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?

Gahhhh! There's loads of these in the Roller Derby world! It's like a badge of honour to be the most misunderstood, but they have to ensure everyone knows that they're weird and that no one else understand them because they're so weird.

They usually post a minimum of daily about inane shit because 'it's helps them'. They're also very likely to dye their hair or buy a new top or something and do a 'look how I've just thrown myself together' look with a 1/2 smile selfie (generally having got the lighting perfect so they look great) with the caption 'did a thing, felt cute' or something just as twattish. So everyone comments or likes their wonderful wackiness!

And don't get me started on the really wacky ones who wear hot pants and fishnets to play one of the toughest, sweatiest sports out there! 🤦‍♀️

But @Doingtheboxerbeat, do you continually announce your kerraaaazy nature by saying ‘I’m mad, me!’ and ‘What am I LIKE??!’

I haven’t the remotest objection to eccentricity, only to the self-consciously performative approach to it that is the human equivalent of those inane wall transfers that say EAT in the kitchen and RELAX in the sitting room. While flashing your light-up Su Pollard glasses and giggling maniacally because you brought fish finger sandwiches for your lunch in a Hello Kitty lunchbox.

I prefer crazy to "I just tell it like it is" people but both are draining.

I literally know no one like this, and I’m a teacher!

@MrsToothyBitch

I know the type- tedious. The only type I hate more is a specifically female member of the attention seeker genus. Those who come across as soooooo sweet and wuvable and cutesy-wootsy and sugary. So much so that you know it's an act. They're often annoying and the one I used to know could flip to ice cold bitch around anyone she knew either saw through her act or just wasn't useful/worth charming. I'd still love to smack her simpering chops into the middle of next week. And back again. Hard.

This type- too sweet to be wholesome, my gran used to say

They aren't as bad as those armchair psychologists who tend to use the phrase "If I don't like something about someone, I have no problem telling them to their face" people (who then go on to have a massive histrionic strop and bawl their eyes out in the toilets at anyone who will listen when you return the favour!). Can't be doing with them.

I do find what you mean annoying OP, but they do tend to be quite nice people generally, just need a bit of reassurance that people think that, hence the over-compensating.

I'm a cynical boring old fart who is scared of everything, so I'm probably worse in terms of company than either of the above and can't really judge.

I worked with one.
‘robins only come out at Christmas’ followed by ‘oh silly me, I’m so wacky’ when she was corrected.
Her worst was when she said that people with dark skin must stain their sheets from their skin colour, I flippin lost it with her big time when she said this and said ‘no Liz, you’re not quirky, zany, kooky - you’re a racist idiot and you do my head in’. Really hope Liz from Penge isn’t reading this.

Wasn't there a Fast Show sketch (going back a bit) based on a character like this? I don't really know anyone like that. I do know some genuine nutters, but they don't describe themselves that way.

I can promise you that 99% of women like this are knitters! I own a yarn shop, and I have plenty of "wacky, crazy" customers with hair dyed all the colours, wearing every single item they've created, in every colour at once... alongside yellow stripy tights, ribbon laces, and proclaiming loudly, how mad and wacky they are...
I only wear grey and black... they must think I'm very odd.

actually I need to correct that... they're crocheters :D

I used to know someone like this. Her nickname was Mad Maggie.

Many years later she was diagnosed with ADHD and/or bi-polar and it all made sense. It was actually a relief for her, as she'd spent so long trying to tone down the hyper and be 'normal' . Yes, she did use to come out with the 'I'm so wacky!' line, but it was a defensive thing to try and pre-empt other people saying she was crazy. She was really lovely, but exhausting.

Yes OP, the least interesting people on the planet, not kerrrraaazzzy, not even good company, just self obsessed & usually with low self esteem.

@backseatcookers thank you for sharing about swimming pool drink guy - it makes you wonder how they get to the point that they consider that an interesting or exciting thing

@Mrhodgeymaheg

They aren't as bad as those armchair psychologists who tend to use the phrase "If I don't like something about someone, I have no problem telling them to their face" people (who then go on to have a massive histrionic strop and bawl their eyes out in the toilets at anyone who will listen when you return the favour!). Can't be doing with them.

I do find what you mean annoying OP, but they do tend to be quite nice people generally, just need a bit of reassurance that people think that, hence the over-compensating.

I'm a cynical boring old fart who is scared of everything, so I'm probably worse in terms of company than either of the above and can't really judge.

Oh god yeah the "love me or hate me" ones. And the sub category of "girls just don't like me, all my friends are guys" whether they're 20 or 60. At varying times of my life I may have had more male than female friends, due to interests / timings / random circumstance - not because of some female conspiracy against me! Total lack of self awareness in some people.

@IwanttogotoMataland

I've long thought that novelty clothing is a substitute for an actual personality.

Yes.

Ditto tattoos.

I have always thought that the 'I'm so crazy me!!!' brigade are merely trying to desperately mask how inanely boring and normal they are.

People who are genuinely quirky and eccentric don't have to point it out to anybody, because it quickly becomes obvious. They just do their thing and others remark upon it. As for the genuinely mad ie mentally ill, they generally are either unaware that they are looking at situations differently from the rest of society, or try to keep a low profile due to the stigma of mental illness.

Can I add those who say things like 'It could only happen to ME!' when telling a banal tale of things that happen to everyone, as though it's some kind of totally unheard of occasion?
Eugh. Yes.
Does anyone care to regale us with one line summaries of the most tedious stories that have been offered up as proof of their krazyness?
Be prepared for a tale of kerr-azzz-eee-ness:
'I went to the supermarket and saw an acquaintance with their child. I said hi and asked the child something about their hobby. It was awkward. hahaha what AM I like? I do say the craziest things'

I've just remembered someone I met on holiday like this. He was really brash and loud and OTT and had the obligatory awful hawaain shirt on. He kept going on and on about going to Kareoke the first night. No one else gave a shit about kareoke and then we went and he was really nervous and shit. It was a group holiday and everyone just looked around nervously and rolled their eyes. I think we were home by 10pm.

I come in defence of the Christmas jumper. I love them because I love Christmas and I think most people have at least one?

But yeah, I have known many attention seeking arseholes like this. I tend to pity them though. It's definitely a sign of insecurity.

i don’t trust chirpy people.

I have a theory about why they are usually primary school teachers (I am one - a PST not an insecure attention-seeking tragedy - so in prime position to observe).

Being a teacher requires a bit of presence of some kind. You can do this by having total command of and passion for your subject, but it's hard in Primary school when you teach so many subjects (you can't be passionate about them all). Also a lot of PSTs are simply not very intelligent, so would struggle to make this their 'thing'.

For obvious reasons you don't want to give away too much of your real personal life and let on to your class that when you're not at school you're a chainsmoking semi-alcoholic or totally preoccupied with trying to unearth and trap the love of your life. So you may need a decoy, especially if you're insecure (which, if you weren't this when you started teaching, you will be after a few OFSTEDs) and a bit boring. Hence brightly coloured clothes, silly hair and annoying voices.

I must admit that I slightly ham up my fondness for tea when I'm in the classroom. It's totally harmless, the kids love it, it distracts them from my true vices which would be highly unprofessional for me to share with them, and also has the pleasant side effect of my end-of-term gifts consisting of enormous quantities of tea (infinitely preferable to pointless glass ornaments engraved with 'World's Best Teacher', and much more useful for me as well as being affordable for parents who for some reason feel obliged to give me something).

@eeek88

I have a theory about why they are usually primary school teachers (I am one - a PST not an insecure attention-seeking tragedy - so in prime position to observe).

Being a teacher requires a bit of presence of some kind. You can do this by having total command of and passion for your subject, but it's hard in Primary school when you teach so many subjects (you can't be passionate about them all). Also a lot of PSTs are simply not very intelligent, so would struggle to make this their 'thing'.

For obvious reasons you don't want to give away too much of your real personal life and let on to your class that when you're not at school you're a chainsmoking semi-alcoholic or totally preoccupied with trying to unearth and trap the love of your life. So you may need a decoy, especially if you're insecure (which, if you weren't this when you started teaching, you will be after a few OFSTEDs) and a bit boring. Hence brightly coloured clothes, silly hair and annoying voices.

I must admit that I slightly ham up my fondness for tea when I'm in the classroom. It's totally harmless, the kids love it, it distracts them from my true vices which would be highly unprofessional for me to share with them, and also has the pleasant side effect of my end-of-term gifts consisting of enormous quantities of tea (infinitely preferable to pointless glass ornaments engraved with 'World's Best Teacher', and much more useful for me as well as being affordable for parents who for some reason feel obliged to give me something).

Oh and also, regarding the tea thing, if I'm confronted with a child in serious and legitimate distress - the kind of distress I only encounter once or twice a year - that I am totally ill equipped to deal with, I can offer them a cup of tea and for some reason this carries a lot of weight!

Anyone else reading eeks description of definitely not being wacky and thinking 'awwwww'?

@HeronLanyon "I have the tartan bow tie lot slightly differently positioned in my experience.
They sit with the long waxed coat with cape shoulders, German traditional clothing, a particular type of (often leather) fedora. Quite a few in enclaves of law and politics. Luckily the hats can be seen from some distance - avoidance pretty easy when in the wild."

So funny - this is uncanny, you could be describing my ex-colleague. Finance rather than politics. Wore a kilt and tartan bow tie to the black tie xmas do, despite having no Scottish connections whatsoever. Wore a leather fedora thing year-round and a caped wax coat. Had long grey hair and an interesting goatee (obviously).

Someone upthread said the "I'm mad me, I'm just so crazy" types are usually found in finance. Apart from the chap above (who isn't actually mad or crazy and doesn't claim to be either, he's actually quite quiet but very quick witted), I can't think of anyone at my work who fits the bill - the ones I've known have almost all been legal secretaries apart from a couple of fitness instructors and one pro cake maker. I've encountered quite a few over the years and it is SO tiresome.

Re the Christmas attire - I now feel a bit sorry for my husband, who is definitely neither mad nor crazy and not at all tiresome or fake-quirky, but has for years worn Christmas jumpers to work from 1 December until the Christmas break just because he quite likes them. I feel like the Christmas attire has had some bad press in this thread although I don't think his colleagues agree, last year it took him until a few days into December to get the seasonal jumpers out of storage and washed and apparently nobody at work was pleased with the delay.

it's like those people who are like 'omg i'm so weird, normal people scare me, omg i am such a weird human'. normally these people are actually quite dull.

People who are genuinely quirky in an interesting sort of way tend to keep quite about it.

YANBU