The New Way

I had one of my usual bi-weekly meetings with the Big Boss today. She asked how "the relationships in my department" were going. I smiled with a huge smile and said, "Oh, just fine!"

And frankly, they are. For me, anyway. Bleh is still a devastatingly annoying person who revels in her own misery, but I don't give a sh*t! She yaps on the phone, I tune her out. She tells the same banal story of some restaurant she went to for the 12th time, I tune her out. And so on and so forth.

I know, you're thinking, "What the hell?! Why the zen?" or "Why haven't you stabbed her eyes out yet?"

Here's the thing: I don't want the Big Boss to see me as a high-maintenance employee, as someone who can't handle workplace noise or a problem with a colleague. Sure, the Big Boss knows the past shenanigans of Bleh and I guess she knows that this nonsense still goes on; however, it's vital that I, the non-troublemaker employee, am not seen in the same light as my tormentor.

See...I've made my complaints in the past. I've taken Bleh's behavior personally (even when it wasn't directed toward me). Has her behavior changed? No. Did my work environment improve? No. Did she get reprimanded for anything? Nope.

I'm gonna get out of here one day and I need a shining recommendation from the Big Boss to make that transition. If I'm no longer seen as 'the complainer,' and am viewed instead 'the happy worker,' that recommendation is mine! And Bleh will suck my dust.