As I sit here at my desk in full view of anyone and everyone who enters this office, who stops by to sign in or out to let the rest of the office know where they are (even though most employees rarely do this) or to grab some teeth rottening sweets, as we do have a candy jar that is visited in direct proportion to what kind of candy that is in there, I generally do come across most of the members of my office on a fairly regular basis.  I get a kick out of the ones who come for candy- most feel they must say something in order to justify their actions, or they look at me with guilt, as if I’m silently judging their need for sugar.  I’m polite to everyone; I engage in small talk, I answer the phone and do my other work.  It’s a job.  I am here on time, and I leave at the stroke of 5pm.Recently, the space next to me has become occupied by a girl who is a ‘word processor’.  She’s nice, in general.  She has to do reports for people.  Sometimes that makes her eminently more important than me, and she is busy to the extent of not even being able to finish a sentence.  I’m not sure I believe one could be that busy, but it has a feel that seems to say ‘my job is MUCH more important than yours; hence, I am MUCH more important than you, and I will speak with you on MY schedule, not yours.’  It’s kind of a rude tone, but it is what it is.In recent weeks/months since she’s been hired, she’s shared with me much of her personal life, her school life, etc.  I don’t really do much, so there’s little to reciprocate from my end, plus, I think she likes having that spotlight.  That’s all well and good, and I’ve asked her questions about her world because I did start to see her as a friend.  And that’s what friends do, right?  They take interest in other people’s lives.However, in the last little while, she’s felt it necessary to tell me about the office on goings here, and strangely, I’m in them.  The first one came one afternoon when I was told, pretty much out of the blue, that the EVERYONE in this office actively dislikes me and avoids me at all costs.  Eh?  I’ve been here for 2 1/2 years, and while I’m definitely one who keeps a BIG separation between my work life and my home life, I’m not unpleasant to anyone.  An active avoidance makes me think of a Tyrannosaurs Rex coming down the hall and people running for their lives.  I’ve never seen that.  She says she never lies to her ‘friends,’ which necessitated such an obligation to tell me.Eh?  If I knew that about one of my friends, I would NEVER tell them something like that!  I’m sorry, but in my book, that’s MEAN.  As in REALLY MEAN.  Even being a person like me who keeps a layer of kryptonite between her work life and regular life, to be told something like that hurt.  What is it that is so wrong about me that people feel the need to run away when I’m near?  Even worse, why are these people taking precious time out of their lives to actively even care about disliking me?  And then, why am I taking all this time to get upset over what people who don’t even know me think about me?‘Oh, and by the way, that was one of the nicer things that was said about you.  I didn’t tell you all of the things people said about you because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.’  Now it’s just feeling like it’s made up.  There’s just no way that people here have that much time to go around not only actively disliking me, but campaigning others to do so as well.  I have one of the biggest slacker jobs in this place, and even I don’t have that kind of free time.  After being sad for a while and looking at everyone with suspicion, I’ve decided to at least try to listen and follow my own advice of blissful apathy-which is that it’s all good because to formulate a thought about this would mean that I care, and in this instance, I just don’t.For the record, however, when in possession of knowledge that might be hurtful to someone and really serves no other purpose, it might be a good idea to think once more before telling that person.  The world has enough negativity as is.