What do you do when your friend and coworker annoys you?Follow

One of my closest friends here at work has been pissing me off, which would be okay, but I have to see her for eight hours every day. She's just a @#%^ing matyr lately as a way to handle the fact that she hates her job and it isn't that hard and it's annoying the sh*t out of me. Regularly, if we didn't work together, I would just take a break because it's not like we have a direct conflict that we have to resolve and if she pressed, I would tell her she's annoying the sh*t out of me. But it's difficult to avoid her. When I tell her what bothers me, she either gets really quiet or superargumentative, refusing to look at how she annoys the @#%^ out of lots of people here, even when we do get along better.

What should I do? Ignore it? Or punch her in the box? Now I just avoid her to an extent--I'm pretty good at being unapproachable when I have to be-- and will probably do so until I am ready to be reengaged.

Edited, May 18th 2009 10:45am by Annabella

Maybe she's acting out because you're leaving?

put her in timeout :P

Tell her that her behavior is causing you stress and until she can think of a better way to deal with her issues, that you want your space.

I generally just tell people when they annoy and why I find what they are doing annoying. I then inform them that it's in their best interests to stop it. Not being a small person and generally intimidating to begin with, they get the message quick enough. Somehow I don't see that approach working for you, so punching her in the box is probably your best bet.

So tell her that. /shrug

This is what I thought as well. The last sentence is very professional.

I would pull her aside and ask her if she is alright. Tell her that you have noticed some tension between the two of you and you were wondering if it had anything to do with your leaving. Tell her that you feel like she is trying to tell you something but just doesn’t want to come out with it so you thought you would approach her first. Let her know that your leaving has nothing to do with your feelings towards her and that you have every intention of staying in contact when you leave. Give her a chance to open up to you. If that doesn’t work then at least you know you tried to be the bigger person.

If she continues to act in a way you don't like I would just ignore her. No point in making the remaining time you have there unpleasant or stirring up drama before you leave. I’m a very big supporter of not burning your bridges.

Do the two of you ever get together outside of work? Maybe it would be better to talk it out in a social context rather than at work. Depends on how much of a friend she is, I suppose, and whether you want to preserve the friendship after you leave.

I would be honest and upfront about it, and tell her that the way she is behaving irritates you, if you really want to stay friends with her especially. If you dont and she is only a "work aquaintance", then I would ignore her and try to focus on my pile of problems. Get yourself a Ipod, plug it in your ears and answer whines with a nod and an "uh,uh". Be cheerfull when she is. :/

I think the bigger question is how much time do you have left. If you only have a few months left I'd just act overwhelmed with work or whatever and let it slide as much as possible. If you are going to be there longer, then you need to resolve things with a talk of some sorts.

If that doesn't work I'd go with the punch her in the **** comment I guess.

Next time she attempts to communicate with you, say "Look at this ***** right here, talkin' to me like she knows me." Then snap, and turn away in a sassy manner.

This was the correct answer.
Putting one hand open palm in her face and one on your hip, turning your head away and up with your eyes closed, then walking off without saying anything would have also been accepted.

Don't forget to kiss your teefs.

I move every item in their cubicle to the left 4 centemeters and at a 7 degree angle off the origional allignment, except for their phone, which I move to the right 6 inches.I then replace all their pens and post it notes with identical items of a different color.

Then I hide the open can of frozen tuna.

Seems to work.