Train fellow employee like a puppy

By: Miss Lonelyhearts Posted: 2:00 AM CDT Thursday, May. 12, 2016

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I have a situation at work where one of the upper management people will not acknowledge me. I am one of three office assistants. He will say good morning, good night, etc., to the other two women and completely ignore me like I'm invisible. What the heck? I have no animosity with this person and really don't have much to do with him, so I see no reason why he should dislike me, as I am well-liked by the rest of the office. We work in a professional setting and I think his treatment toward me is very rude and unprofessional. What happened to common manners?

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/05/2016 (3797 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I have a situation at work where one of the upper management people will not acknowledge me. I am one of three office assistants. He will say good morning, good night, etc., to the other two women and completely ignore me like I’m invisible. What the heck? I have no animosity with this person and really don’t have much to do with him, so I see no reason why he should dislike me, as I am well-liked by the rest of the office. We work in a professional setting and I think his treatment toward me is very rude and unprofessional. What happened to common manners?

What is bothering me is that I am actually letting this bother me! I’m feeling uncomfortable every time I see him and somewhat embarrassed by being treated like this. I never mention his rudeness to my co-workers, as I think that is unprofessional, but how can they not notice how differently I am treated? We work six metres away from each other. I am uncomfortable every time I see him. I have even thought of talking to my supervisor about his disrespectful treatment to me. But, there it is again — he is upper management and I’m a lowly secretary, and things would likely get worse. What do you suggest?

— Feeling Uncomfortable at Work, Manitoba

Dear Feeling Uncomfortable: Don’t sit around waiting for him to talk to you. You never know: he may have heard something around the office and think you don’t like him. From now on, every time this man comes in the door , say: “Hi, how are you today?” He will soon learn to acknowledge you and maybe speak to you first. Be cheerfully in-his-face, first thing every day. He will soon be trained to say hello, like a puppy. Let us know how that training is working.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

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