Pathological Liar

In my teen years, I was briefly friends with a pathological liar. It didn’t take long to realize he lied about everything, and once I understood, his lies became hilarious.

He once told me and another friend that he had tickets to see some band in concert (I think it was The Who). The other friend, who had known this guy longer than I had, started questioning him on the claim:

Other Friend: “Where’d you get the tickets?”

Liar Friend: “John sold them to me.”

OF: “When did John get them?”

LF: “Last week.”

OF: “I talked with John a few days ago, and he didn’t have them.”

LF: “Oh, he paid for them last week, and they just came in yesterday.”

OF: “He told me he couldn’t get them.”

LF: “Well, he figured out a way.”

OF: “He told me he wasn’t even interested, and wasn’t trying to get them.”

LF: “Yeah, he told me someone else who had gotten them. So I went to the other guy.”

OF: “Who?”

LF: “Mark.”

OF: “Mark Harrison?”

LF: “Yeah.”

OF: “Mark doesn’t even like The Who.”

LF: “That’s why he gave me the tickets.”

OF: “Why’d he have tickets in the first place?”

LF: “He got them from his sister.”

On and on. The other friend had done this kind of thing with the liar before, and he could go on and on making the liar fall back and make more lies. And the craziest thing about it was that the lies were completely unnecessary. Sometimes we knew the truth as he was lying to us, and other times we’d know a few days later that he’d been lying. Like with the tickets – in a couple days, we’d know he didn’t go to the concert. And we didn’t care. He didn’t impress any of us. He just had the pathological need to tell a lie.

I’ve only known one other regular liar, and she was just the friend of a friend. I had no regular contact with her, so I never witnessed her lying. But I’m told she told lies to hurt people. She’d stir things up with her friends and enemies just to be mean. I’m glad I’ve never had to deal with such a person.

My lying friend didn’t have an ulterior motive for lying, he just did it. I don’t even think he realized he was lying. And he never gave in, even when someone, like the other friend, pushed back on his lies. That’s a sadly twisted mind. I wonder how he came out as an adult.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com