Untrustworthy People Almost Always Share These 6 Everyday Habits
Shanti May | Shutterstock Figuring out who is worthy of your trust isn't always easy. You want to believe the people in your life mean what they say, that their excessive flattery and over-the-top stories are the truth, but it could all be an act.
However, spotting an untrustworthy person gets easier if you know which daily habits to watch out for. You can usually tell when someone is disingenuous by how they interact with you and those around them. Once you notice the pattern in these everyday behaviors, it will almost seem obvious.
Everyday habits that give untrustworthy people away:
1. Gossiping about others
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When your friend is constantly talking poorly about others, or sharing their personal business, it's not hard to imagine that they're doing the same about you.
Gossip welcomes judgment much more readily, casting it onto people who are just minding their own business. Individuals who love to gossip tend to stir the pot when they deem a conversation boring. They never want to be the topic of gossip, but will happily blab about even those they feel close to.
This is generally a power tactic that hides insecurities by shifting the focus onto others. This way, you're unable to really get a good look at them and analyze what may be going on in their lives.
2. Telling inconsistent stories
Your friend is reliving a moment, although you've probably heard this tale a million times. They love the spotlight, and their stories captivate an audience. Until you realize that a couple of the facts don't align. When you correct them, they fumble over their words or try to move on quickly.
When this happens, it's likely because they're lying, which is a common trait in untrustworthy people. They'll fabricate stories or embellish in order to gain attention. These lies may also cover up a detail that looks bad on their part, saving themselves while throwing other people under the bus.
3. Avoiding personal questions
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A person you can't trust is always rich with other people's secrets, but will give minimal detail when sharing about their personal life. They carefully curate the person they want the outside world to see.
Although they share little about themselves, you likely have overshared with them. Perhaps your own secrets circled back to you through a chain of friends. This is because they've established a false sense of intimacy that makes you feel you can trust them, but the opposite is true.
4. Treating strangers with disrespect
People who don't treat their friends (who they gossip about) with respect likely don't treat service workers and strangers kindly either. Untrustworthy individuals are the same type to complain to the waitress about their food, and bump into others at the grocery store without saying "excuse me."
This superiority complex is why they have little empathy for others, so they're unable to muster up how someone may feel about being talked about. Treating strangers with disrespect is a product of their socially dominant behavior. People who lash out at innocent bystanders seek to exercise power over others to make themselves feel important.
5. Breaking promises
Promises are verbal confirmations of trust. When someone breaks a promise, they also break your trust, and it makes it hard to reestablish it when it becomes a pattern.
The empty promiser believes their words don't really mean anything, so they don't feel guilty when they don't follow through. Breaking promises also means that they don't respect you or your trust, or aren't mindful of it.
While a broken promise may result from someone managing their time and commitments poorly, repeat offenders are the ones you can't trust. You likely aren't getting what you deserve from the friendship when you're constantly pouring into it but aren't being met with the same effort.
6. Using guilt to get what they want
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People who shouldn't be trusted tend to be good with their words. They know what to say or how to act to get what they want. That manipulation usually takes the form of guilt-tripping, where they pressure you into making the sacrifice rather than the other way around.
A selfish and untrustworthy friend should be cut off. Whereas a true friend will prioritize your needs and will almost always be willing to compromise. If someone tries to guilt you into doing something you really don't want to do, then they can't be trusted to be in your life.
Gabrielle Mattes is a writer working towards a Creative Writing degree. Her focus is lifestyle, wellness, human interest, and relationships.
