Don't Believe the Hype.....(Part 1 of 4)

Lately, I've had a few encounters with folks that have left me quite perplexed. I've observed a few situations that have for a brief moment made be doubt the full functioning of my own neurons. However, with careful thought and a little meditation, I've come to realize that my neurons process just fine. In fact, they might be on overdrive because I'm totally incapable of buying into alot of the bullshit folks spew! And while there are many kinds of fraudulent people in the world, there are four that I believe are the most prevalent. I come across these folks so frequently that I have to speak on it.

1. The Perpetual Outdoer
The perpetual outdoer is a self-proclaimed jack of all trades, yet master of none. This is a person who claims to have seen everything, done everything and been everywhere. They are unbelievably competitive, in that they want to appear more knowledgeable, more experienced and more worldly than the rest. The perpetual outdoer's unstated but obvious goal in each interaction is always to trump somebody. No matter what you say, the perpetual outdoer has you beat. When you come across a perpetual outdoer, it's really difficult to discern the true breadth of their knowledge, experience and worldliness, but everything they say sounds the suspect alarm. In fact, one can tell instantly while talking to a perpetual outdoer the moment in which their half-truths become full LIES! I'm sure you know this moment well. It's the precise moment where you have to bite. You attempt to engage the perpetual outdoer in the conversation that may or may not have started out about them, but is quickly turning into a monologue about their ultra worldly life. All it takes is one well-crafted, but simple question for their story to begin unraveling.

EXAMPLE: I encountered a perpetual outdoer recently. She overheard me on the phone making travel arrangements to the Bahamas. Immediately after I hung up, she took up the travel subject venemously. She started in on her extensive travel history, naming all of the places she had been. Well, eventually I bit, but only because she announced that she had been to the Bahamas; and not once, not even twice, but three times! So, I was totally intrigued and actually wanted to hear about her experiences in the Bahamas. She of course offered the usual generic responses, the water was beautiful, the weather was perfect and the people were friendly. Wanting to know more, I asked her my well-crafted, yet simple question:

Me: Where in the Bahamas were you?

Her: (after a brief pause and an awkward shrugged off laugh) I've travelled so much that I don't even remember where was.

Me: (upset that I wasted five minutes of my life listening to her) You've been to the Bahamas three times and you don't remember where you were not once?

Her: (obviously a little ticked off and with a hint of attitude) Well I don't make my arrangements, I just go.

Me: Yeah, ok, well...(sigh)

I knew without a shadow of a doubt, from my first question that she was being less than truthful. I would not have bothered delving deeper if she had said that she had only been to the Bahamas once and forgot early on. However, declaration of travel to a destination thee times suggests that there was something enjoyable, if not memorable about the place...don't you think? Is that an unreasonable assumption on my part? I wasn't asking her to tell me the name of the hotel where she stayed, the street location or the names of the proprieters, but simply the name of the city where she vacationed. I don't think that was too much to ask!!!

The perpetual outdoer likes to trump people, but almost always cracks under pressure if called on their shit in anyway because they aren't prepared.

Three signs of a Perpetual Outdoer:

1. You may or may not know this person, but the will inject themselves into your conversation and monopolize it with details of their own life.

2. They are an expert on everything that is always based on their own life experience (a la Oprah).

3. They rarely are able to give explicit details regarding their assertions.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of 4!