she's
actual
size

I've just about had it. The trainer at work is driving me crazy.

First of all, we share a desk. So we share a computer, and deskspace, and wall space. Once in a while I bring in a new wallpaper for the computer... and she freaks out. "What did you do to the computer?" she raves. If I so much as change the color of the title bars in the windows, she goes off on a tirade. "I just can't do anything here, because every single time I change something, someone changes it back!"

Whatever.

And she has no respect for my belongings. The only things I have on the desk are a calendar (which we share), a picture of Dave, and the small fishtank. She has a large stack of CDs, two mugs which are always full of allergy-inducing flowers, hand lotion, mints, and four pictures of her family.

I don't touch any of her things. However, she has no such compunction about my stuff. I don't mind her writing things on the calendar - that's why it's there. But she always complains about the images on the calendar. The pictures are of Tibet and its people, and she's always making fun of the images.

She also apparently doesn't like Dave's picture. I keep finding it in the corner of the desk, turned towards the wall. When I come in I move it up again and turn it around the right way. The next day, its back in the corner. I can't imagine that this is intentional... She's probably only moving the picture out of her way. But does she have to turn it to the wall? No, I don't know why this bothers me... But it does, all the same.

The big problem is with the fish tank. I've asked everyone not to feed the fish. Don't touch the fish. Don't play with the fish. If they want fish, they can go get their own fish. But the trainer insists on feed the fish when they "look hungry." Now, if you've ever cared for fish yourself and done a little reading on the subject, you know that it's a Bad Thing to overfeed fish. She never tells me when she feeds the fish... So I feed them after she's fed them... And they end up looking bloated and fat, I wonder why the fish look like this, and then someone tells me that she's already fed them.

I tried talking to her about this. She says that she "can't stand looking at them in the morning, all swimming around at the top of the tank looking for food."

"They're fish," I reply. "They always look hungry."

She doesn't listen, or refuses to listen. I try to explain that they are much smaller than us. I try to explain that they are cold blooded and don't need as much food as us warm-blooded humans. I try to explain the ammonia cycle in fish tanks, and why overfeeding is a Bad Thing. I try to explain that fish can go for a long time without food, and that the only reason they swim around at the top of the tank when she looks in on them is because they've become conditioned to being fed at that time.

Nothing I say sinks in. So, I'm taking the food home with me. No food, no over feeding.

I've been suffering through all this silently, not wanting to rock the boat. The trainer is a nice person away from work. She's friendly and funny. But the last straw cam yesterday when I found out how petty she can be.

I am part time. She is full time. She gets paid for vacation days; I do not. Neither of us worked Memorial Day, but she got paid. I did not. Therefore, I am out 7 hours this week. To make up for this time, I'm coming in early this week.

Apparently, this got under the trainer's skin. "No one ever asked me if I wanted overtime," she complained to another coworker. "And I'm more senior than her. How come she's getting these extra hours?"

Duh. They aren't extra. In fact, I'm going to be short on hours this week because of the holiday. But did she bother to ask anyone? No. She just started complaining because she assumed.

I'm tired of this.