Do you have friends who tell your stories as their own?

[trof]

I don't know if this is unique.

We have a close friend who tends to co-opt our family tales and put her self in them.

Without getting into a lot of long detail, a fairly atypical thing happened to us, not bad, just funny.
She now tells the tale that it happened to her.
She was not there and had nothing whatever to do with it.


Has this ever happened to you?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I'm afraid I'm not interesting enough.

I can't imagine anyone representing the details of my life as theirs; what a yawn. But your friend sounds like she might have issues of some kind.

[Kalidurga]

2. That's sad

I can only imagine the dysfunctions she has lived through.

[angstlessk]

3. I have seen that in my own family...I was flabbergasted!

Take what is my story and claim it for your own???

The ONLY word that I can come up with is flabbergasted!

[RazBerryBeret]

4. ha! Just my mom....

who is having dementia issues and lives in assisted living. Of course I keep the stories I tell her pretty PG.... but I've considered spicing it up a little, to keep the other residents entertained.....

[SheilaT]

5. No, but you should call her out on this if she does it in front of you.

[Matt_in_STL]

6. Just this one example:

I have a close friend who tends to co-opt our family tales and put her self in them.

Without getting into a lot of long detail, a fairly atypical thing happened to us, not bad, just funny.
She now tells the tale that it happened to her.
She was not there and had nothing whatever to do with it.

[CoffeeCat]

7. YES!!!

This happened to me once. I have no idea what the story was (because this happened so long ago), but it was funny. I had told this story to a co-worker and a couple of weeks later, she re-told the story to a group of people, as if she was the one who had the experience.

I was standing right there.

It was one of the most bizarre experiences of my lifetime.

From then on, I knew she was cray cray.

[HuckleB]

8. No, but, uh, I'm wondering if your friend needs serious help.

Is this a one-time thing, or ongoing?

[trof]

16. She is a retired MD, very intelligent.

And one of our closest friends.
Went through the German blitz in London, so she's had a pretty interesting life.

It's just this one quirk she has.
We ignore it.
Apparently it's more common than I thought.

[Lars39]

9. My MIL does that.

Words won't even be out of my mouth before she is finishing my sentences and then retelling it in the next room like it was hers.
Very aggravating. It's invalidating behavior.

[DCBob]

10. Yes, I knew someone who did that.

I believe its an effect of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

[laundry_queen]

14. Yep

I am a child of narcissistic parents (according to my dd's psychologist). I was in an online support group for adult children of narcissists and while my parents never pulled that particular behavior, it was definitely a common occurrence.

[Solly Mack]

11. Yes, and I laugh at all the right spots.

Then later I laugh some more for a different reason.

[Grey]

12. My sister,

It's funny to have them told back to me by a third party.

[Nye Bevan]

13. We also have a close friend who tends to co-opt our family tales and put her self in them.

Without getting into a lot of long detail, a fairly atypical thing happened to us, not bad, just funny.
She now tells the tale that it happened to her.
She was not there and had nothing whatever to do with it.

SO annoying.

[Skittles]

15. see, I had the opposite issue

I'd be telling a story to my mum and my brother would ask, "What happened next?" and I would reply, "YOU WERE THERE!"

[Generic Brad]

17. Entire family

Back when I used to associate with them. I was consistently recast as the person who said that stupid thing at an inappropriate time. I was misidentified as the protagonist in every story retold where one of them did something embarrassing or wrong.

I am the family idiot. The villain. The liar.

Yes. This happened to me so often that I finally decided I couldn't take it anymore (that and the blatant racism directed at my wife and daughter).