The Topper- been there done that.

Yes I have a neighbour who has wonderfully intelligent grown up daughters who have married terribly well, live in fabulous houses. Are at the very top of their careers, and their children are all very intelligent and doing very well in school winning lots of competitions and are surrounded by lots of lovely friends. She never asks about my family.

My Ex husband is a topper, everything is bigger and better than everyone else's. So much so that everyone avoids spending to much time with him.

Oh yes, I too have a topper! Speaks the biggest load of rubbish re her health to try and trump everyone else. We all just let it pass but does she honestly think we believe it? She said she'd had serious spinal surgery......no scar to be seen at all when we went swimming. (V low cut backless swimsuit). In fact, it's not just topping people, it's lying.

It's called, I believe, the "Alright Everyone - Attention Back To Me, Me, Me!" syndrome......
Margs -
as DD and I say about someone we know - 'Me, me, me, me. Well, that's enough about me, let's talk about you. What do you think about me?'

Two of the Television Toppers were old girls from my school
(but much older than me of course!!)

did no-one pick up on my topper

I always thought it was called bragging. Know plenty of people like that

Phoenix he probably told his friends he suffered more than them because your periods were the worst ever

I have a BiL like that. I find it very wearing. Any medical complaint I have he's had it much worse. Any achievement: he's done it better or is so uninterested he changes the subject or is disparaging about the activity. I then get bored with endless one sided conversations about how clever he's been, or how badly treated, how ill (but uncomplainingly so!) etc. I dont think he knows he's doing it!

Monty Python's 'Four Yorkshiremen' sketch (sorry, can't link it) is an example of the "Reverse Topper".

How horrible for you.If I knew a Topper they wouldn't be a friend.

shysal.

I would not now be bothered with such a companion.

Congratulatins on being so tolerant

If I tell a certain friend that I have something wrong with me immediately comes down with exactly the same thing, only a bit worse. If I have a cold she has a cold and a sore throat and a cough. If my arthritis is troublesome, hers is agonising. I find it quite amusing at times, and invent things just to see what she says. I'm sure that if I said the doctor had told me I was going to die tomorrow, she would say her doc. has told her she would pop off today.

We have a "copier" our neighbour, we moved here three years ago, and since then they have built a conservatory, after we built ours, in fact a few neighbours have done the same, I often wonder what would they have done had we not moved here, obviously they have the same good taste! One annoying thing here in the country where I live is; when we have been on holiday, people ask how was our holiday, and we start to tell them but they arent interested in hearing any more,they talk about something else, nobody bothers about what others have done,on holiday, I used to love being able to share holiday memories with neighbours when I lived in the UK, ah well I suppose different countries have their own way of being interested.

We did have a friend like that, sadly now deceased. We used to place bets when we went to meet up with him as to what his top trumps victories were going to be, depending on what topics we introduced to the conversation. We NEVER came out on top once lol

Another friend used to say of people like that - if you've been to Tenerife, they've been to Eleven-erife !!

Phoenix!!! . . . . .my DH was EXACTLY the same . . . . but never managed a hysterectomy!!!

I have a friend who decides the fact that like Sainsbury's Reisling when Aldi is soooo much nicer and cheaper. The thing is that I like mine because it's sweeter than the others which proves that I am really unsophisticated - unlike her.

My son just popped in and I told him about this thread as I am finding it amusing. His response was "Oh yes, you mean the sort who go on holiday to elevenarife". Made me chuckle!!

Forgot to say gilly I'll be your friend and Roses your story about the spanners was hilarious - thank you!

All very interesting BUT I have a friend who boasts far more often than any of your friends do........(only joking!!)

Seriously I think people who are prone to Topping actually have an inferiority complex and need to do it to make themselves feel better about their lives.

What a good thread. Had never thought of the topper idea before but it applies so exactly to a friend whose exploits were so over the top that we used to count and number them. He ran in the Olympics at 16, then was smitten by some dire disease that caused him to be inactive for 2 years. He made a boat out of an old kitchen table and taught his children to sail..... up to #67
As he seemed to believe he had done all these things and each event held some small grain of truth we just wondered, counted and saw them frequently as his' inventions' were great fun

My husband worked with a'Topper' for 35 years .

He always had to go one better and whilst everyone KNEW his stories were 99% fantasy there was always a chance it could be true .

Things like....

He went to buy new tools and they gave him a discount of 50% for being such a good customer but it was the last set and on his way out someone offered him twice what he paid so he sold the tools to him.

Or

He found some old coins in his pocket and one of them was amazingly valuable and when he took it to a coin shop to sell they bought the coin and sent a security guard home with him with the money .

Or
He went to some work for an old lady and she offered him her husband's old classic car at a knock down price and when he went to collect it he found a Rolex watch in the car and the old lady said keep it.

And he always had bigger and better whatever you had.

We used to joke if you had a black cat his would be blacker !!

I have a friend who does this with the achievements of her children & grandchildren, they always have better jobs, more A* and Uni offers. Sadly I found myself falling into the trap and competing. I limit myself in emails now and just say everyone is well.
I remember the Topper comic as well, don't remember when it was published though.

Two of the Television Toppers were old girls from my school
(but much older than me of course!!)

Yes, we have a 'friend' who is a topper, it gets very boring.
And someone else we knew was one too; however he died and is probably topping everyone's stories in heaven.

Some topping occurs with one friend, but there is more stealing of intellectual property, i.e. telling an anecdote or experience of mine as if theirs, even when I'm there!

Yes indeed, my dear late husband used to work with a 'topper' and once he and his colleagues ganged up together to see just how outrageous they could become before topper stopped topping them. A bit cruel but it added to the fun.
A conversation was started about space exploration and they all waited with baited breath (also gritted teeth and strained straight faces) to see if topper would come out with, "When I was an astronaut..." They looked at him, he looked at them and it might have been on the tip of his tongue but then he thought better of it and just walked away. I'm not sure if it was a permanent cure.