[Beverlee]

Hello,

I have a co-worker who tells tall tales. She can tell over-the-top whoppers. To date, I have accepted what she's said at face value. However, a couple of things have changed. Firstly, I have caught her in several lies. I listen to others closely and she's clearly forgotten what she told me previously which contradicts what she is currently telling me.

The second annoyance is around mis-representation. I shared something with her which she found exceptionally funny (which it was) and she turned around and shared it with the rest of the unit as her own. While this is simply not a big deal, for me it's about the deliberate mis-representation given her other behavior.

No matter what is happening in our unit/meetings, she has to dramatically one-up everyone else. That is getting tiring as well.

Our unit supervisor simply doesn't notice her behavior. He's exceptionally difficult to talk to as he does not listen and he puts his own meaning on your words/message which typically is off track. His boss is no better b/c she believes everything this co-worker says. Others in the unit are fed up with her hogging the air-time b/c no one can get a word in due to her talking all the time.

I am getting fed up and don't know how to handle this going forward.

Bev

[hvert]

I don't know how to handle people like that either. If the bosses will not address it, there's not much you can do besides watch what you say around her and verify anything important she says to you with a second source (if it's something that matters). I would try to limit my contact with her, although that's not always possible.

[Bolivar83]

Hello, Beverlee. Just wondered if you found any helpful ways to deal with this? Kind of have similar situation at my work (there always seems to one!)
I had some sleepless nights trying to find some resolution to dealing with this. While it's still a work in progress, I hope you won't mind my sharing a few things I'm doing differently.

When all else fails, I just commit to being polite. When I'm irritated by the coworkers behaviour, I try to default to basic politeness

Withdrawing from situation- when they start on their stories, competitive behaviour, etc I excuse myself (have to run to restroom/that's my phone!/have a deadline/etc) to physically remove myself

Allowing them to dig their own grave - I've seen that by talking too much, verbally swaggering and bragging, telling tales, people eventually torpedo their own battleship. It becomes evident to everyone else that this person is not someone to take seriously or to trust

I try to tell myself, that if I can find a way to deal with this it will increase my value as an employee. You have my sympathy!

Take care - hope you will share what has been working for you...