#169 In which our hero hates a co-worker needlessly.

There’s this girl at work that I hate. And I have no idea why.

Now, “hate” is a pretty strong word, and I guess I don’t really hate her… I don’t even know her. But I do dislike her intensely. And I’ve disliked her since the moment I set eyes upon her.

I’ve only had one experience with her… it was late, probably 6:30 or so, and I was still at work. I had seen her (she’s an account executive) hovering around my area all day; she was working with a designer a couple of doors down. Clearly she was working on something on deadline, and it wasn’t going well. Something must have blown up at the last moment (after the designer had already left) because she was frantically rushing around. At one point she stopped me in the hall and said, “can you help me?” I said I would if I could, and she asked me if I was an art director. “No, I’m a writer, sorry,” I replied. To which she abruptly hurried off.

You might think that was the cause of my dislike of her, but it isn’t. She was busy, and I get that. No reason to spend time with me, because I clearly couldn’t help her.

No, it’s something else, something much more visceral. I’ve given it a fair amount of thought, because I see her often walking past my office; and every time I do, I think, “Man, I don’t like that girl.”

I’ve decided that it’s something to do with her face. And her shape. Not that she’s repulsive, or grossly overweight; she is neither. She’s thin actually, and plain-looking. And that’s the thing: I suspect that she’s too plain, that there’s something about her face that disturbs me on an unconscious level.

I’m fascinated by facial morphology and how someone’s looks affect what you think/feel about them. And that’s what is happening here, I think. There’s something unformed about her features, something that puts me on edge. It would be exceptionally cruel to call her appearance “simian,” but I do feel a little early ancestor/caveman vibe.

A couple of weeks past she baked cookies for the creative department in thanks for a real pain-in-the-ass project that had just been completed. I didn’t work on it, but I ate a cookie anyway. And as I was doing it, I thought, “Cool that she brought cookies. That’s really nice. I still don’t like her.”

What about you? Is there someone who you just don’t like because of their looks? Is it just me?