from 'Gay people holding hands on the street is attention-seeking and unnecessary' to 'Wearing a short skirt on the school run is attention-seeking' to 'Calling your child XXX is attention-seeking and pretentious'. And in some cases, it seems to be a dislike of other people's confidence and lack of interest in blending in to the background.

Yes yes and thrice yes. It's been more muted and with less overt moralising in this thread (it's all there, but not as forcefully as usual) but I expect that's because men and women are both getting a kicking here. The recent thread about women over 40 posting selfies was dripping with that shit. MN really really does not like women it deems to be "attention seeking", which can range from anything to short skirts on the school run to hula hooping in a park. Nobody has yet told me what's so absolutely reprehensible about wanting some attention anyway, especially if you can easily ignore it.

@Zaphodsotherhead I think you’re about right. I think it’s instinctive as well. Consider reality tv shows - they always show if someone is coming across as attention seeking (and no doubt edit it to look worse), why! Because it brings out some odd aversion in everyone that makes it almost complelling to watch.
On the other hand - maybe we are hard wired to dislike it as attention seeking in prehistoric time probably would have got you eaten

You really can't watch a reality TV show and complain about attention seeking.

As a pp said it's not their personality I have an issue with at all. I firmly believe we should be allowed to be whatever way we choose. However I intensely dislike the need for external validation because it tries to manipulate others into validating you because you can't do it yourself. Its incredibly irritating, be as nuts as you like but stop hinting that you want me to be impressed or tell you it's ok. I do include the fake introverts in that. Lots of us are introverts and have taken time to recharge etc. Most real ones will just get on and do it because they have been like that their whole life and have developed coping mechanisms they rarely feel the need to tell everyone else about it.

If you need validation figure out your own shit stop trying to get it from me.

I remembered one from what must be 15 years ago. A colleague known for needing to be dramatic pops her head around our office door to deliver her usual soliloquy on her craaazyyy single life and this one involved her night in where she had eaten...get this...everyone seriously the crazy part is coming.....a whole pizza.

I have to say we usually ignored her and just vaguely smiled whilst trying to fit 18 hours work into an 8 hour day , but on this occasion one of my office mates distracted looked up and said "what the fuck? Everyone east a whole pizza" No no says drama llama I don't think you understand it was a whole ten inch pizza I mean can you believe she ate the whole thing (this was repeated something like 4 times). For some reason this all struck us and pretty much everyone shrugged said that's not that big , who in fuck leaves half a pizza.

Drama llama didn't appear for at least a week. In our defence she had caught us on the hop as we were busy so everyone sort of responded without thinking not meaning to be mean , it didn't half take the wind out other sails though !

@Shinyletsbebadguys I’d tell your colleague to post that she ate a whole pizza on MN - she will get thr drama she was looking for

[quote Scentsandsensible]@Shinyletsbebadguys I’d tell your colleague to post that she ate a whole pizza on MN - she will get thr drama she was looking for [/quote]
Hah that's true , she would have enjoyed that , particularly the eating air and dust and being full suggestions.

@Shinyletsbebadguys Dust! Oh no it’s full of carbs - should be avoided at all costs!

@PhilSwagielka haha my mum and I use Fotherington-Thomas for certain types too......

@MrsCrosbyNRTB My mum is a huge Molesworth fan - she used to call my dad Peason because of his big hair - and she's passed it on to me.

I've known a few F-Ts and a few Grabbers in my time as well. And one of my maths teachers in high school was quite similar to Sigismund Arbuthnot the Mad Maths Master.

Btw I can't remember which one of you is the primary school teacher who likes tea, but whoever you are, you sound lovely (no, I'm not being sarcastic, I had a teacher in primary school whose 'thing' was liking Gilbert and Sullivan and she was boss).

I like people who are genuinely eccentric without being obnoxious about it. I've got a mate who's like that and he just does his own thing and doesn't care too much what people think. He's not loud and 'on' all the time either, he's autistic and a bit of an introvert (and I hate the introverts vs extroverts crap too, I'm an introvert and so is my mum but my stepdad is an extrovert and I love him to bits, and so was my dad, and extroverts do have times when they just want to chill out and be left alone).

A lot of these attention seeking types will end up on The apprentice or first dates!! They sometimes take a few minutes to identify on FD and then you start cringing for their date!😂