Everybody likes to have a bit of attention from time to time. It's a pretty great feeling, and it makes the person in the spotlight feel as though they're the most important person on the face of the earth. However, some people like that feeling a little too much. As a result, they're willing to do whatever it takes to get it again.
People on Quora share the most annoying thing they've seen someone do for attention. Content has been edited for clarity.
Why Did He Think That Was Okay To Ask?
“My living quarters at college came with the scholarship. Reduced rent housing yielded a 7th-floor apartment, right next to the train tracks. I had a closet kitchen, a small front room with huge windows that one couldn’t open, and a bedroom and bath.
One day, there was a knock on the door and it’s my current boyfriend, stopping in for a visit. We had been chatting probably 30 minutes when another knock sounded. Answering the door, I discovered a male friend from University, with my boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend supported by his arm. Sheepishly, he asked to come in for a minute.
Reluctantly, I granted access. My friend explained they were on their way to a country music festival, and the girl had become nauseated. No need to wonder its cause, I had smelled the adult beverages she was full of at the door.
I had no furniture and in student days, we were all agile enough to plop on the carpet and lean against the bare walls. We all sat there in uncomfortable silence, smiling except the girl who moaned at intervals and held her abdomen.
Suddenly she asks could she speak to my boyfriend in private. He gets up and pulls her up, and they walk to the small hallway between bedroom and bathroom.
In an instant, she stays leaning against the door frame and he asks timidly ‘Would it be all right if she laid in the bed for a little while? I’ll sit with her so if she gets sick there won’t be a mess.’
In the calmest voice I could muster, I replied ‘No, it will not be okay if the two of you share my bed.’
Turning to my friend who had brought this most unwelcome guest, I said ‘It’s time for you two to be on your way please, I have a lot of homework to do.’
My friend went to claim his problem, she began crying then, and I shot him my best I don’t care, go look, and out the door they went.”
This Guy Wasn’t Having What She Was Selling
“So I’m at this Irish pub with my boyfriend and a bunch of his friends. Everything was going great, and later this woman approaches my boyfriend with the intention to sleep with him. He politely let her know that he’s committed to me, and we carry on about our night. She leaves our table in a huff and approaches a table of different guys.
A few minutes later, she ends up coming back to our table again. This time, she lowers her top, exposing her shoulder skin. She proceeds to tell my boyfriend that he looks bored with me, and if he doesn’t kiss me right at that moment she’s going to snog him. I thought that was hilarious at that moment because I could tell that my boyfriend was not enjoying any of that attention.
Later, I became concerned with her behavior. As we were preparing to leave, she was hovering around our table trying to be close with him. This lady was also exposing her chest, among other things.
Moments later, we learned she came in with one of our friends’ friends, and she tells us that she’s married with three kids. This woman is all over the place at the bar, and her friend was apologizing for her nutcase friend which was totally not necessary.”
It Must Have Been A Really Good One
“I was at an event, I think it was like a pseudo-convention for food, where you could walk around and get cheap stuff from food trucks all over a convention center in Chicago. I was walking around with my parents, eating myself some fried shrimp, where I saw a group of friends on a massive staircase in the center of the room.
There were probably six kids, somewhere around the age of 16–17 each, and five of them were in a huddle looking at something on their phones. They were laughing and having a good time, but this one kid outside the group was clearly trying to get their attention. He was rotating around the huddle, audibly yelling from halfway across the room and forcing his phone into their faces, but this huddle was ignoring him completely.
So what does this kid do to get their attention?
He throws himself down the 30-foot staircase.
The huddle finally looks up and notices him screaming and falling, so they rush down and help him up. The kid’s arm was bent nearly all the way backward, and needless to say, it was terrifying.
When all of the group’s attention is finally directed towards this kid, he picks up his phone and shows them something.
He showed the group a freaking meme.
Someone called 9–1–1 and the guy got picked up in an ambulance, and in the end, the group just huddled up again.
Moral of the story?
If your friends jump off a bridge, don’t go with them. Their crippled body will just show you a meme.”
That’s Nothing To Be Proud Of
“So I’ve known this girl, ‘Terra,’ since 3rd grade when she transferred to my school. We were both in different classes but used to travel to school daily on the same bus.
In 11th grade, she left our school. We weren’t very close so the only way we were connected was through Instagram. One day while I was scrolling through my Instagram feed, I noticed that she has posted a photo along with a long, long caption. Curious, I started reading it. And then to my horror, I realized that she has posted that she has failed her 11th grade. Just to gain attention.
Where I’m from, failing is considered terrible. But this girl, just to gain attention, posted an entire post describing how those subjects were forced on her by her parents, blaming them for what happened. She never once thought the actual reason she failed was maybe that she was busy gathering likes for her photos instead of actually studying. And she blamed her parents! She didn’t even once think the expensive things she was using or the luxury in which she is living is because of her parents only. If not for them, she wouldn’t be able to even stand independently.
And soon, she got what she wanted. Hundreds of likes on her pictures. Numerous comments from her friends (read foes), telling her about how they support her and other things. People were appreciating her on how bold she is to let the world know that she has failed.
Let me tell you, there is nothing bold in telling the world that you have failed.
After a few weeks, she deleted that post, probably realizing her stupidity maybe. But even now when I think about it, I cringe.”
Her Best Friend Called It
“This girl I went to school with. She did not have many friends, and the friends she had she didn’t keep too long. We were in I think 11th grade, and she told everyone she had brain cancer. We all believed her and tried to be nice to her. I felt so bad for the mean things I had said and thought about her. My best friend did not feel guilty at all about anything she had said or done to the girl. She said whether she has cancer or not does not change her as a person, and she probably does not even have cancer.
I was mortified that my best friend felt that way, but not too surprised. After a few weeks of this, the headmaster called a student meeting. She told us the girl did not have cancer, but had other problems. She also said the girl was made to change schools for what she had done.”
This Woman Went Very Extreme
“I know a woman who is in her 40’s. She has high blood pressure and smokes, drinks, doesn’t eat well, and leads a very unhealthy lifestyle. She worked with a friend of mine. After work one day, we were out eating and get a group text that she is in the emergency room with very high blood pressure from my ex-boyfriend.
I get more info as the night goes on; she’s posting to social media about him taking her there, he’s telling me that she’s insisting he text me certain things, she told him that our friend she works with wouldn’t take her to the hospital (he hadn’t heard from her).
Her friend from work said that as he was leaving, she was double-fisting two large coffees. I’m pretty sure she jacked up her blood pressure to get this guy to take her to the hospital, get sympathy from him, and create drama. I think risking organ damage is pretty much the worst I’ve heard.”
That Poor Waiter
“One of my exes was present at a very star-studded party. She was a student of hotel management and had recently joined a very famous and well-known five-star hotel. She told me a strange story about a popular actress who joined the party late.
When she entered the room and saw no one was paying attention to her, she started screaming at one of the waiters for ogling at her. The said waiter was so shocked, he couldn’t even defend himself properly. Immediately the manager was called, and the manager reprimanded him in front of everyone and he was taken off the party.
A few minutes later once they had gone inside, the manager coolly told him not to worry, there would be no action taken on him as that actress’s actions were well known in the film industry and she was an attention-grabbing freak.
Post the incident, many people surrounded her to ask what had happened. She got what she wanted, the poor waiter had to bear the brunt.”
Forgiven, But Not Forgotten
“We all had moved into a new school for our senior years two months back. Now, we were all in the awkward phase of getting to know each other. Within a couple of months, I had made enough friends. There was this girl. I particularly was not very fond of her. But she was clingy. And I didn’t really mind. About a week into school, things got creepy.
She texted my best friend that she liked him. He politely told her he is not into her. Now after that, she continued to spam his inbox with texts although he never read them. He was quickly getting very annoyed with her.
Turns out, she randomly sent another friend of mine a video of her kissing a guy. They don’t even know each other. At this point, I had politely asked her to leave us the heck alone. Super polite. Ever since that happened, she didn’t like me much.
One month later, my other friends were sitting in the library. She was with them. They never invited her to sit with them. But she did anyway. They did not want to sound rude so they let her. They were three conventionally not so good-looking dudes, but decent enough to have certain standards.
She started feeling up their legs one by one. And squeezed their thighs. With no prior notice. These three dudes were traumatized. They knew the kind of girl she was; if they asked her anything she would start crying. They walked away.
A friend texted me the other day, and he said he had to tell me about something. Let us call him ‘Zen.’ Zen was at the school play to watch one of his best friends perform in the show. Now, this girl was also there and saw him. She wrongfully assumed that he was here to watch her. Typical. She went up to him and started twirling her hair and touching his shoulder.
My friend told me, ‘After I saw her there, I was about to leave, but she dragged her hand down my chest and grazed my hand. It was so uncomfortable. I backed off and if I hadn’t I am not kidding she would have touched my member as well.’
I was speechless. This girl now barely has friends. All her friends had abandoned her because she always had got into a fight with them.
One day, my friend, Dania, and I chilling in the basketball court, and we see this girl crying. Our first instincts were to not give a flying can of beans. But then, owing to some consideration left in us, we went up to her and asked her what was wrong. Now, what came out of her mouth completely shocked me.
‘Well, a few days ago, I went to the doctor to get my blood test done. While I was there, I threw up and there was blood. The doctor is our family doctor and he suggested other tests and..’
She broke down, leaving her story incomplete.
After I persisted, she continued ‘And the reports said that I have cancer.’
And she broke down again. I was kind of dumbfounded. Because I didn’t know how to react. Was she lying? Of course not. Why would anybody lie about cancer? I felt like a completely awful person to speculate her crying. I chose to believe her. She further told us how she does not want to die and how much she loves her dad. She told us she had two months to live. She kept crying and ranting for another whole hour.
Now, Dania and I were convinced she could not be possibly lying. We hugged her and she cried more.
She further added that she had lung and blood cancer. Now we knew she was bluffing, because she was known for exaggerating facts. But the core point that she had cancer. We believed it, and sympathized with her.
This news had somehow spread like wildfire. While many contemplated the validity of this, I chose to not be rude to her.
One day later, she texted us. She told us the second reports have come out, and they are normal. And that she is so happy. And that if the school counselor asked us anything, we should pretend that we knew nothing. By Monday, this lie of hers spread like a forest fire. Everybody now was sure that she actually faked two terminal cancers. The counselor had known. The principal was informed. Guess who informed him? Me. Because honestly, I was enraged enough to punch her right across her face. I had chosen to give her the benefit of doubt. But she did stoop so low. So freaking low.
Within days, she ended up with various counseling sessions for the menace she had caused. Everybody around the school identified her as the chick who faked cancer. They did not leave her alone and made sure she felt the guilt every passing moment. Half a month later, things were getting better for her. Nobody has forgotten, but they do not bring it up anymore. She still is causing drama. In subtle ways. I wonder every time I see her, what had her thinking that she would ever get away with such a lie?
Sometimes, it’s funny how pathetic and dumb people craving for attention can get. Sigh.”
They Both Got What They Wanted
“I read about it in my local paper. A child climbed into one of those machines with the claw that picks up a toy or stuffed animal. It was late in the evening, and the kid was with his mom.
Apparently, the crane didn’t pick anything up. The mom was with her child. Why didn’t she stop her child from going in? She alerted management, and the store’s security got the kid out.
I heard this lady was really hysterical. I also heard through acquaintances she likes attention. She probably told her kid to go in and get it. I’m sure she got whatever toy she wanted as a result.”
Oh, Honey No
“There was this girl at my high school whenever she would walk or stand she would arch the heck out of her back, making her look deformed. It’s obvious that she was trying to make her butt look bigger.
Not only that, but she would walk weird in front of guys it looked like she was trying to twerk or get her butt cheeks to wiggle as she walked by them. She also would change her voice to make it sound very light, and would try to sound like a little girl.
A lot of the girls would talk about her, and laugh and so would the guys.”
This Sounds Like A Movie
“I dated a smart, fun, attractive woman once who seemed mostly normal. Things kinda broke off naturally when she moved away.
Then she contacted me about eight or ten years later. She said she had been married, then divorced, and recently moved closer. Somehow we reconnected for a while. However…
Now she was claiming she was an ‘Extreme Engineer,’ with advanced degrees from three different universities, which she wouldn’t disclose (for privacy reasons, she said).
She claimed to have devised a zero-energy electrical generation system that could also power a vehicle with no need for fuel. She even had ‘patent pictures’ of this device…which were swiped from a Wikipedia article about some 1930s power station project in Hungary or Bulgaria.
She was attempting to sell this amazing technology to investors and governments. She would often be skyping someone who she told me was an energy official from some strange country or other, who was supposedly all set to wire her a couple of million dollars for her to build and ship a prototype test unit.
She would claim it was completely reasonable she could sell these generators for hundreds of millions of dollars each because one could provide electricity to power an entire country for decades. She tried to get me to recruit people I knew to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to build her amazing zero-fuel SUV, which she would then drive on a cross-country tour to get worldwide media publicity.
Oh, and she wouldn’t show anyone, even me, any detailed plans, nor would she patent this type of power source, because then its secret technology could be stolen.
She told me she had been born a hermaphrodite and doctors removed her male organs at birth and had modified her female organs to make them normal.
She told me her father was a wealthy South American resort developer who was somehow connected to organized crime and was always accompanied by an armed bodyguard. And her parents were attacked in Central Park (NYC), where her mother who was pregnant with this girl at the time was stabbed, the assailant was killed by the bodyguard, and her father had to pull a knife and cut the girl out of her dying mother so she (the baby) didn’t die, too. And the father and bodyguard then took their private plane and spirited the girl away to Argentina, and somehow paid off some authorities in NYC so the incident never appeared in any records or news stories.
It got wackier and wackier.
The last I saw her, she was moving to some state 1,000 miles away from where some rich older gentleman, who was purportedly wealthy because his family business supplies 90% of the fish McDonald’s uses in their sandwiches, was hiring her to be some sort of nanny to his ancient mother or grandmother, while simultaneously working with him to develop her energy gizmo.
I was relieved and thrilled to get out of that situation!”
Save The Tears
“Crying for no reason. I have an aunt who always cries, even for simple stories, because she has to relate. I cannot handle it, and I know she does it for attention. Some of my relatives try to listen to her story through her tears, but I have to excuse myself.
I think they are obliged to invite her and will feel bad about not inviting her on occasion. I can understand if it’s funeral, she can cry her heart out, but for birthdays, wedding, reunions, why does she need to cry?”
One And Done
“Dress inappropriately for an event. My friend, a long time ago and I, were going out and she dressed so trashy, I refused to go out with her. She changed, but it was the same thing, I finally gave up and we went out. She got attention all right, all the wrong kind. After a long night of being pawed at, she admitted I was right. She never did it again.”
Someone Should Teach Them Proper Etiquette
“The one thing that annoys me is the guys and some girls at the gym. I am in my mid 40’s. I am fit for my age and fitter than people that don’t exercise. I have been in the gym since my mid-20s. So here it is…
Guys who constantly ignore the no-shirt rule because they think their body is so awesome. They will watch themselves in the mirror with self-love. It reminds me of a scene in American Psycho when the main character is making love in the mirror and he is looking at himself and flexing. Please do it on your own time. Some of us just want to look decent outside the gym. And don’t get me started on how they start filming each other. Please go to the locker room for self-worship.
Girls who don’t really work out, and only go to the gym to take selfies. Enough said.”
Can Someone Please Call H.R.?
“I had a coworker who was a massive attention seeker, and who always wanted to be in the center of everything.
It wasn’t one thing that he did that was pathetic, it was the whole set of actions that were especially stomach churning. Here are a few that jump to mind:
This guy swam every morning as a form of exercise. Rather than change into his work attire in a men’s room like a civilized human being, he’d wait until he got to the office and change in his cubicle. One morning, a female coworker walked up to ask him a question, only to find him standing there in boxers. She screamed.
He also had very personal phone conversations while at his desk, loudly. We all knew about how his baby mama’s soon-to-be-ex-husband refused to sign the divorce papers purely out of spite. And how he secretly considered moving to Hawaii before he found out she was pregnant. He’d always walk around the office afterword and ask ‘What?’ while smiling.
He once insisted that traffic was so bad that morning that he seriously considered taking the chopper.
‘I could land it in that field right there. But, that might be a little showy,’ he bragged.
He told us (repeatedly) that he played for the Long Beach State rugby team. He did not attend Long Beach State.”