Feeding back stress

Hi

I wonder if anyone here is paying attention to this at all.

I find it so painful to notice how people repeat ad nauseam the expression I happen to use just once. It feels so pretentious that I start to wonder that maybe this something wrong with my perception.

To give an example, I said once I have too much staff and need to give things away to charities and a pentagenerian colleague now keeps saying good stuff, 'and stuff' and other varieties.

I am not sure: is she trying to show me how cool she is or is she now endlessly reprimanding me for having used this word once - to which she responded non-verbally with shock - pretended or not.

What to do about that? I guess I should start feeding back to her her own expressions in some clumsy ways but even the thought of it makes me feel bad.

The use of the word stuff in expressions has been around longer than I have.

That alone wouldn't give room to pause, yet it sounds like maybe there could be something else beneath it all? Are there condescending remarks? An unwillingness to be helpful towards you?

Are you newer to that workplace and are there cliques?

As a general rule of thumb, fighting fire with fire in the workplace doesn't typically work out well. Airs of detachment, focus on job performance and expectations and carrying oneself with professionalism does.

It's not easy to maintain detachment and there are days that drag on for what feels like forever if you give such negativity[of others] power to do so.

It's a rabbit hole when trying to second guess how and why others behave the way that they do.

Focus on the initial reasons that you accepted that job offer to begin with. Or why you even submitted an application. Those reasons matter.