We all know that person who thinks the entire world revolves around them, and that everyone else is just a side character in their story.
So, when Reddit user 35in_anal_dildo asked, "What is the worst case of 'main character syndrome' you've ever encountered?" I was itching to hear about experiences with these awful people. Here are 28 people with terrible cases of Main Character Syndrome that need a serioussss wakeup call.
1. "I was in Japan back in April. We climbed up to a viewing point to see Mt. Fuji. A 'famous' American TikToker and her 'entourage' started physically pushing people out of the way so that they didn’t ruin her shot. And then, she yelled, 'I need an Asian in the shot to make it authentic.' So, they grabbed an old man and got him to take photos with her. It was gross."
2. "When I was in high school (20+ years ago), I was on my school's speech and debate team. I frequently had to compete against the daughter of our city's mayor. We went to different schools but competed in the same event, so I frequently had rounds with her. I swear, every conversation with her was: 'My daddy, the mayor, said that...,' 'My daddy, the mayor, is going to...,' 'My daddy, the mayor, believes...'"
"She could not mention her father without mentioning that he was the mayor. One day, I was tired of her bullshit. While we waited for the judge to arrive and our round to start, she started in with 'My daddy, the mayor...' again.
'Who is your dad?' I asked.
'Ummm...he's the mayor,' she said.
'What's his name?'
'[NAME]. You know, the MAYOR!'
'Huh...never heard of him. He must not be that famous.'
I'd thought her head was going to explode. Good times."
3. "A former coworker had her...dad quit his really recently found new job that he truly enjoyed (he had a really hard time finding one)...because he couldn't miss a day of work for her birthday. She was 23 at the time, going [on] 24. She got mad when he explained to her that he couldn't miss a day so soon after being hired. ... She didn't care about anything he said and cut short to the discussion: If he wasn't going to take a day off for her birthday, she didn't want to talk to him anymore. The poor guy quit. He loves this ungrateful brat so much, it's painful to watch. ... She wasn't even grateful; she clearly thought it was the bare, decent minimum from his part."
4. "I was a shift manager at Starbucks, and an elderly woman had a heart attack in the middle of the store. I had to call emergency services and provide first aid. While doing that, a barista came to me to ask if she could get another position to work at. Because she was bored of standing at the counter. This was while I was giving CPR to the woman on the floor. Then, she got mad that I ignored her."
5. "My ex-wife. I could write a damn novel about her. Some highlights: dropping out of college repeatedly. Then claiming to be educated in psychology because she watches YouTube. Her major was geology. Thinking businesses should be proud to serve her. Claiming to be a filmmaker. (She made a costume for one very bad horror movie.) But she was an industry insider because she once dated a director. Claims she 'saved' Ryan Seacrest's career because she once insulted him in a bar."
"Throwing a tantrum at any wedding/graduation/birthday. Including her own. Side note: Our birthdays were days apart. I didn't get to celebrate mine until I divorced her.
This is getting long but one more. Her favorite saying: 'Put me in charge of the world, I'll fix some shit.' Don't you dare ask her to elaborate.
...The story of Ryan Seacrest: This supposedly happened before I met her. .... It was decades ago when he was hosting American Idol. She ran into him in a bar in Hollywood and proceeded to tear him apart for his style (her words). Saying he needs to grow up and act his age. Evidently, he got pissed and avoided her. Then, 6–12 months later, he's hosting E! wearing a 'respectable' suit. She takes credit for shaming him into 'growing up' and dressing appropriately for his age. Never mind that he landed a new gig that required a different image. In her mind, she influenced his image that landed him his contract. So, she saved his career because a moderately attractive blond shamed him into changing. I wish I was making this up."
6. "My own mom. I was sick, and the doctors thought it might be terminal. There was a test they wanted to me to have, and my mom said, 'Let me know when they schedule it, I need to be there with you.' So, when I got the call, I told my mom so she could be there. She dead eye looked me in the face and said, 'How can you be so cold? Don’t you care how I feel that my youngest daughter might die?!?!' Ummm, that’s me. I’m the potentially dying youngest daughter. She somehow made it about her, even when talking to me. Fucking impressive."
7. "[I] was college roommates with this girl who only had a wall of selfies as her photo wall. [She] would be very self-absorbed and would constantly pretend she didn’t know how to do things if she didn’t want to do a task, even something as simple as opening a window. [She] would constantly comment on how pretty she was and how girls must be jealous because of her beauty, to a weird point. We went on a two-week trip a few years after college, and that’s really where things took a turn for the worst."
"I did the majority of the driving, and she refused to even let me listen to the music I wanted because she thought her music was better. [We] played a car game just based on facts about her when we were driving. [She] refused to take any photos of me unless I explicitly asked to, even after I took photos of her, and any photos together was the ultimate no-no because god forbid anyone steal her limelight. She admitted she would just blank when approached with a task she didn’t want to do and expected others to do them for her, but if I spoke to her like she was a child because she would also throw temper tantrums like one. ... [She] was just constantly in her own world and thought her shit didn’t stink and that everyone was really jealous of her while she didn’t care to ask about my life, my interests, or my feelings for the majority of the trip. Also, had no problems doing goofy things like speaking in a British accent at a fancy dinner but got annoyed when I did it and told me to stop. Because obviously, speaking is a main character trait, not an NPC one."
8. "About a year ago, [I was] trying to board a flight, and a couple held us up so that Main Character could get a series of photos in a series of poses standing at the top of the boarding stairs like some 1960s JetSet starlet in Saint-Tropez. This was not first class transcontinental glamour flight, this was a four-hour budget Ryanair flight from the Canaries to the UK."
"After being forced into the plane by the cabin staff who kept standing in the shot trying to get the plan boarded (Ryanair do not mess around with their fast turnaround) and also by angry people trying to squeeze past [the] boyfriend/cameraman and getting in the shot, she then proceeded to stand in the aisle during taxi for takeoff just after the safety brief to get more photos. After threats of returning to the terminal and being put off the flight, she sat down. Nothing says a classy Instagram model like the Ryanair color scheme."
9. "My family experienced a very traumatic two years when my stepmother was diagnosed with advanced, terminal glioblastoma (brain cancer). It was absolutely terrifying, horrifying, and our family was permanently fractured. ... One 'best friend' had...experienced a relationship ending and was heartbroken. But nearly five years post breakup and not cutting him off, she escalated to risky behavior. Obsessing over him and his family, driving by his house at night, stalking his new girlfriend on social media, having a mutual friend hack into his work emails, etc. Just a very bad, toxic situation. My stepmom's illness overlapped with this friend's escalating behavior. Over time, we drifted apart a bit (purely due to the circumstances), but when we did connect, I would always listen and give advice, try to be supportive, thinking I was doing what friends should do. She did listen to me as well, but only if I prompted discussion."
"Toward the end of my stepmother's illness, she was in palliative care for approximately seven weeks. During that seven weeks waiting for the end, her mother passed away. A week after, my uncle. Once she was gone, it was three funerals in approximately five weeks. At this point, the trauma hadn't kicked in..until this friend paid a visit.
One week after my stepmom's funeral, the friend came over for a hangout. Perfect, I needed company. She walks in, drops her stuff, and flops on the couch, and launches into the following:
Her: 'So, I want to talk to you about something. I know you're going through a really hard time, but I really need your support.'
Me (thinking the worst): 'Of course, anything I can do, what's wrong?'
Her: 'Well, I'm struggling because (ex) posted on his IG about...'
She launches into a rant about her ex posting pictures going to a club, he's back with the girl he cheated with, etc. Just pure nonsense, six years after the breakup at this point.
I was calm and listened in the moment, but internally, I felt my brain break. Done. Do not pass go. Does not compute. Lights on, no one home. I had just buried a parent of 30 years, among others, and was being told her fuckboy ex was of a higher priority.
That was when I knew she was a covert narcissist and a chronic Main Character Syndrome person. A switch flipped, and it was like our friendship also died instantly in the moment."
10. "I was at MSP [Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport], and I was waiting in line to get a pizza. Dude walks up asking about a pizza place on a different terminal and which terminal it’s in. They tell him, and he’s trying to play it all cool that he was sorry he wasn’t going to eat at this one pizza spot. So, the guy walks away, and maybe 10 seconds later comes back and says, 'You know what? I’m gonna hook you guys up' and then he pulls out his phone and goes on TikTok or whatever and starts recording himself and how this pizza place he wasn’t going to eat at was dope. Recording all of these workers. Then, he walks away. Then, after he walks away, the worker just says, 'What an asshole,' and I was laughing super hard 'cause that was such a douchebag thing to do."
11. "My ex thought he came up with the idea for pop-up ads when he was 15 and was still telling people this at 33. That was just one of the multiple things that convinced me that he was a narcissist with the biggest main character syndrome."
"He also thought that women’s vaginas were permanently affected by any penis it came in contact with it, thought that men shouldn’t do housework because 'the appliances are made specifically for women,' and I could probably write a book about him. I was so blind, LOL."
12. "At my brother's wedding, his mother-in-law showed up in a floor-length ball gown covered head to toe with sequins and with a band of giant bling around the waist. To a simple 20-person backyard wedding where the bride wore a simple knee-length sheath dress. She was also drunk and spent the whole day showing off her new boob job...including [to] elderly relatives and kids, commenting that the bride would look so much better if she got hers done."
13. "My mom got married on my high school graduation day. This was justified by saying, 'Well, everyone is already in town." Later found out I was the only one who didn’t know. [I] couldn’t figure out why everyone was SO dressed up. [I] worked 18 years for it [and] just wanted a day for me."
14. "One of my exes thought he was the main character of some cringey Garden State-type movie and that I was supposed to be his manic pixie dream girl. I'll never forget one of the arguments we had in which he was frustrated with me for not being more ~*~*quirky*~*~. He said, 'You're supposed to take me by the hand and show me the world!' which sounds like a bad joke, but trust me when I say he was being serious."
15. "This guy that I used to supervise was very loud and proud about himself and his former professions; everything was about him. He was once a bodyguard for Marilyn Manson, he worked for the Secret Service (??), he ran his own wrestling business where he was a pro wrestler as well as booker as well as announcer (I think this was actually true, but he made comments that he was extremely successful). It doesn't end there, as he now has a wrestling business locally and consistently posts on Facebook buffing himself up. Would post daily videos of himself twirling those workout batons. Posts asking what he should do a TED Talk on (not the mini-TED talks, the real one). Posts requesting 'green flags' about himself from his friends. All of this completely un-ironically."
16. "Some guy took the microphone during the school talent show and said, 'No one is here for this shit. They're all here for me.' ... There was a standing applause when he was taken off stage."
17. "[I] had just started dating my now-wife and was going to a family get-together for her uncle's birthday. Uncle had divorced and was now dating someone who owned a pretty nice sit-down restaurant, where the birthday dinner was being held. This is my first time meeting most of the fam, so I didn’t know what to expect. [We] get to the dinner, and there are about 10 of us along with a number of other random families eating as well. Meal is really solid, but I can tell from the conversations the uncle loves being the center of attention, but it is his birthday so I figure everyone just goes with it. Uncle’s girlfriend is more or less a servant at this point as he is barking out orders to her waitstaff and dominating every single story. Meal finishes, and in walks a karaoke team (bunch of uncle's friends) that sets up right in the front of the restaurant."
"He proceeds to put on a one-man show for us and the other dining patrons for a half hour. He isn’t bad per se, but he certainly isn’t enjoyable to listen to for more than a minute or two. He then makes all of the family (including me) come on stage to sing his favorite song with him. The other diners looked soooo confused as their nice dinner was being interrupted by this 60-year-old man child pretending to be a rockstar."
18. "I worked with a woman (Betty) who was pregnant. Another coworker (Tracy) was pregnant at the same time and had a miscarriage. When Tracy was out recovering maybe a day after it happened, Betty found out she was having twins. Although Betty and Tracy weren’t really friends, Betty announced that she needed to be the one to tell Tracy her news, and it needed to be done NOW. Betty called Tracy, and it was just nauseating."
"Betty also liked to tell everyone she tricked her husband into getting pregnant. They are divorced now."
19. "A friend of mine had his sister completely lose her shit at him for saying he doesn't plan on having kids. Why did she freak out? Because she'd just had a baby. And in the 34 years they've been siblings, she never once asked her brother if he planned on procreating, until she was worried about whether her only child would have cousins. But she was certain his decision MUST have been made right then when meeting his niece, and therefore, he MUST hate his niece."
"He's never wanted kids, it's pretty common knowledge in our friend group, but his sister just never thought to ask until she stood to benefit."
20. "In my bar fly days, I used to know this other regular named Mitchell. Mitchell was one of those guys who thought every female bartender or waitress wanted him. This dude was pushing 50, dorky as hell, and severely balding, but the 22-year-old bartender definitely wanted him because she'd entertain his long-winded rambling for 10 seconds longer than anyone else. He was also one of those people desperate to prove how much smarter he was than everyone else. Eventually, one of the older female bartenders absolutely laid into him about this behavior, and he vanished. I learned that he started going to some other bar nearby. I'm sure he continues to believe he's god's gift to women."
"Self-confidence is great. Extreme self-delusion, not so much."
21. "My ex-boyfriend definitely had main character syndrome. He always came up with grandiose stories to try to make himself look more important than he actually was. Example: He liked to tell people that he only ever tried cocaine once, and it was because Lady Gaga offered it to him in a bathroom at some event he was working at. Sure, Jan."
22. "My son’s mother-in-law. ... Every few months, she is literally dying of something. When they were in high school, their mom even told them she thought she had prostrate cancer. Yeah…her own daughters had to explain that one to her without laughing in her face. If I didn’t know her, I wouldn’t have believed them. She’s on so many medications you could kill a horse. I truly believe her doctors give them to her just to shut her up."
"Everything in her life is worse than everyone else’s. Yet on her social media page, her life is perfect, except her illnesses and pains. Who brags about being sick and all their doctor appointments?!?! She does so she can say how she’s soldiering on through it all."
23. "I was skiing with a friend of a friend one time who told us that he had the skis Shane McConkey died on, and would ski them regularly. He talked up his skiing ability so much, and took the 'I'm the best skier on the mountain' thing to a wildly serious level, which was amusing, since he was on a snowboard. On the chairlift, he told me he did cocaine with a Colombian drug lord in the jungles of Colombia. He followed my friend off a 3–5 foot drop, and promptly told us that he thought he tore his ACL on that 'big 15-foot drop.' He didn't."
24. "An old friend had a severe case of Munchausen’s syndrome. She was insufferable and would go on and on at length about her life-threatening illnesses, always making sure that everyone knew she was dying. Anytime someone would try to start a conversation with her present, she would find a way to re-direct it back to herself. We could be talking about sandwiches, and she would be like, 'Well… speaking of sandwiches, I had the worst sandwich while I was in the ICU yesterday…'"
"Speaking of hospitals, she would go from hospital to hospital seeking as many diagnoses as she could. She would go into a rage anytime she was told that she was perfectly healthy — which was 98% of the time, claiming all doctors are useless and uneducated, and even putting them on blast on her dog’s Instagram account, which is an account about her illnesses, not her dogs. The saddest point, and the moment I saw her for who she truly was, was when her own sister was in the ICU with COVID. She went into a jealous rage, blaming her sister for 'faking it' and throwing actual tantrums with tears about why everyone cared about her sister instead of her. ... She spends fortunes on scammy doctors in the Chronic Lyme community that she’s now a proud advocate of, all while her husband foots the bills since she quit her career and claimed disability status. Oh. And Chronic Lyme does not actually exist, by the way (not to be confused with Lyme, which is very much treatable).
Before I ended that friendship, I had counted 16 chronic illnesses that she told me she was 'suffering' from and had a Gofundme up where she was collecting money from vulnerable and unsuspecting friends who hadn’t yet realized the truth. But from what I saw firsthand, she was suffering from nothing but toxic entitlement and a desperate need for attention."
25. "My sister. She’s two years younger than me. She’s done many Main Character Syndrome-driven things, but one particular highlight was when she announced that she had brain cancer. At my high school graduation. Spoiler alert — she did not have and has never had any type of cancer, and our aunt had died from brain cancer two years ago. That upset quite a few relatives."
26. "Last year, I met a woman who was 20 miles away at a small art retreat she had apparently won a 'scholarship' to attend for two weeks. She spent at least one day with a friend of hers in town, shacked up with me for six days, and also somehow found time to thrift shop. I think she spent two, maybe three days doing art, total; like, the absolute minimum she could get away with. Peak main character energy twist was when she wanted to spend her final evening going up to the top of a bluff to watch the sunset together, literally cried for a good period of time directly afterwards, mourning the loss of 'us,' and then didn't really want anything to do with me after returning to NYC (that is, after she had me mail a bunch of stuff she thrifted for her)."
"Oh, and she's a DJ. ... This woman didn't think anything of picking out music samples for a performance set day of...maybe I'm just too old for current EDM, but I listened to that set when she posted it online, and my god, I wish I hadn't."
27. "Just one example of her…my mother has said, more than once, 'If I had been born in medieval times, I’d have been royalty.' She has said it so seriously. She means it. I think this was around the time she was watching The Tudors. It doesn’t even make sense!! As if monarchies don’t exist anymore."
28. And finally... "Myself on Facebook in 2010. I was in middle school, and I had recently graduated from the bullied/picked-on kid to the scene/emo kid who still sometimes got picked on, but I had friends. I craved attention like crack, always dressing in goofy ass clothes, doing and saying edgy shit, and dying/bleaching my hair to the point where I was almost bald by ninth grade and wearing heavy eye makeup (couldn't live without eyeliner). On Facebook, I had this image of myself where I had to be the coolest girl with the funniest, edgy, and often suicidal posts. ... In 11th grade, I realized that all of my old friends actually hated me."
"The only thing I don't regret was pretending to be gay to piss off the religious bigots and helping my ex come out of the closet. Having such animosity toward religious people helped with my character development because I realized that I was turning into the same type of people who were horrible to me. At the same time, I don't actually feel bad for trolling them because they were genuinely shitty."
Have you ever met someone who had chronic Main Character Syndrome? Let us know in the comments!
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.