the victim

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I think I can safely assume that every single one of us knows at least one person suffering from victim mentality. This post is about my one person. Daphne {not her real name, obviously} is a young colleague at work. She's in her early twenties and has already been married and divorced once. She's currently engaged, with a date set for next summer. I know everything about her. If I told you what I know, you'd have no problem identifying her, even though you don't know her. That's how much I know. We're not friends. We're not enemies either. And she knows nothing about me, except my name. She has the biggest victim mentality of anyone I have ever met. And I've been around, met an awful lot of people, and silently judged them all. No, I jest; I try not to judge, but occasionally this is impossible. In many ways she's like a little child, desperately seeking love and affection, and lots of attention. She takes no responsibility for her actions and doesn't recognise that there are consequences to her behaviour. But, she is highly manipulative and thrives on the pity she can get from other folk. Something kicked off on Facebook at the weekend, something connected to her flirtatious attention-seeking behaviour. So, she comes into work with a very pale face and her hair slicked back in a tight ponytail. Oh, woe is me! she wailed loudly. Everybody crowds around. Everybody hears the tale. Everybody offers their sympathy. Meanwhile, I'm sitting there wondering why I'm the only person to notice that she isn't wearing any make-up. Usually she does wonders with her make-up. I'm wondering why I'm the only person who can tell that she hasn't styled her hair to its usual high standards. I'm wondering why I'm the only person who can see through her manipulative naïve little girl act. Maybe it's just me? I think. Maybe I'm just a jealous, judgemental cow? I console myself by remembering all her past behaviours. No, she really is mentally impaired and at least I'm not feeding this impairment or encouraging the victim mentality, I think, closely followed by, Go Me!