Do You Know A Pathological Liar?

[Beth76]

I don't know if I would call MIL a "pathological liar", but many things come out of her mouth that just aren't true. I believe that for some reason she just makes these things up in her head and believes them to be true. It could very well be that she knows exactly what she's doing, but I just think she's bordering on senility.

For example, she once told my mom that my husband had planned to become a minister--that is completely not true. But, she probably thought that was a good idea and "assummed" he felt the same way. And she put in her church bulletin (that she types up) that our second son's name is Alexander, when really that's his middle name. She claimed that my DH didn't tell her that his name was Quinn. She just didn't like the name. She was also telling people that our first son's name was Christopher because she liked it better than Sebastian. Again

 

[SleepyMom]

I know 2 liars very well, but they lie in different ways.

The one is an IL to my brother, so we often are together for family events. At the last one he walked up to a group of probably 10 people who were having a conversation and said "guess what happened to me on the way here... I saw a Toby Keith wannabe look-alike (have to add here that Toby Keith had been in town the week before for a concert, but was long gone by this point to other concerts) so I walked up to him and told him how bad he looked and didn't even compare, I can't stand his music, etc... yada yada and then some rough looking guy came up to me and told me to back off that was the *real* Toby Keith". He claims he almost got into a fist fight with this guy and Toby Keith told him off . Everyone in the group knew it was a lie and basically looked around at each other rolling their eyes, no one said anything and he finally walked away. All his stories go in that same fashion, he sees someone and tells them off and then almost gets into a fight. He makes for interesting get togethers because you never know what he is going to come up with

The other liar is a close family member and I truly believe she doesn't even know when she is lying anymore. Her lies are more making things up to cover for herself, and she has been doing it for so long that I think she believes herself when she tells them. She once told everyone that she had a meeting and couldn't attend her grandson's birthday party, but we found her playing bingo instead After a little spittin and sputterin she said her meeting was cut short and instead of going to the party late, she just went to the bingo hall instead

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

My husband's ex-wife is that way. She'd walk a mile to tell a lie when she could stand in place to tell the truth!

I'm afraid it's genetic. My stepdaughter has to struggle to tell the truth. It seems to be so much easier for her to lie. I don't think she even knows why she does it.

 

[Stitchfans]

You hit the nail right on the head. I know several people like this and I really don't think they do know the difference between the truth or a lie any more since they have lied so much.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

had a co-worker who was the same way-and our supervisor was so believing and accommodating of her...

when i became a supervisor i had an occasion to be in a staff meeting with my former supervisor (still the "liar's" sup) and she started going on about "poor deb-she had to call in today-her mom is in the hospital with a gallbladder attack"-i responded "that's too bad, i had hoped she was on the mend after her funeral last month" (we lived in the same town-her mom passed and she had'nt taken time off)

Too funny!!!!

 

[jennyl772003]

My sis' Ex lied about EVERYTHING! jobs he'd had, places he'd lived, things he'd done, even who his family was...

I think he really must have believed these things. For a time we worked together and he would tell other co-workers things right in front of me that I would know were untrue!

He would tell people he had a daughter, when he didn't. He said he had been married before, untrue. He said either his tats were done by some famous guy, or that he did them himself. Just really stupid things that made no difference.

 

[kilee]

I worked w/ a women a few years back that was either a pathological liar or really living in some fantasy.

In the 2 yrs I knew her:

She had 4 different men propose to her.
On of the men was a billionaire that was going to bring her to work in his helicopter (this is still my favorite one).
Her dd (and this one is just awful) had meningitis like 3 times. I swear EVERY SINGLE TIME she was about to be written up her dd was being rushed to the ER w/ possible meningitis. Why she'd lie up her 6 yr old I don't know.
She claimed to own a house that she just up and walked away from after 3 yrs because she just "didn't like it anymore".
She also supposedly was having a brand new house built w/ cash when she left our company.

 

[Taylor]

I know several pathological liars. Well, I guess I really don't. Oh wait, yes I do. Maybe not.

 

[Honu]

We have 3 at work. I find it quite humorous watching them try to top each other's lies in the attempt to be the most cursed, fascinating, lucky, wealthy or sick person in the office.

 

[mickeyfan1]

My husband has a co worker who lies a lot. His grandmother has died twice in the last year. He was supposed to go to a business meeting in Texas a few weeks ago, but said he couldm't make it because his flight was cancelled. They checked the airline schedule, his flight was only delayed 10 minutes. He just didn't want to go. DH doesnt even talk to him anymore if he can help it, the guy needs help.

I think many adults who lie like these stories are very insecure, and have veryu low self esteem. They want to be the center of attention. I think it is funny when they don't remember to whom they have told what and later get the stories mixed up.

 

[barkley]

i know i used to drive some of the people i sat on hiring panels with nuts, but i had been burned with people outright lying in job interviews so many times that i would REALY question them in detail.

since we were hiring (or ranking for an employment hiring list) for government jobs we could only ask a set batch of questions (same question for every applicant), but we could ask for further information or "clarification" if they offered up information in answering a question.

the ones that always floored me were the ones who worked in entry level jobs and were applying for and were applying for a better career path (more specialized) job in their own department. they knew that those of us interviewing them supervised people in their job classification (and knew what their current job did, might do, and absolutly could'nt do because of because of laws or security measures), heck some of us worked in the same buildings they did!

one sticks out in my mind-she answered a question and supported her answer saying she would base it on her "handleing, processing and issuing" county burial authrizations. i knew that it took 2 levels of managment higher than i was at to even get the key for the form that another level of managment had to compete and sign off so i could'nt resist asking her "and what is your procedure for doing this?". after alot of double talk and hemming and hawing we found out that her office was next to the building managers and sometimes he would ask her for an envelope to send the papers on to the mortuaries-and ONCE she answered a call from a mortuary that had been misdirected to her and transfered it to the building manager's secretary.

while she did'nt get hired for the job we were offering we figured she had a great potential for fiction writing

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

My Ex-MIL was the biggest liar I'd ever met. She'd lie about what she ate for breakfast that morning!

I think it gets to the point when they don't even realize they're lying.

Mine was too! To make matters worse, she'd lie to me about my sister-in-law and then lie to her about me. She had people routinely at each other's throats.

It was like a sport to her. I'm so glad that she's not in my life any more.

 

[Sleepy]

We had one of those at my last job. She had lupus (yet was never sick). Claimed her mom had lupus and died from it, yet many months later mentioned her mother coming to visit her. (yes, her biological mother). She claimed 2 of her aunts were worth 2.5 million dollars. Claimed she had a son whom she gave up for adoption, but could never comment on what it was like to give birth...(you know those details only a person who gave birth would know).

Sadly, this is the same woman who came to work one day totally thrilled that her live in boyfriend of 14 years was taking her to a baseball game and he said he was gonna pay for her admission AND buy all her food at the game. This was truly a 50/50 relationship

Oh, and the girl who worked at the same job who decided she did not like the job so she said she was pregnant and could not do any yucky work (well, when you work with animals, everything is yucky) and she could not be on a ladder (which was required too). So, she weasled her way out of work for a few months and suddenly, when she was not showing and everyone was noticing this, she claimed she had a miscarriage. So, her work load was even less, because she also claimed she was pregnant with twins and could lose the other one. Again, more months and not showing and so she had to have another "miscarriage". Then, a few weeks later, she missed work and said she was having back problems. Then, she needed an MRI and each week the list got worse and worse until finally we all had enough and we told our boss to tell her if she missed one more day of work to make her produce a note. Well, that day finally happened and he told her don't come back without a doctors note. Her boyfriend came in and said he was gonna kick my boss' butt (ok, not that exact word). There was some commotion, but that employee never came back. This place was a riot to work for. I do miss some of the characters who worked there.

 

[Sleepy]

I just remembered my deceased FIL was a big liar. He was always making stuff up about me to get my huisband to divorce me. One thing that comes to mind most is the time he called my house and claimed I called his house just a minute before and hung up on him. Ok, so the man never liked me and I did not care. He never spoke to me so why on Earth would I do something as childish as call his house and then hang up? I have better things to do. Anyway, he made a huge deal out of it and said he had proof and was gonna call my husband and tell him. I said "Go for it". So, I called my husband to get a jump on him and of course, my husband believed me. When he got home, he called his father. His father proceded to call me every name in the book and said he even had proof I had called his house because our number was on his caller ID. Hubby said ok, go look at your Caller ID. So, FIL walked over to it. Hubby said .....now look at the date and time. FIL said "X" date and "X" time. Hubby said yeah..I called you last night...remember?????? That was the end of the lies about me.

 

[Micca]

I have known a couple of people like this. It was like lying was a sport for them

 

[JerryMoCricketsGal]

This post has me because I think the same person all of the previous posters described was seated with us at dinner on our last cruise in May..lol

He wasn't so much of a pathological liar as a 'one upper'. I don't know if you guys have ever met a 'one upper', but they are hilarious. If someone at the table mentioned they had jumped out of an airplane and landed on barbed wire, he would have said that that happened to him too, but it was bamboo in Nam and he had to fight his way out of the jungle to get help.

Hubby and I started making stuff up just for sport to see if he'd 'one up' us, and of course, never fail, he did...it was hilarious!!

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

He wasn't so much of a pathological liar as a 'one upper'. I don't know if you guys have ever met a 'one upper', but they are hilarious. If someone at the table mentioned they had jumped out of an airplane and landed on barbed wire, he would have said that that happened to him too, but it was bamboo in Nam and he had to fight his way out of the jungle to get help.

I have had several friends who were like this. I could only be around them so much before it got the better of me. Eventually I realized that these were the so-called "toxic friends" that I'd read about in books.

 

[Kimickey]

My soon to be ex husband. He lies about everything and believes his own lies and then gets mad because he knows you know he's lieing.

 

[calie_j]

I had a friend who was a pathological liar. She'd tell me one thing and within hours would say something that conflicted with it. In the 6 yrs I knew her here are just a few of the many lies she told:

she thought she was pregnant countless times and had a few miscarriages.

went to 3 different doctors on the same day in different towns for a pregnancy test (heard about this from someone who went with her that day)

fell off her horse and had a bad concussion and was hospitalized for 3 days, then was telling people 2 weeks later she'd had an aneurysm

told everyone she changed her wedding from April to Sept because she had to do some paperwork to make sure she was divorced from an ex she hadn't seen in 10yrs (fiance went with her to a lawyer to look into it) then on the marriage license claimed she was never married before

got married late Sept to a guy she'd been dating for 3 yrs and living with for 1 yr, big wedding and I was one of the bridesmaids........started seeing someone else in late Nov and moved in with the guy Jan 1 (this was too much and the end of our friendship)

Calie

 

[2BigKIdz]

I know several, and I believe the thing about the polygraph, I really believe they believe what they tell! My cousin is 1 and he tells all kinds of things that we know aren't true. His most recent is that his son is ranked #5 in the country in NCAA golf. He's not even the top ranked player in his school, much less in the top 5 in the country!

I've worked with 2 ladies who told the most outrageous things, it's just too many to list.

We think our nephew (15 yr old) is one too. His mom and dad are trying to break him of this when they know he is not telling the truth but they are really at a loss of what to do.