Bullshitter at work - could this be true?

[crochetmonkey74]

There's a woman at work who is basically full of lies. A few people have fallen for it , but in order to have done everything she's done, she would need to be 200 years old.
Her latest tale is that she was caught speeding on the motorway at 120mph but the police let her off with a warning. Surely that cannot be true? I was under the impression that the police always act on speeding that is this dramatic. What do you guys think?

She’s a bullshitter, but she may not be lying on this one. It can very much depend on the person that’s pulled you over, and their mood that day. I am not speaking from personal experience, but I know people that got done for speeding, and others that have been let off with a roadside word of warning.

I find a way to not be as irked is to consider that they are doing it to fill a void, to be liked or because they are terribly insecure and can't think that someone would like them for themselves, only for what they have done.

Ask them about their childhood - there will be something there I bet.

Otherwise try a chinny reckon or start calling them Walter or Jay.

I was once well over 100 on a quiet motorway - just wanting to get home. The police said they'd been following me for ages, could see I was driving safely other than far too fast so gave me a bollocking / warning only.

Never told anyone in real life. Never done it again.

I totally believe your colleague is a bullshitter though. I know the type!

Have a feeling at 120mph she would be cuffed, that is a one way ticket to manslaughter and s*icide.

I had to spend a car journey with a man like this. He took my silence as encouragement and the lies got wilder and wilder. He was an expert at six martial arts, he'd slept with more than 1000 women, he'd killed six men in fights. It was fascinating to listen to!

If they've been to Tenerife, you've been to Elevenerife.

Nobody likes that, not just bullshitters .

@LordEmsworth youve clearly never had the misfortune to work with a serial liar. It’s actually surprisingly annoying. I think it’s because it starts to feel as if they’re taking the piss out of you, assuming you’re stupid enough to believe their rubbish. It’s hard to explain, but when someone lies day in day out, just for the sake of it, it’s really bloody irritating.

There is a woman like this in our SEN group - I find it utterly infuriating.

We’re a group of mums who came together for mutual support and advice and now just chat about general life stuff too.

No matter what happens to you, it’s happened to her but so much worse. And on top of that she makes wild, bizarre claims that can’t possibly be true. Just mad shit along the same lines as the oxygen mask story (which did make me laugh!)

I have tried not to care, but I find it hard to ignore. The issue is that it robs other people of support and sympathy when they need it because she swoops in to take over the conversation, waving away their issues and claiming it happened to her but OH so much worse, and then recounting her story where she’s inevitably either the hero or a brave survivor/victim.

I managed to catch her out once when she claimed to have previously been a nurse. Long story but someone produced blood test results and asked for help. Blagger claimed to be able to interpret them all but actually was lying - she didn’t realise that I actually did know how to read lab reports because that was my job for 17 years, so that was a bit awkward for her 😂

Several people have left the chat because she’s so annoying and just dominates everything.

Im autistic/ADHD so I really struggle with this kind of blatant lying/exaggeration. Especially as I think it’s really unfair to some of the others who don’t get the support they need when they’re having a bad day.

Just wanted to say solidarity OP. I reckon while it might be technically possible to have been let off, given her history I doubt it. My guess would be she’s either heard that story from someone else or she’s just embellished what really happened, including the speed.

I was caught speeding on the motorway 15 years ago at 99mph. The police said to me I was v.lucky as 100mph is an automatic ban - no idea if they were just trying to scare me into driving slower 🤷‍♀️ I got points and a big fine. (and yes, I know it was incredibly stupid to drive that fast - I don’t do that now).

This is absolutely hilarious 😂!

I knew a man who changed his title in his Driving Licence to View car because of this!

All you need to do is say "oh ha ha Janet, we know that's probably not true, what are you like eh, overexaggerating, so funny?!" Tinkly little laugh, head tilt. Just don't be drawn into it. She likes the attention and to be thought "wow she speeds and gets away with it!".

I have met a few people like her, I think they actually believe what they are saying even though it’s not true, maybe it’s some kind of mental illness?
I was very recently dating someone like this, everything was exaggerated and he would say he was going to do things (things that were not possible) and obviously never do them, he would then get offended if I asked why he hadn’t done them? I soon got fed up of his crazy stories, they were boring and clearly were not true.

I have been caught speeding in the last and let off. It depends if the police are out to specifically catch speeders, if they are not then they often just give a warning…..though not so much these days.

Why not just scroll past? I’m finding this thread really interesting.

I went out with a guy about 30 years ago who was a “Mitty”. He was ex-army, I knew that to be true but he’d obviously saved the world single handed 🤣
He’d been undercover, infiltrated the IRA, in the Paras, a specialist motorbike rider and a diver.
Caught out by telling my neighbour some bullshit about diving not knowing my ndn was a trained diver. The lies went on and on.
After I dumped him I found out one fact was actually true ( just the one) I was gobsmacked.

I used to work with someone like this. It was something different every day, although she was quite unkind and bullyish with it all too.

One time we had some training where we had to share an unknown fact about ourselves - you know, ‘I used to live on Baker St’ etc…. She came out with a ridiculously hyperbolic story about being held up at gunpoint with really graphic violent detail

I used to give zero response and completely grey rock it

That's so funny, she didn't say her mum used to be married to the de beers or to the family who own Boodles.

My husband got caught doing similar speed ( years ago now, when younger and bit less wise than now) and ended up with only a warning. He was very polite and apologetic.
So entirely possible

Lots of things happen that others might not believe.

When those lots of things happen to one person it becomes painfully obvious they have some kind of problem. I think this kind of behaviour and need for attention starts at a very young age and becomes a habit - I've seen it develop with a couple of friends ds used to have where they have always seen/done/got something bigger and better.

Hilarious one was when dh came home and told us he had been pulled over by police for not wearing a seat belt (he was, always does), and ds's friend came up with a whole story about his dad being stopped too, but for speeding, police putting him on the ground when he had done nothing wrong to put handcuffs on him, him going to police station. The friend was caught out when we commiserated with his dad about his arrest when he arrived to pick him up, but it never taught the friend to stop lying and ds's got fed up with it and stopped hanging about with him.

You say everyone else gets sucked in? I doubt it. They will be playing the - smile, nod and ignore game. It usually isn't worth the hassle challenging.

Lol!

The pp who talks about the support group and the WhatsApps has hit the nail- it sucks all the oxygen out of the room and really stifles normal chat about people’s real lives. Exhausting!

I worked with a (very average looking, 55-60 year old) woman (with a mullet) in the 90's who insisted she was in a relationship with French footballer (and sex-symbol of the time) David Ginola.

She'd talk about all of the exotic places he'd whisked her away to at weekends, all while the covers of magazines were covered with pictures of him and his model wife living an awfully glamorous life in Saint Tropez.

Absolute batshittery.

She was dangerous, though. I once sniggered at one of her tall tales and she put in a complaint about me, claiming I'd done something wrong at work when I hadn't.

Nod along and avoid her as much as poss, OP.

Yeah I don't have a lot to do with her work wise (different depts) but my sense has always been not to show her I don't like her /distrust her. She could make up anything!

Why didn't you just scroll past mine i stead of making something out of it 🙄

Probably because it gets annoying on here when chat threads on a chat forum get policed by people who attempt to shut it down with the 'I don't understand' thing.

I used to work with a pathological liar. She just made things up. Ridiculous things. My line manager actually called her old work in the end to try to corroborate some of the stories and she was well known there for being a liar as well. Maths teacher!