I’ve had the luxury of staying home entirely with Ari over the summer. Despite my pregnant mood swings and his throwing my carefully prepared meals all over the floor (amazingly) we still love each other.

Unfortunately, when I returned to the land of substitute teaching, I realized that I had to make an effort to be liked at work.

It’s sad, really, but I care about what my co-workers think about me. I get along with most people at school, but there is one person in particular who (no matter how nice I am to this individual) the person in question is still openly rude, condescending, and blatantly disrespectful to me.

Now, you may be thinking:

“Stop taking it so personally! Who cares if this person likes you? You’re not there to be liked! Get a grip! This is a job! You’re not there to make friends!”

Or something along those lines.

Well, guess what? I do care. Yes, I care what this person thinks about me because they have made it known (by their behavior) that they don’t like me. It’s uncomfortable, and I hate it.

I wish I didn’t care. I wish I could be one of those people who, simply, went to work, kept my head down and did my job. But, I care what others think about me. That’s just my nature. I want to be accepted, and it bothers me that this person doesn’t accept me.

In the mean time, I will focus on the fact that I have an awesome kiddo at home who loves me, and a cool boyfriend who tries to get me not to care about people like the individual mentioned above.

Now I have a question for you: do you care about being liked at work? Thoughts?