All of us have talked experience and projects with the new guy or long term coworkers. All of us have also come across and "one upper" type. In the Dilbert comic, this is Topper. SNL spoofed this a bit with Penelope, Kristen Wiig's character. Each not only did more of or something better than others, but did it in outlandish and obviously inaccurate ways. The Topper's in our work lives can work with us, for us or even be our boss. What they have in common is that the simple math of time and the quantity they claim are all but impossible but in their own world and head, they're still number one and better than us.
One of the worst one upper's I've come across was a few years back. I was barely 30 and he was around the same age. In addition to claiming absurd amounts of responsibility for a less than ten year industry veteran, he claimed responsibility for quantities of work that would be impressive for a 40 year veteran, let along someone who might still be called "kid" by that same veteran. In this instance, Topper claimed that he had poured several hundred thousand yards of concrete and paved a couple million tons of asphalt, himself. The math simply does not add up. I've been around over 14 years now and have helped with some pretty big jobs and I can't even say I've put in place those quantities, let alone, been on jobs that have combined to put that much in place. It doesn't matter though because no matter what, a "one upper" is better than me.
What kind of Topper's have you encountered?
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