I like to think I'm generally someone that others can easily relate to and get along with. I enjoy meeting new people and try my best to impress. I am also way too concerned with the way people view me so I probably worry about making friends a little too much, but then again, I also sincerely like people and want to surround myself with them. Unforunately, there are a few individuals in my life that have some kind of issue with me. A completely confident person would probably just shake this off and realize people like this really shouldn't matter to me, but for some reason, I often spend much more energy trying to 'fix' these relationships than I do nurturing the relationships I truly care about with those who really are important to me. It's quite the vicious cycle!
How does this relate to work? Currently, there is one co-worker who I just cannot impress and I truly don't understand. It relates to my role or lack there of - this employee works countless hours and believes she is not properly compensated or valued for all the hard work she does so I believe when she sees me punching the clock at 4:30 before I fall asleep with my head on the keyboard, she immediately looks at me like I serve no purpose and when I get things like a laptop before she does or when I have any time with her boss she looks at me like I'm the scum of the Earth. Granted, I'm assuming these things, but after several staredowns and comments, I think it's safe to say I'm on the right track.
Today for example, I was in her boss's office helping him with a problem and she walked over to his open door and gave me one of her famous 'you are the dumbest person I know' looks so I turned to him and casually said, I have more to discuss with you, but you have people waiting to talk to you, so I'll come back. NO RUDE TONE INTENTIONED (and to my belief, no tone given). She didn't skip a beat with her comment, 'we are NOT people'. Ok, what? This was unexpected and I wasn't sure how to react - not to mention this came right on the heels of a customer reaming me out for something I didn't do. I was shaking, but rather than confront her, I simply said 'Come on...I mean there are people on your team waiting to talk to you' and walked away shaking. Should I have confronted her when she returned to her desk? Part of me really wishes I would have, but the other part of me wonders how that would have solved the problem. I am NOT afraid of confrontation, but I cannot stand when it causes me to feel worse aobut the situation and doesn't provide a solution. There are so many times I bring up my opinion and immediately feel even worse after the other person comes back with his or her defense.
Oh people...I love them, but they certainly can challenge me from time to time.
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