Troublesome co-worker

DEARANNIE » I’m having issues with my co-worker. I am maybe three or four years older than she is. This is her first job, but she has been here for two or three years. I have had many jobs previously, and I have been here for about a year now. She is a woman who has that “anything you can do I can do better” attitude toward men and does the hardest jobs to prove herself.

For the past several months, she has been actively avoiding me. It started when she would come up to others near me and invite them to parties and just ignore that I was there — consistently excluding me from these talks. It’s not that bad to be excluded; we don’t have to be friends. But it’s more than that now. I can’t remember the last time she spoke to me, even when communication between us has been crucial for us to do our jobs. If I go to the break room, the smoking area or the bathroom at the same time she does, she will straight up book it out of there, not looking at me, not speaking to me. I have no idea why!

She calls our supervisor to complain about me. Now I am careful about what I say and how I say it. I am always nice to her and friendly. She has called managers, in front of me, to ask them to tell me to do a task that I clearly was about to do already. I’ve told her a few times that she could just radio me instead of going through the extra step of having the supervisor tell me. She says she will talk to me directly next time. An hour later, I get a call to the office, and the managers say she came in to complain about my “confronting” her. It’s in no way a confrontation. I wish they would call us both up so we could talk it out in the office.

I don’t know why she is doing stuff like this to me. Every time I try to talk to her, she gives me a curt answer and takes off. Nothing gets done, and this trying to get me in trouble thing she’s on now is ridiculous. One of my supervisors gets it, and I know he knows this is happening. The other, I think, may be more on her side. I am going to leave this job soon for other reasons, but any advice on what I can do here? — What Did I Do?

DEAR WDID » This woman can point her finger only so many times before the higher-ups notice that the rest of her fingers are pointed back at herself. You might speak to the human resources department and ask for some mediation and guidance. But if you’re leaving soon anyway, keep your head down and work hard. Ignore her antics. And give a professional but frank assessment of her in your exit interview.

This woman can point her finger only so many times before the higher-ups notice that the rest of her fingers are pointed back at herself. You might speak to the human resources department and ask for some mediation and guidance.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.