I don't know what to do and would appreciate any suggestions of what might help the situaiton. My company hired an assistant for me. I love where I work, becuase I like working with technical engineering fellows because they get down to work and I really like that. I am a thinker and love to puzzle my way through complicated things. However, this woman that was hired is a major drama queen and has a multitude of minor problems that she blows out of proportion. She seems like she has a big ego, but I see it as a real deep self esteem issue becuase she is contantly seeking acknowlegement for even the smalles of things. My problem is, that I am the only woman in this tech company and she sees me as a sounding board for every little action or problem. She is a real big time waster as she calls me out back and starts crying for some menial personal reason (huge to her). I want to yell out 'shut up and leave me alone', but I keep that bottled inside of me, which is not healthy for me to just stand there and be subjected to all this stress. It goes way beyond her calling me out back, because she sits right across from me and won't shut up. She wants to share every little boring office details as I struggle to get my deadlines met and it requires a lot of deep and complicated thinking on my part. I have told her a number of times that I can't talk and have even put headphones on, but that doesn't stop her because to her, everything is huge. (we are both 45 years old,so it's not like she is real young and inexperienced in working). Next month we move to a bigger place and I will have an office, some distance away from her, but I just know that won't stop her from walking in and trapping me, or cornering me in the production area where I spend half my time. I told her that I like quiet to concentrate and I have stopped her from bad mouthing the other fellows behind their backs (I don't play that game), but she seems locked into the fact that I am a woman, and therefore sympathetic to even the most personal issues. It's no good to just tell the owner and get rid of her, because God has a way of putting another person, even more distressing, in her place, so if anyone has advise as to how to difuse this situation, whereby I don't have to keep absorbing her crap and my inner turmoil, I would love to hear it.