DEAR ABBY: I am not exaggerating -- my friend ALWAYS has to be number one and first. She offered to help our queen mother in the Red Hat Society hide eggs last Easter, then went to gather them all herself. She also gets mad when she doesn’t win a costume contest at the senior center and hates when someone else wins a raffle.
I won’t go into everything, but she MUST win at everything and be the center of attention. During the last Easter egg hunt, I tried to pull her away from the door so she couldn’t see, but she eventually snuck through and won the egg hunt. I don’t understand her behavior. What can I do? -- EMBARRASSED IN TEXAS
DEAR EMBARRASSED: Your friend appears to have an insatiable need for attention and a willingness to cheat to achieve her goal. Nothing you can do will change her. She is who she is. What YOU can do, in order to lower your level of frustration, is refuse to engage with her at Easter, Halloween or any activity in which you know she won’t play fair.
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Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
