I've been found.

I tend to be passive aggressive. I'm not proud of that quality, but it is what it is. It's just how I roll. Workplace scenarios tend to increase that characteristic in me. Take, for example, last week.

In December, I had worked on a project with a coworker, and I had done the bulk of the work before I went on vacation. Ten days later, on my first day back, our buddy Larry emailed me and it went a little something like this:

"Hi Fabulously Awkward. Welcome back. I'm sure you had a great vacation. Have you heard from so-and-so about the Blah-Blah matter?"

Can you feel my enraged silence and huffing from over there? Good. That's the exact mood I am trying to convey.

In any event, I continued to follow up with this for a week or so. About a week later, Larry goes on vacation. However, BEFORE HE LEAVES, he drops a piece of paper in my mailbox and asks me to follow up on it WHILE HE IS GONE. Please note that Larry has not followed up on anything in this case. He waits until I am in the office, then asks me to do it. Since it's either I get this done, or have to figure out how to do a conference call on my own, I get it done.

He comes back from vacation for ONE DAY before the end of the year. He emails me to do a report on that project.

My response? I ignored him. COMPLETELY IGNORED HIM. That passive aggressive behavior continued until this morning (now Thursday, we are at a week of the silent treatment.)

RAP RAP RAP (If you didn't know, this is the way we announce our intrusion into others' offices at my place of employment. Most of us don't have doors, instead using various file cabinets and metal shelving for a bit of privacy from foot traffic in our hallways.)

It was Larry. He had me cornered. Ignoring him was no longer an option.

"heyyy, just wanted to ask you a question...I got a call about that project...."

Yeah, he asked me more stupid questions. I finally spoke to him and took care of business. It's what I do. While the silent treatment was fun, I will get my work done.

Then he says to me, "FA, are you growing your hair out? It looks longer." I just shook my head and mumbled that I usually pull it back into a ponytail. I wasn't about to tell him that it was because he caught me on a morning when I actually washed my hair.

Come to think of it, that might've been a much funnier way to ensure that Larry would leave me alone for another whole week. Nah. I am sure that I have more work to get done for the both of us.