ATTENTION SEEKING AT ITS WORSE

'What is the worst thing your friend/relative did to get attention?'

ByJohn Curtis. Jan 28, 2025

and a few mentions of my own - John Bellamy

Everyone just wants to be noticed every once in a while.

Sometimes just to get a little acknowledgment for their time and effort preparing something, other times just so they don't feel left out of a group, or conversation.

Some people, however, simply can't function when people aren't paying attention to them. Or, for that matter, if they are not the absolute center of attention.

"What is the worst thing your friend/relative did to get attention?"

"Maid of DIShonour..."

'My cousin pretended to have a seizure at her own sister’s wedding & ruined the whole thing."- Impressive_Love4586

He ONLY Got Suspended?!?!?

"Friend of a friend, our senior year, called in a bomb threat."

"He wanted to do something so epic that he'd be remembered."

"Almost 30 years later, I still remember him as the dude who scored a suspension his senior year and had to spend a fifth year in high school."- Worth_Box_8932

There's A Reason It's April Fool's Day, Not April Fool's Month...

"My ex-wife staged a fake pregnancy for April Fools, instead of it being just one day of April Fools, she turned it into a week long prank."

"All her friends and family sent her money, gifts, and guidance for the fake baby."

"I told her not to do the prank because it's mean but she didn't care."

"Thought it was funny and to test how naive people were."

"After about a week, she finally said it was a prank and kept all the money and gifts."

"Her family didn't talk to her for a few months after that and her friends dropped her."

"Anyways, one of the reasons why she's my ex."- Jiggly_Love

There Are Pranks, And Then There's...

"Classmate in high school faked a bomb threat that got classes called off for the day while investigators raided every classroom checking for explosives."

"None were found and the call got traced back to him and he was presumably kicked out as we didn't see him the following semester."- Heroic-Forger

How Long Could He Possibly Carry This One On?

"My cousin's uncle (not my dad) was visiting her."

"He went upstairs and was gone for ages."

"She went looking and found him lying naked on the bed unresponsive."

"Called an ambulance, they came out, and he tried to pretend to be in a coma because he lost his job, started gambling and got in debt, and some people were looking for him."- Cophed

Self-Pity Seems Like The Best She's Going To Get...

"My ex MIL insinuated she had cancer every time she couldn't have her way."

"If you couldn't make a family dinner- she had news she wanted to share from her hospital visit."

"That kind of thing."

"She also tried to stop the wedding by faking a 'medical emergency' for which an ambulance had to be called."

"Right in the middle of the ceremony."

"F*ck that b*tch."

"I sometimes Google for her obituary, hoping one day soon I'll find it."- W*nkYourHairyCrotch

...Let's Hope He Didn't Actually Have A Partner...

"My friend staged a fake breakup on social media, complete with dramatic screenshots and sob stories, just to get sympathy likes."- AwayExchange2629

None Of This Makes Any Sense!

"A cousin of my best friend at the time (1999?) became close to me for a summer, knew who I had a crush on for my entire teen life, encouraged me to profess my love for him and ask him out."

"Took months of encouragement and I did it!"

"Turned out that she was secretly dating him the entire time."

"She apparently told him that she had cancer and only had a year to live."

"The sheer insanity really shook me in my early adulthood."- oymaynseoul

And You Thought YOUR In-Laws Were Bad...

"I might have a few that include my MIL."

"She vomited during our wedding cake tasting."

"She passed out when I was trying on wedding dresses."

"She decided during our reception dinner she could no longer walk up stairs."

"She got put in a chair and carried up the stairs."

"She has done stairs before and after this."

"The day of our wedding, she decided she needed to be in a wheelchair, and only the groom was accepted to push the wheelchair."

"At the wedding reception, she gave a speech."

"She said her older son was unfortunate as he just got divorced and wished he could be more like her younger son getting married."

"She then proceed to say if anyone in attendance was rich, she was single."

"When my husband and I bought our house, she came in and said it was all wrong."

"Then said she was having some financial troubles with her house and left all emotional."

"Upon my husband researching, there were no financial issues."

"We were all having spaghetti one night, and she kept putting it on her shirt and looking around to see if anyone would notice / say anything."

"I kept my mouth shut."

"This was all over a decade ago, and her behavior has gotten much better."- JennHeinz

Keep Your Friends Close...

"Pretended to be me on a Facebook account and messaged herself as me saying that I was using my bf to get over an ex, and she took a screenshot of it and sent it to him."

"He broke up with me and didn't tell me until we became friends again a few months later."- DueStill1908

Things May Come Back To Haunt You...

"Told the newspapers that the people helping her out on the emergency line was rude and was putting her in danger."

"Ended up in a national paper, the recordings popped up."

"Guess who was rude and unhelpful, and also drunk?"- Mystiax

Someone Caught The Telling Signs...

"He pretended to be deaf."

"He thought all deaf people were mute, and tried to communicate using sign language and the notes app on his phone."- Butt_Stuph

But Did They Say Yes?...

"My cousin faked a proposal at my grandma's 80th birthday party just to get Facebook likes."

"Classy."- Silver-Parsley9770

Grief Comes In Many Forms... However...

"My childhood bestie wore a white, backless sundress and a white flower in her hair..."

"To my father's funeral."- Aphid61

At Least There Was Closure...

"A coworker used to have convenient crises to steal the attention of the other co-workers."

"Updates would continually happen as there were announcements of other co-workers being pregnant or getting married."

"She had to take time off cuz her mom died."

"She wouldn't return anybody's calls."

"When we called her sister, her sister had no clue what we were talking about and cleared everything up."

"This was after I'd already moved on from the company."

"My former co-workers took me out to dinner to apologize for believing all the slanderous things that were said about me."

"I was always curious why there was a change of heart by people, and they started being really mean."- Drewbus

Mother misbehaved...

"My Mother kept it secret that her Brother-In-Law ( my uncle - his wife was dead and he was elderly ) was in hospital not 2 miles from where we lived for over 6 months until he died and she knew and deliberately kept it from all the family as she didn't want us to show and share any affection with anyone else other than herself. After we found out and absolutely told her off, all she could say was ' You hated him anyway so you wouldn't have visited' which was an absolute lie. Living in a Retirement flat with an emergency pull cord in case of accident, she was forever putting herself on the floor and pulling the cord - and out came the ambulance, out came the family - and all because she lived alone and wanted some company. However, if she had been a better person and stopped all the histrionics and many items as mentioned above and below - we would have visited more often."

John Bellamy

My Mother supplied alcohol to an alcoholic.

"My sister had sclerosis of the liver ( too much vodka ) and my Mother had allowed her to use her credit card to buy vodka - bottles every day while lying to me when I enquired - almost daily - 'DO YOU HAVE YOUR CREDIT CARD SAFE AND IS DIANE USING IT' - and she lied through her teeth every time and only when a bill for £1,900 ( and this was 1988 ) turned up for the credit card and my Mother was left to pay the bill, and only after I checked the bill and saw THRESHERS listed over 50 times - and ONLY after I barked loudly at Mother and she admitted she had never once checked to see if her card was safe and that Diane had had it all along, and guess who was left to pay the bill... yes me.

Again, she played the victim and refused - absolutely refused - to take any responsibility for which my brother and I loudly told her off as to how she was responsible and how disgusted we were that she - basically - helped her own daughter, my sister, who we all knew had a drink problem and was an alcoholic acquire vodka, and so she had been no better than a supplier and this was exactly what killed her - and all because my mother was an attention seeker and thought nothing of the consequences.

John Bellamy

Metaphorically slapped her ...

At my brothers wedding years ago, our Mother vanished when it came time for the speeches and my own brother and I, on his wedding day, had to do a 20 minute search for her as she was hiding and complained no one was paying her attention. He metaphorically slapped her hard - verbally - and told her to either shape up or fuck off. For the rest of the day everyone just ignored her and she sulked the whole day. David (Dorset)

Photo session ruined When my brother paid to get all the family together for a family photo - using a local professional photographer - we gathered at the photographers studio and she was busy positioning us all ( 18 in all ) facing various ways and making for a nice group picture where we were not all just standing gormless - and our mother simply would not stand posed as requested and kept moving, kept looking the other way, kept fidgeting and after being asked numerous times ( like 7 or 8 times ) by the photographer to stand still and simply look in a certain direction, everyone started laughing as she simply couldn't - wouldn't - do as she was told. 'I can stand how and where I like' was what she kept saying and eventually only when my brother who was paying for it all told her to do as she was told or get out of the picture all together - and as everyone was staring and laughing at her, she very begrudgingly did as she was told but in the picture, she is hard faced and not smiling and is the only one who everyone now looks at as a foolish old women just attention seeking.

David ( Dorset )

One of the worst attention seekers is Meghan Markle who seems to constantly assume she is and has something special to offer when all she was, was a TV actress. That's it. Nothing out of the ordinary but now being married to a Prince, she assumes everyone will fawn all over her and because of that attitude, the world has - basically shown her the door and said ' on your bike - bitch,' I for one will not be watching her Netflix series where she is demanding extra millions from Netflix be spent on the series as she wants changes made.

Netflix needs to cancel the show and show her the door as well.

I am sure we all have stories of people mis behaving because they felt ignored and how people were not paying them enough attention. We all have people in our lives who have acted like this and if you ignore, then they get away with it and see it as normal and right. You are then seen as the baddy if and when you complain as no one else has even said anything. If you allow, then you are as guilty as the person misbehaving as if you do not speak up, then you are giving them permission to behave in such a manner. It's up to you. I am known for not letting people get away with things and some people hate me for it - ( ' Look at my face, am I bovvered...) - while others admire me having the guts to stand my ground and say how I am NOT prepared to tolerate such bad behaviour and to GET THE FUCK OUT if you cannot grow up and behave.

I do not allow petulant attitudes and do expect grown adults to act accordingly - as grown adults and not spoiled little brats.

John Bellamy