On Wednesday I was working in The Third Department. Did I tell you all that in order to get to The Third Department, I have to cut through Filing, which is where the guy who was complaining behind my back about things I did wrong while I was in Filing for second shift works in? That was a big detail I think I've never said here in WAF.
I think this guy holds a grudge. And I think he's petty enough not to forgive my mistakes and, in fact, want to bully or even punish me for them. I know that I don't like it when people continually judge my work. And when that somebody doesn't speak to me, about anything, he at least proves that he doesn't think everything is OK between us. Well, maybe I need to take that back. He's quiet. So am I. But when you add that to complaining up the chain of command, constantly, I can't tell if you are willing to be friendly with me. Add that to the bad vibes I usually get from him when I'm working with him, and I don't think he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
So what do I do about it? Well, not yell at him right in the middle of work, at least for now. I'm not entirely clear that he thinks bad of me. But neither am I clear that he thinks good of me. So you do what you are supposed to do at work -- not say anything and do your job.
But that's hard to do when you have to pass through this guy's area to get to your desk. Every run-in where he's filing something and I have to walk past him, every time we are both going through the door, every time he's going in and I'm going out -- every single interaction is a possibility that he'll passive-aggressively show he doesn't like me ... and, in order to defend myself, show that I will do the same.
It was a busy day, so such run-ins happened a lot. And two stood out. One: I was going into the room when he was going out, and we were at the pad to punch our key codes to go through the secure door. Who opens the door and goes through first? We both demurred and stood back thinking the other would go through. We shared a brief look of, "What?" He went through first. Two: I had to leave to take papers into the next room. He filed away something and ... I guess he was walking on the same path I was walking on my way out. And we exchanged another look. And I'm confident his look was one of, "So ... where you goin'?" And I look him squarely in the eye and pointed right past him and said, "I'm going out." And I walked past him -- but he didn't step out of the way for me. So we almost, almost, bumped into each other.
About that: I think he expected me to walk around him. I think he expected me to back down. I interpret him thinking that me going around him was me backing down to him. And ... no, I was not going to do that shit.
Yeah, I kind of think he's trying to get to me. I do know, through my actions, I was sending a message I was trying to get to him.
I substitute in that area later this week. May cooler heads prevail. Namely, his.
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