One-upmanship payback
Amy came up with a tremendous idea to deal with her co-worker Faye's constant one-upmanship. "Faye is one of those people who has been there/done that and will hang herself on the cross while she tells you how much worse the experience was for her," explains Amy in a Tumblr post shared on social media.
"Faye is also a braggart. Her car/house/shoes all cost more than yours and her children are all angels." One day she asked if Amy had any children. Amy said no. The next time they spoke a few months later, after a rant about her son Stephen, who was graduating from a fancy medical school, Faye asked Amy "How is your son, uh, Tim?" Amy realised Faye, being such a narcissist, had not listened to Amy's answer about having no children. So, Amy replied that Tim was studying astrophysics at Berkeley University, was devastatingly handsome and enjoys rock climbing and volunteers as a youth counsellor.
Over the next five years whenever the two women met ... "she would tell me about how her Stephen was saving the world and then she'd ask about Tim and I'd make sure my Tim was one step above her Stephen and her face would turn crimson". Tim has been a fabrication for so long he almost feels real to Amy.
"When I see Faye I have images of my fake son in his lab coat, peering into his microscope ... I see him jogging with his dogs on the beach ... I see him helping an elderly woman with her groceries ... Faye never cared about me or my life until she had something to try one-up me on and it's amazing how this lie has eaten her up inside ... Oh well, I'm boarding a fake plane to Berkeley to visit my son." (Via Bored Panda)
