My Co-worker

I should just worry about myself and not think about what other people do or don't do. Translated this means, that I should do my best and not worry about whether other people are doing theirs. I should. I know this is a good philosophy and I really do try to follow it. Usually I do pretty good too, until recently. Well, this year anyway.

There is this person at work, who really grates on my nerves. This is putting it mildly. She is often late to appointments, making others pitch in and cover for her. She has a loud voice and a brash attitude. So when things don't go her way, she promptly runs over the rest of us not caring how rude or obnoxious she gets. She has been known to take things that don't belong to her. It's not stealing, the things were not labeled so determining their ownership was impossible. That means they're hers.

Now, to be fair, I'm not an angel to work with either. However, I do try to be somewhat considerate of the others I work with. For instance, I try to find out whose things have come to me by mistake, been mislabeled as mine, or are just lying around at the copier. Also, I wait until I get home to throw my temper tantrums.

For some reason, our boss says nothing to this woman and allows her behavior. Recently, we had evaluations. I did okay. This woman, on the other hand, got a glowing report which she immediately threw in everyone's face.

I was irritated. I'm sure she meant for me to be. I waited until I was home to vent, though. After I calmed down, I started to think about it and what my reaction said about me. I know I do a good job. It's not like the evaluations really mean that much. It doesn't really affect raises, we're all paid the same for our job description. If one gets a raise, we all do. I know they're not going to let me go, even if I slack off some. So, why should it matter to me what she gets on a worthless piece of paper? Am I really that petty? I would never have characterised myself as the jealous type, so what is it?

I thought about it, really hard. I guess I have to say, it's not what she got, it's what I didn't get. I feel underappreciated, which opens a whole new can of worms. Which is worse, to be a jealous and petty individual, or one that needs to have their worth validated by someone else. Maybe, I've completely over analysed the situation and my problem is just that I hate my job.

Whatever, I'll take the last explanation. Somewhere in all that thinking I worked up a doozy of a headache. I think I'll just take some aspirin and worry about this tomorrow.