The Usurper

No doubt in the course of a conversation you’ve run into the usurper: this person tells the punch line to the joke you’re in the process of telling, s/he steals your thunder by jumping in with the latest news you had started to impart or steals your stories or ideas and retells them as his or her own.

Again, I believe usurpers need attention, need to increase their feelings of self-worth to feel one-up or better than the person upon whom they practice their one-up-manship. Right or wrong, I try to call them on it when they do it if only to help bring about some self-awareness of what they are doing. I’ve learned it better serves the purpose to discuss this with the usurper in private. Often the usurper expresses surprise at what they’ve done, seemingly totally unaware. Don’t be fooled. Usurpers know exactly what they’re doing.