This piece will really resonate more with people in a work space, but I'm pretty sure anyone could relate to this topic in any field of life.
So, I started at a new job about a year ago (worst place I've ever worked for in my life, but I have a wedding I'm saving up for so I can't just quit). I basically slave away for pennies, have to deal with sexist bosses, and work really sucky hours. The only thing that gets me through most shifts is two of my coworkers - because let's be honest, people who have to deal with the same hell hole as you do everyday share a special bond with you. However...
Now just to paint you a picture so this next part makes sense: Our office is situated in a guesthouse (which is owned by the same guy we work for, because he's too much of a cheapskate to actually rent out proper office spaces for us) and we do have regular interactions with the guesthouse staff. And with all that, the guesthouse manager has latched onto me as his new bestie.
This happened due to the fact that when I started working there, me and another woman (one of the coworkers I actually get along with) were the only two in that office. We literally started up the company, but we get shunted around something awful - a story for another day, because that's quite a rant I have on that topic. At this point in the business, the guesthouse manager spent a lot of time in our office as he got bored at his end of the building. Mind you, me and the other coworker are the same age, but the guesthouse manager is 19. He has a very difficult personality, which I'm quite well equipped to deal with, and to him this meant I wanted to be his friend.
I don't mind making new friends, I don't get out enough to meet new people, so I welcomed the idea of being an adult and making work friends. So, I let this guy believe we were good friends, and he was good company for when I worked shifts alone.
But lately.... Lately all he does is use me as his personal therapist, from which he ignores all advice from anyway. EVERYDAY it's the same thing he complains about, EVERYDAY he always talks about himself and how great of a person he is because he's such a good listener. He literally calls me out of my office, regardless of if I have a ton of work to do, just so that I can listen to him complain over and over again. He's even scheduled his lunch breaks to coincide with mine, waits outside my office, and then proceeds to pout if I don't want to sit and listen to him complain, AGAIN.
I used to not mind, I used to get a chance to complain about all the crap in my life as well to him n the beginning, but now I don't get a word in. And unfortunately, this is the downfall of being an empathetic person... People take serious advantage of you. I cannot tell you how many times I have people get mad at me because I take away the 'shoulder-to-cry-on' routine. The whole "why did you stop talking to me? why don't you talk to me first anymore? who cares what's going on in your life, I have another crisis I have to talk about!".
That last one is not a joke. I once had a friend phone me after I stopped messaging first for like a month, only to call me in tears demanding I come visit her immediately while screaming in my ear about not caring about her. When I proceeded to explain that things were hectic on my side (which they were. I had just lost a friend, I was being threatened my job, our contract to purchase a flat fell through at the last minute, and things were still tense with my parents because they will still trying to talk me out of marrying my fiance). Fun times, I know.
But this entry was more to focus on coworkers trying to be friendly but annoying. I still need to write an entry about just plain annoying coworkers. I have a lot of those stories too.
- Until tomorrow's midnight
Jelly.JayBee
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