Person in my office keeps gossiping about another. Am I wrong to be disgusted by it?
None of us are true coworkers, we were all remote prior to being put in a Federal office. Jane Doe who is in a cubicle a few down from mine comes in very sporadically only for a few hours, maybe a few times a month so they presumably work from home the rest of the time. Every now and then, the person (gossiper) who is in the cubicle next to Jane Doe, who is in every day, keeps going around talking about Jane Doe explaining how Jane Doe came in at this exact time, left at this exact time, and how every time Gossiper checks Jane Doe’s Teams status, Jane Doe is online even if she’s not in the office, Jane Doe is counting hours wrong, etc. Gossiper recently said to someone else, “well they were working, but xyz.”
Again, they are not coworkers. I ignore it when gossiper talks this with the person in the cubicle next to mine, because I truly could not care less about what anybody does here as long as it doesn’t affect me or is harmful to others, especially if I don’t work with you. Am I wrong to be annoyed by the gossiper? I choose not to engage with the gossiper every day for any interaction. Never will I ever stop by gossiper’s cubicle because they are super toxic and I think they need to mind their own business. There was another time when gossiper called a person who was recently put into the office “a weird one” because of how they talk (not a coworker!). It’s insane to be checking the Teams status of someone you don’t work directly with. Every time gossiper walks past my cubicle, I can see at the corner of my eye that they peek to see if I am in there.
And by the way, based on the very limited times I have heard Jane Doe talking on a meeting or call, they seem very competent and knowledgeable about their role. Gossiper on the other hand, I have no idea what the hell they do.
The office sucks.