Regarding the co-worker's size...here is another slant on the issue. How can you know for sure what size she wears? Are you basing it off your size? How often do we hear that someone looks thinner than they really are, or larger than they really are? Not everyone is made of the same mold. What looks like a size 10 on a 6 ft. tall woman in actuality could be a size 16, and to reverse it, if a person is short, they may weigh less, but wear a much larger size than someone who is 3 inches taller. I hear all the time that there is no way I could weigh as much as I say I do since I carry it well and am 5'8". The same weight on someone 5'5" would make them wear a much larger size than I do. Just food for thought...

why does she lie? I have no idea, and the thought that I, or anyone else, would be able to answer that question is silly. But the question still remains...does her lying about her size impact your ability to do your job? If she is lying about work issues, bring it to your boss. If she isn't carrying her share of the workload, bring it to your boss. Everything else is non-work related and just really doesn't matter. Move forward, move on...

When I manage people and they "run to teacher" about things, I am annoyed with the tattler. I'm sure you manager sees what is going on and has chosen how he/she wants to handle it.

You seem to be incredibly defensive to anyone here who doesn't feel bad for you. If you present that same attitude to your manager, you may end up being sorry you ever opened your mouth.

If we had the other woman on here I'm sure we would end up hearing unflattering things about you, too. Remember there are always three sides to every story - yours/hers/the truth.

There are several solutions to the problem and they only involve you and not the other employee. The other employee is the supervisor's responsibility:

1. Change the environment in which you work. Either approach your supervisor to help "you" with your inability to get along with another employee. Of course you can always choose to directly confront the other employee. You may look for a quick opportunity to get a transfer to a different job within the bank. Some of these options may put your current position at risk.

2. Resign yourself to work in your current environment.

3. Find a new job.

Those are your only options.

runnergirl, this appears to be your first post. We all like to vent occassionally about the petty things that drive us nuts about our co-workers. We usually put the phrase: ******RANT WARNING!!****** at the top of any such post.

Be careful about taking petty things to your supervisor - work related issues are one thing - but the other stuff you'll just need to learn to ignore. Sometimes I just need to vent to my boss - but I have to be really careful about whether or not he's wearing his "crusader" hat that day - he will escalate something that doesn't need to be escalated and make things worse. So I try to only take things that are truely important and that really need fixing to him.

Always consider yourself as a professional and conduct yourself as such when dealing with any supervisor or manager. If the constant conversation of the other employee interferes with your work - that would be the context of the conversation with the supervisor - however, supervisors like for folks to come in with a solution - not just problems all the time.

I would let him/her know that the conversation of the other employee distracts you and that is the reason for your ipod. Check to be sure that ipods are allowed at your office and that you have cleared that with your supervisor 1st.

Stop doing the other person's work - if you continue to do things assigned to the other person then it will soon "magically" be reassigned to you permanently.

If you need to rant/vent - write a letter and say everything you would really like to say to the other party - then tear it up at home where no one can find it! It does help with the frustration levels.

We all work with annoying people - there's no way around it. The only thing we can really do about it is to control our reaction to their annoying behaviour. Life is too short and precious to allow such things to affect our health and well-being.

^^^^^ best post in this thread.

One of my favorite quotes in the world fits here:
"Everything that irritates us about others can lead to an understanding of ourselves." - Carl Jung

Try to improve your own character by figuring out WHY this person annoys you and decide how you are going to adjust your outlook (attitude) or your behavior (action) to change or eliminate the situation.

And if it continues to feel like a huge oppressive issue, time to get a new job and move on. Life is too short to struggle in place and feel stressed out all the time.

The CareerBuilder ads come to mind, too... "If you don't like your job, then maybe it's time to get another job." Good luck.