Careful! Signs You’re Dealing With a Fake, Back-Stabbing Person!
We meet many specimens of the human species in our lives. The blue planet has quite a remarkable range of characters populating it. The friendly and nice specimens are not necessarily the majority. It does not hurt to enjoy new acquaintances with a pinch of caution. Of course, we should not immediately attack every person with the suspicion he might mean us harm. But keeping our eyes open for telltale signs that point us to false friends, charlatans, fake people and manipulators certainly does no harm. To help you be armed against people who certainly don't have your best interests at heart, here are 10 warning signs that will alert you to fake and devious people.
1. Their horizon is limited
Fake people have a hard time thinking outside the box. It almost seems like they go through life with invisible blinders on, just so they don't risk deviating from their course. You can tell by talking to them that they are neither tolerant nor politically interested or inquisitive. Their little minds have formed an opinion long before they even have all the facts. Sometimes a conversation with them feels like an interrogation, sometimes like the endless loop of the same platitudes over and over again.
2. Self-reflection? No way!
While some people invest too much brooding and self-critical lyquestioning, the wrong people do decidedly too little. They consider themselves infallible and great, although purely objectively regarded nothing speaks for this at all. For the rest of their lives, it doesn't seem strange to them that all their relationships are doomed to failure and are of extremely short duration. It is always the others who are to blame. They never dream of considering the possibility that the fault lies with them and in their questionable behavior.
3. They condemn and criticize others.
Kind and reasonable people know that it is simply not their place to judge others. In order to really be allowed to cast the first stone with a clear conscience, it is well known that a sinless, i.e. perfect, character image is required, which no one would be so quick to attest to. False people, on the other hand, do not even notice how quickly they reveal their true character and their intentions by openly blaspheming about their fellow human beings and not leaving a hair untouched on anyone's head. In doing so, they show that they feel themselves to be a superior authority and something better. This thinking in pigeonholes, castes and social hierarchies characterize difficult personalities. In their world, there is no equality for everyone, but the elitist upper class and the rabble.
4. Outwardly they get along with everyone
Those who get along with everyone all the time must either be very well medicated or just not as honest as they seem. It's in the nature of things that we humans have different feelings for each other. Some we find great, others just okay and still others we prefer to avoid. Characteristic of people with dishonest intentions is the tactic of keeping all options open. After all, you never know when person X or person Y will come in handy again. However, they don't necessarily pursue this strategy wisely. They sometimes spray their poison too rashly against those who are absent, who of course get wind of it. Thus, the house of cards of friendly non-commitment collapses in all directions at some point.
5. They behave in a decidedly arrogant manner.
They would prefer to divide the world into upper class and lower class. All people who do not correspond to their social status, their financially strong income group or their level of education are personnel for them. We recognize this worldview by observing these people when they feel unobserved. They direct waiters and cleaning staff around with an arrogance as if these people were their personal serfs. They change their tone of voice and overall demeanor depending on who is walking into the room.
6. Gossip is their religion
People who can't get enough of gossip are not particularly trustworthy. The poison that the grapevine knows how to distribute rarely has anything to do with the exchange of information or news with added value. It's about badmouthing other people behind their backs, poking fun at their misfortunes and tragedies, and spreading schadenfreude about them. False people thrive on negative energy. They cannot share happiness with others, nor their sense of achievement or joy. Their misfortune, on the other hand, gives them royal pleasure.
7. Their jokes are at the expense of others
Humor is a highly individual thing that does not always contribute to international understanding. In the interpersonal sphere, after all, there are a few boundaries that are invisible, but which every adult must respect nonetheless. It is not okay to embarrass or perpetuate others.
8. Ambivalent behavior characterizes them
Fake people are neither reliable nor trustworthy. All too often, they hand out full-bodied promises and concessions without ever intending to follow through. They are our best friend one day and the next, they don't even know us anymore. To call them capricious would be wrong, because they can control their behavior as it suits them. If people seem to be of importance to them at the moment, they are radiantly nice and attentive. When their willing victims have done their duty, they remove themselves from their sphere of influence.
9. They turn out to be bad friends
Sometimes it actually happens that we overlook the warning signs and simply don't want to believe our intuition. We then find ourselves in friendships that absolutely do not deserve the name. These fake friends suck us dry, use us as they please, and take every opportunity to show us up or make us feel bad. It often happens faster than we can think that such shady specimens of the human species settle in our lives and are hard to get rid of.
10. They do not show their true feelings
Fake people are true virtuosos at imitating the entire keyboard of the human emotional spectrum. They play the victim card when it serves them, show it charmingly and eloquently when that way gets them ahead, or can also appear very competent and confident. However, we will not get to know the real person behind the many different masks anytime soon. The puppeteers and string-pullers among us guard their facade jealously. There would hardly be a worse defeat for them than to be exposed for what they really are: a fake person with a plan.
Today's Conclusion: You'd better avoid these people.
If your gut strongly advises you against closer acquaintance with some people, you should heed this advice. What we can hear and see is often only what these skillful actors present to us as their true selves. It doesn't have much to do with reality – false people pursue their own agenda and for that they sometimes need extras or stooges to help them. Don't let yourself become the ground crew for shady high-flyers who think their fellow humans are stupid and themselves the greatest. This attitude truly has nothing to do with greatness. That's it for today.