Negative Nancy

There's a new girl at work (and by "new girl," I mean 50-something woman who's been there about 3 months) whose negativity has been a recent source of angst for me. We shall call her Nancy because it sounds good paired with the word Negative, not because her name is Nancy. I work with an actual Nancy who is just as sweet as can be...but we'll just ignore that fact for right now.

Anyway, Negative Nancy is the sort of person who has trouble saying nice things. She has said so many things recently that have offended my sensibilities that I've started writing them down. She is a constant reminder to me to be nice and positive as often as possible, almost like a "don't try this at home." Here's a sampling of some of the past week's Nancyisms...

• One of our partners sent over 8 huge trays of sugar cookies to us on Christmas night. Upon tasting them, she said, "they're bland. maybe they sent them to us because they messed them up." Lesson: don't be ungrateful.
• She walked into the break room while we were watching the tail end of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and had three things to say: "what's this week's sob story?" - "I wonder what the resale value of the new house is." and "when are they going to fix my other house in New Orleans? one of you should write a letter and ask them to do my house next." Lesson: don't complain that your other house is in shambles in front of people who don't even have one house.
• She called the help desk and I answered the phone. "Oh Jamie...I don't think you'll know this...I was hoping for Robert." Lesson: don't insult the person who is about to help you. Side note: she asked me something that I knew without looking up...that she should have known too.
• A few of us were talking about different Christmas activities in the area, and Nancy had to throw her two tarnished pennies into the conversation. "I've never done any of that, and I'm certainly not going to this year. This place has sucked out all of my holiday spirit." The rest of us had to work on Christmas, too. But we either suffered silently or made the best of it. Lesson: don't bring down the morale of the entire team.

Remember kids, don't be a Negative Nancy. If you can't say something nice (or at least funny), don't say anything at all.