I work in a very small office with mostly women and, although it can get catty sometimes, we all care about eachother and support eachother. Most of the women here are much older than I and almost all are overweight. Although I am the only one on a "diet" (im doing WW) and the only one who works out regularly, we all encourage each other to eat healthy while we are here and the vibe is always positive.
Until....
Sometime before xmas a new woman (let's call her Patty) started working here. This woman is in her late 50s, single and, as she told me herself, still has no idea what she wants to do for a living and keeps going from job to job to job. I think i've always been able to see through a person right away and as soon as Patty began working here, I just got a bad vibe from her. Within a week of starting, she came to my desk and started whispering to me about something she overheard downstairs involving a co-worker and her husband. I was a little shocked at this and told her straight out that I didnt know anything and didnt want to know anything. She quickly apologized and said that she tends to be a "nosy-body". But she continued to gossip to other co-workers and had a habit of going to co-workers desks, crouching down to them and whispering...Now, my mother always told me that if a person is constantly whispering, that means they are shamed of what they are saying....and I believe it. Co-workers would come up to me and tell me the gossip and rude things Patty was telling them...personal things that she had 'overheard' about people here...and this lady had been working here all of 2-3 weeks...She also seemed to be a bit of a liar and would make up stories about overhearing our bosses speak badly of our work performance and then when we would confront our supervisors, they would say they never said anything of the sort. It was ridiculous. Quickly, within weeks, all us women who had been working here before Patty had a little discussion between ourselves not to indulge her in any of her gossip and to try not to say anything personal when she was around and listen to anything she has to say about another person. It's not that we are trying to be mean to Patty and we are all really nice to her and include her in everything, we just dont want gossip going around. So...from the very beginning, I was very..., for lack of a better term, WARY of Patty.
Right after the xmas holiday, I announced to the ladies that I was finally gonna get REALLY serious about my weight loss again and wanted to reach a goal of 145 by this summer. They all supported me and gave me tons of hugs and so did Patty. That was on January 3. Within two days of going on my diet, EVERYTIME I passed Patty in the hall, she would ask me, "So how many pounds have you lost?" At first I thought she was just trying to give me a little support and motivation, but it got to be that she was asking me this EVERYDAY. Like on a Tuesday, she would ask me and I'd say, "I've only been on the diet 4 days Patty...it's gonna take a couple weeks to see the weight drop..." and then she would ask me again THE VERY NEXT DAY and the day after! I finally asked her to stop asking me after a couple weeks of this and told her, "When I lose weight, I will let you know, okay?" She nodded and walked away. Since then, she calls me "Skinny" and "Anorexic Girl" instead of my name. "Hey, Skinny...", "How are you, Anorexic Girl?" When she calls me these names, she kinda stands there looking at me to see my reaction and I just dont even bother to give her one even though it REALLY irks me.
Now...i am in NO way Skinny and anyone with two eyes can see that. And I eat regularly and have lunch everyday with everyone here, so she knows im not anorexic. The fact that she will NOT let me being on a diet escape ANY conversation she has with me is starting to weird me out. I dont think its coming from a nice, supporting place. I think she is being very....I dont know...I cant put my finger on it. I think its so weird.
I'm at a loss as how I should handle this and I really dont want to tell my co-workers because I fear it will cause even more of a backlash against Patty and, honestly, I feel sorry for her. I think she is incredibly lonely and depressed and I want to be nice to her...
HELP!