NEW COLLEAGUE IS MEAN TO ME

Dear Coleen

I’ve been in my job for about three years and have been very happy until recently. Most of the people are lovely, but there’s a new woman who sits next to me who is really unfriendly and won’t speak to me.

I feel like she’s trying to undermine me because when she needs to know something about work, she always ignores me and asks someone else. It’s starting to affect my self-esteem and how I feel about my job.

Any ideas?

Coleen says

OK, so you’ve been in the job for three years, you like it and all the other people are lovely, so please don’t let this one woman push you out.

I think it’s very likely that she has low self-esteem herself and may even feel threatened by you. Don’t let her see she’s getting to you, be polite when required and carry on doing your job as normal.

We can’t get along like a house on fire with everyone we work with, but we can be polite and professional, and not let their issues affect us.

I think once you make the decision to take your focus away from this woman and carry on as you were before she arrived, you’ll feel hugely relieved and she’ll lose her power to make you feel bad.