I guess I got too comfortable
December 17, 2014

Made an off-hand comment that to do with the fact that Christmas isn't really my thing. Was overheard, misconstrued, reported to management, and got lectured by my boss within 3 hours of having spoken.

MY BOSS IS LOCATED 450 MILES AWAY.IN ANOTHER STATE.

With several years of reasonably decent co-workers around me, I had rather forgotten what it was like to work in close proximity with Toxic Waste (not her real name, just her real personality).

She has driven a lot of people away, and I will admit that she was a big reason for me pushing my way into a new area a few years ago--I was desperate to get away from her. But now I'm back to being stuck with her. And I am all out of sympathetic bosses who were willing to help me escape. I am trapped in a dysfunctional, female-heavy corporate hierarchy which is a breeding ground for back-stabbing, tale-bearing and vindictiveness.

So it's up to me--and the experts are no help, because they seem to think that a hellish co-worker is going to fit into one category or another, and the truth is, she is a perfect storm of toxic traits. She's lazy, negative, selfish, & self-absorbed. She is a scorekeeper, a timeclock, a bully, a gossip and a tattletale, and a flat-out mouthy, no-filter, complete b*tch. And she’s LOUD. She’s my age, but for all the maturity and personal growth she’s attained in her life, she may as well be thirteen.

Really, the only good thing I can say about working with her is that she has Monday off. It lets me indulge my passive-aggressive side. I really enjoy looking her in the eye every Friday and saying "See you next Tuesday!"

(In searching for tips on how to deal with her, I read an article that mentioned only one percent of office bullies get fired, and HR departments usually end up taking action on their victims, not them. How demoralizing is that?

I know I've handled this crap in the past, and I just have to get used to handling it again, I guess. But the older I get, the harder it seems to be. I used to get furious about stuff like that, but nowadays? I can't even work up a good piss-offedness. I just feel frigging sad and hopeless.