I guess, I must not be tolerant enough. Or, why am I so resentful when I see some people who are always subservient to those above them while dismissive of those having the same level with them?

Ms. Y is a colleague of mine. She is such an apple polisher. She came to the company earlier than me. When I was a newcomer, she treated me well and showed a lot of interest in me, and that made me believe she was a warm-hearted person. I told everything she asked me because I thought we were friends and she really cared for me. But it proved I was totally wrong. Gradually, I found she is in fact an inquisitive person. She seemed to be overly concerned with others’ affairs. However, there is one thing made me begin to deliberately alienate her. Then, please allow me to introduce another character, Ms. W, who is a frank and outspoken lady.

Ms. W was transferred to our department not for long. When Ms. W was working in her original department, I used to hear a lot of bad comments on her from Ms. Y. I knew that Ms. Y had grudges against Ms. W. When the transfer was informed, Ms. Y was unhappy and she told me she also wanted to switch to another department as she was unwilling to work together with Ms. W. I comforted her and said: “Don’t think too much, just do yourself”. Ms. W soon got appreciated by our immediate supervisor as she is quick-minded and her witty language caters to the supervisor’s “taste”. I think that Ms. W is not a picky person as Ms. Y said, she is just straight talking.

There was a time I often went home for lunch (I wanted to save some money to buy a gift for my mother) and didn’t go together with Ms. Y as usual. I didn’t know when it started that Ms. Y became so intimate with Ms. W. They went for lunch together, went shopping together on Sundays. Another colleague murmured: “You see, they are so good now, what people!” I smiled but confused. But one day, I happened to overhear Ms. Y said something negative about me to our superior, I was shocked and suddenly aware of something.