Recently, we wrote about people with chronic cases of Main Character Syndrome — i.e., believing the world revolves around them. The BuzzFeed Community* chimed in with their own answers, and holy moly, these people have had to deal with a LOT. Here are 27 more stories about awful narcissists.*
*We also included some replies from the original Reddit thread.
1. "My mother took photos of me unconscious in the ICU after my double organ transplant, posted them on her Facebook with some wailing about how hard it had been for her, and she got hundreds of supportive comments from people congratulating her and saying how brave and wonderful she was. I asked her to take down the post because I'm a private person — she screamed at me for being a selfish, ungrateful brat."
2. "My in-law died five days short of her birthday. To honor her memory and to comfort the family, they planned a small celebration on her supposed birthday. Naturally, my husband and I wanted to attend because this is my husband's mom we're talking about. My dad offered to look after our one-year-old son so we can join the celebration. But my mom decided that she was 'sick' that day and that my dad 'needs to focus on taking care of her.' Mind you, she went window shopping earlier that day then suddenly she's 'sick.'"
"Our son at that time was teething — with slight fever and very irritable. The commute from our house (which happened to be next to my parents') to my in-law's was about two hours. ... My husband cried because he just lost his mom and that day was supposed to be an occasion to honor her, but my mom decided that she wanted to make the whole situation difficult for us. Also this wasn't the first time we had to put up with her behavior. Hiring a sitter at that point was impossible because she decided to act sick as soon as we dropped off our son at their house."
3. "Me calling 'best friend' crying: 'My mom just died in a horrific car accident.' 'Best friend': 'How dare you call me with this? You know I’m not good with death.'"
"She dumped me as a friend. She told other mutual friends and they dumped her (even in her own words she was horrid), but to this day she hates me. I’ve forgiven her and wish her well, but still I hope to never have to see her again. I’ve heard through the grapevine she still hates me because in her words 'her mom died and she used it to turn everyone against me.' Again, she lost friends when she complained, in her own words. I never called anyone or tried to influence anyone."
4. "I lived with a guy once and I was cooking dinner when I cut my hand quite badly. He said, 'Great, now I have to go to the hospital I JUST got comfortable.' I told him he didn't need to come to the hospital, we were just housemates, but he said, 'No, I don't want people thinking am an asshole.' He spent the entire night complaining because it was getting late and it meant he couldn't get up early the next day to go into the office like he planned and it was going to throw off his entire work day. Again, I told him to go home, but he refused. The next day he worked from home and his work told him he would need to go into the office the day after Australia day to make up for it, he then started yelling at me telling me that I had ruined his Australia day because now he wouldn't be able to drink during the day. I told him next time I had an emergency I would check if it fit in with his schedule first. it really fucked up the friendship."
5. "My sister's ex friend. She did a lot of main character syndrome things but this was the worst. A few years ago, my sister's best friend from college died of cancer and on the day of the funeral, her main character friend had to go to the hospital (for some lame reason, nothing serious) and she was mad at my sister for going to the funeral instead. She didn't speak to her for over a week."
6. "My mother-in-law...I had just come home from the hospital after having twins at 34 weeks. Both were still in the nicu, and one just had surgery the day before, and I was recovering from a C-section and an emotional mess....she doesn't ask how I am or how my babies are, but instead spends twenty minutes talking about how her shin splints hurt so much, and how tired she was. I went to my room and just cried."
7. "This was a long time ago, but it stuck with me. My ex step-mother ... and my father were divorced for about a decade. She was remarried and had a new baby. My father had a girlfriend. But when my father died, my ex step-mother (his ex-wife from a decade ago) acted like she was the mourner in chief. Just sobbing and carrying on. Making sure she was front row at the funeral and all of that stuff. The best though was when we were getting in the limo at the church to go to the gravesite and she tried to get in with us. My awesome mother cut her off and ushered my father's girlfriend into the limo and left the step-mom standing on the curb."
8. "Before her birthday, [a former friend] sent her friends 'approved' photos of herself for them to post on Instagram, instead of letting us make our own birthday posts celebrating her. She’s incredibly beautiful and photogenic, but heavily used FaceTune and still didn’t like most photos of herself. She also got mad at me that I only posted three stories of her for her bday, when I had apparently posted four stories for our other friend’s birthday…six weeks earlier. How did she even remember that?"
"One time she asked me to take down a post from our friend’s funeral, because she didn’t like the way she looked in one of the photos. It wasn’t even the first picture in the post. But she would purposefully post bad photos of me with captions alluding to things she knew I was insecure about, and then she would claim she was just joking. We’re in our 30s by the way, not middle school!"
9. "I ... developed a life-altering chronic illness. My mom was furious with me that I posted about it on Facebook instead of calling her. It wasn't terminal or anything, just shitty. But she was so pissed off that she decided to never, ever mention me or my illness to anyone, while posting all sorts of awareness stuff for other relative's equally shitty but non-terminal illnesses. But I was always the scapegoat of the family, so it didn't really surprise me that I would get treated like that. It was also the final straw that made me go no-contact."
10. "I was in Venice earlier this year. This couple set up a giant tripod and took a whole bunch of pictures in front of this door way to a glass store because there were some canals behind them. They probably were there for a half hour. They got upset whenever people went in and out of the store. If you want to take pictures of yourself with the canals, fine. But don’t block doorways and don’t get upset when people leave the store. The entitlement and main character energy was strong."
11. "I have a coworker who thinks every single man in the building wants her. Every time a man talks to her (even about necessary, work-related things), she talks about how they are flirting with her and interested in her. She actively seeks out this attention by flirting herself, but then in front of us either acts like it’s unwanted and they are harassing her, or like she’s so special that she has such a great relationship with said man. Even her superiors, who most definitely are NOT flirting with her."
"My friend and I now have a joke where every time we see her speaking with a male coworker, we sarcastically say to each other, 'Oh look! He wants to f*** her!'
Honestly though, jokes aside, it’s sad because she clearly has a lot of insecurity and is trying to prove something to herself/us. I wish she would focus more on having a healthy self-image instead of this insufferable need to be considered desirable. I hope she gets help."
12. "My soon-to-be ex-husband asking me how to flirt and date. He doesn't move out until the 30th, he wants the divorce, and refuses to work on the relationship. He announced he was leaving only weeks ago, and is trying to get me to talk about dating experience with him while we cohabitate. He's already semi-stalking one poor woman who just changed her workplace and vocation suddenly (he used to show up at the bar she managed, now she left for a controlled childcare environment where he can't show up). We have been together for ten years. What a POS."
13. "An acquaintance of the family. She had a congenital disability in her legs that made walking somewhat difficult (not impossible at all, just not something she could do a lot of). ... At a niece's graduation she decided that her niece needed to help her to her seat. As in, the niece was supposed to leave the ceremony part way through, come down off the stage in her robes, and escort this woman to her seat before going back. Well, as you might imagine, the school didn't seem willing to accommodate this. So other family members offered to help her. But, as it wasn't the attention grabbing stunt she wanted, she decided that the best way to punish her family was to seat herself. By flopping down in the floor and moaning and groaning as she crawled on all fours."
"Her family was running along beside her and trying to help her up but she ignored them. Just did a belly crawl up the stairs and made a big show of it."
14. "My father had never been sick a day in his life, but when he got cancer, [my mother] made him pay. How dare he be more important than her! I would get asked how long I was going to stay at the hospital THIS time or when I was coming back home. I had moved in to be his caregiver. The ultimate move I couldn't forgive her for? The day before he died, his lungs failed. The hospital called for me to come in and sign for an emergency procedure. My mom answered the phone, took the message, AND WENT BACK TO BED. I didn't find out about what happened with my dad until they called again three hours later. When I told my mom I was going to the hospital she said, 'Oh yeah, they called earlier.' SMH."
15. "My mom made it all about herself when my normally healthy dad who took care of himself got sick. She scolded us, his grown daughter for 'fawning all over him' trying to make him comfortable, refused to let a hospice worker or anyone else to help him come to the house, and even when he had to enter a facility she would not let me take his nightstand that had been by his bed for over 50 years to his practically empty room so he'd have something familiar. My sister and I ended up going to Target to get items to make his room more homey."
"All the times my dad took care of her for various vague ailments, catered to her, took her to the hospital (mainly for dehydration — she refused to eat or drink enough to keep healthy, so at least once ever two or three years), put up with her BS, and the one time when he needed help she has a fit that people were more concerned with him. I was actually glad when he was put in facility because she was starting to be mean to him and that was NOT happening! I think she was less sad at his decline but was more angry about it — who is going to take care of everything?"
16. "One day when I was at work we had an older man fall and hit his head. While he was on the floor bleeding and my coworker was holding a towel over his head to stop the bleeding and the rest of us were in panic mode, a lady had the utter nerve to practically step over him and come to the counter because she wanted stuff sliced. Like do you not see what's happening, you inconsiderate waffle?"
17. "My cousin’s maid of honor backed out because she didn’t like the city chosen by the bride and the wedding party for the bachelorette party. She went to the wedding and sat in the back the whole time, with a sour face."
18. "My narcissistic ex ... told me he had been in the army, and served in top secret missions…in Greenland…where he had been trained in deadly skills. I don’t even think he knew where (or what) Greenland is."
19. "I went to school with a girl who constantly came up with the wildest stuff. My favorite, which ended up with my cousin running off laughing in tears, was one day in school when she told us during lunch that during her recently trip to Australia everyone at the airport bowed to her and her family because their name was connected to royalty."
20. "Once I had a colleague who was transferred to a different department where only his duties were changed. He saw it as a promotion and he kept bragging about to everyone. If me and my other colleagues talked about a different subject, he knew a way to make the conversation about him so he could brag about his so called promotion some more. The worst was when a few colleagues heard they might lose their job, he was happily saying in their face that he doesn’t have to worry about that because...you know, he was promoted. So selfish and annoying."
21. "In my twenties, I worked with a girl around my age. One night she called me crying — her boyfriend had gotten up and left her to move back home and she said she really needed a shoulder to cry on. I went over and we talked for several hours and she said she really appreciated it. About a month later I was dealing with some depression and texted her around 9pm telling her how I was feeling and that I could really use a friend to talk to. She messaged me the next morning stating I need to appreciate we are co-workers and not to text her after working hours."
22. "My father. The absolute worst was a couple of months ago we gathered to discuss his estate, at his request, which generally ends up with him going on at length about how the world has screwed him over."
"Without going into too much gruesome detail, I got left holding the bag and my dad and all my cousins looted the corpse of the company over an 11 year court battle and I was left with nothing but an trash resume. Despite going back and getting my masters degree after the dust settled and getting nice job at a non profit, I have struggled financially to support my family and he has the tone deaf audacity to yell at me across the table that 'YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO LOSE YOUR LEGACY!'
How do you respond to something like that? MFer had just gotten back from a Vegas trip. He literally stole $33,000 from me that was supposed to seed the living trust to put the land our company bought partially in my name. He lives (in a luxury assisted living apartment) off the income from that property while I collect scrap metal on the weekends for grocery money."
23. "I was briefly friends with a woman who could do no wrong. She was the victim 24/7 and everyone was out to get her. She saw other people as means to an end and would say whatever she wanted about them, accuse them of horrible shit, 'repeat' things they supposedly said about you to your face (she made it up or heavily exaggerated every time), and just in general use people. She told me within the first two weeks of us knowing each other that she was telling everyone we were best friends. When she moved away, she forgot I existed."
24. "My sister's husband. He maintains that his opinions are the best because he has experience with a number of things. When his nephew was deciding about a plan for college he came to their house to talk to them (my sister and her husband) to help him make decisions. He and my brother-in-law talked personal aspects of the decisions. Then when he had questions about applying and scholarships, he asked my sister. My sister had graduated with her BS not long before. However before she could speak, her husband gave his own opinions. He had never even applied for college and had no idea what that process entails. My sister had to talk to their nephew in secret later."
"Also, my sister has been working for her school district for over five years now, special ed. Also, she has a second job working with adults with mental and physical disabilities for over seven years. However, my BIL maintains he knows more about people with disabilities than her because he has a cousin who has autism."
25. "My mother-in-law ... is either the victim or the hero of every possible situation. ... For example, before our baby was born, she bought a shit ton of baby stuff, all wrapped up in gift paper, wrote poems, sent inspiring cards, etc. But it all kinda seemed like 'LOOK AT ME, I'M SUCH AN AWESOME GRANDMA.' Then the baby was born, she didn't bother to visit for almost two months, never even once asked how he was, or how I was, or if we needed any help. When she came over she barely looked at him, and it was our fault because she felt she wasn't welcome (due to us not wanting ANY visitors for two weeks, my family included)."
26. "When with my parents, my mum cannot bear it if a subject of conversation comes up that she can't input into. My dad and I read, for example, and I am telling him about a book I'm reading, and my mum will just interrupt and ... completely change the subject whilst I'm mid sentence. My ex called her out for it after she did it one time too many and she just pouts for half an hour and if you talk to her she is short. She doesn't apologize, she feels like a victim. It's so frustrating."
27. And finally: "A mother at [our] school demanded that the break for the whole school should be postponed because her daughter is not hungry yet at the set time."
What's the most entitled, "main character syndrome" thing you've ever witnessed? Let us know in the comments!
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.