I would just do my job, and be civil.
Actually, I think I would stand in front of her every morning with a huge smile on my face and wait until she/he will look me in the eye, and I say "Good morning! It's going to be a great day!" I think I might give me a little fun!

forgot to add, that I would be watching my back!

Kat...you are a stinker

Of course, I want to be the better person. I would welcome this person to the team and just ignore his/her previous actions.

Most likely, 2 things will happens:
1) This person will feel a bit embarassed inside and accept my welcome. All pass are forgotten and only look forward to the future.
2) This person will continue to ignore me which is an indication that he/she is not a team player. If this continues, eventually, it will show. And soon, he/she will be gone.

Either way, I'm a happy camper :o)

PS: I'm speaking from experience here. It really did happened to me at work. And, I did ended up a happy camper :)

Oh...I'm a happy camper. She is the type that likes to wander off into the vast Cosmos searching for the meaning of life and/or space people.

Have no intentions of welcoming her back. Will do my job and pray that the summer goes by quickly.

SK

SK, what did you mean "welcoming her back"? Was the person quit 6 months ago the same one that your boss is re-hiring? I'm totally confused now. I read your story again and I have no idea who is who.

She would be invisible to me until she took responsibility for her actions by acknowledging she was wrong. Then I would consider being civil.

Maybe your boss knows something about this person or about her situation that you are not privy to.....so, I would expect that he had a good reason to have her back temporarily. Having two bi-polar, but extremely intelligent and creative and wonderful children, I am always grateful for the 'second chances' that sensitive and caring people have given them. In a more perfect world/society we would want to lift up the 'least' among us. And, HOW would being civil and polite to anyone hurt you? Nanny

like a good child, speak when spoken to...lol...

Be professional.

You never know if she might end up staying full time. Remember you were hoping for a promotion a little while ago - your boss will see how you handle this situation and it might influence his future recommendations.

I agree with Kat completely!

Everyone knows her character (or lack thereof). This is an opportunity for you to shine, and show that you are the better person. Good luck!

Well everybody's work situation is different. Our office is less formal. I have a little bit of a reputation there. I am the one who will say what is on her mind. I am the person who will walk into a managers office and close the door, and if i close a door you knw what I have to say is not to be overheard. And that is what i would do, i would say...What the hell are you thinking. She did XX and you're going to let her do that to us again? It's your choice. Then I would be professional.

Vickey

If this were a different situation, I'd be the bigger person and be pleasant. As a matter of fact, there is a couple up the street from me--they're both doctors, but they bought their house in this blue collar neighborhood when they were both still residents. She quite obviously thinks she's too good for the rest of us, tries to avoid socializing or even speaking to the neighbors. She visibly cringes when one of us peons offers a cheery 'hello' as she jogs by every day. So I go out of my way to greet her when I see her coming (DH tries just as hard to avoid her--LOL).

However, this situation is completely different. This is someone who screwed you over once before at work--and will probably do it again. I think, the best she could hope for from me, WOULD be that I totally ignored her.

Do your own job as well as you can, ignore her as much as possible, and don't gossip! And Remember : It's only temporary!

I would hope that I would behave like a professional and mature person. By that, I mean not snub or ignore her but interact pleasantly, realize that I don't know her circumstances, and not childishly try to "punish" her.

I must be missing something (or many things).

People leave jobs and come back to them often. And, just just like a company may have to do layoffs during bad times, sometimes people feel they have to leave during not so great times too.

People don't talk to other people for many reasons. I would guess she knows how you feel about her and doesn't want to be fake friendly to you??? Who knows.

If she's bipolar, a whole world of explanations, excuses, reasonings and compassion should open up.

This situation kind of reminds me of the prodigal son story. But, bottom line, the company probably doesn't care about her as a son/daughter coming home, but obviously can gain a benefit from her coming back for the summer. If you're a company person, you'll respect that and their decision to hire her back.

Being loyal to a company means many things. Getting along with your co-workers (even when not-so-popular-decisions are made) is important. You can voice your concerns if they are founded, but I'd treat her with the respect that you would treat any other employee. You need to suck it up and not make it personal....it's work. Ignoring her or treating her poorly is only attacking or insulting the company and/or person who hired her. Be a team player.

There is only one thing to do: what Maire Cate said:

"Be professional.
You never know if she might end up staying full time. Remember you were hoping for a promotion a little while ago - your boss will see how you handle this situation and it might influence his future recommendations."

Do not make more out of this than it is. You are just an employee, and it's not your position to treat her any particular way except as appropriate to a working relationship.

I agree with maire cate. The boss has decided to hire this person back so you might as well make the best of it. I also agree to no gossiping. That seems to be the biggest problem in offices--large or small. It's mean, unnecessary and unprofessional.

Good luck this summer. It'll probably be miserable for you, but then you may get a nice surprise. I'm hopin', anyway!

I agree with Maire Cate and with all the people who are advising you not to gossip. Not that we think you will, we just want to caution you about that. If you do that, in the end it will be you that looks bad. However you behave will be remembered the next time you try for a promotion, so give them something positive to remember, or at least, nothing negative to stand out in their minds.

Thanks. I was her supervisor at the time. If she had come to me and said "I need some time off" for whatever reason I would have been fine with that. I am VERY flexible with my student workers and go out of my way to help them. She just walked out the door with no explanation.

I will be civil and only speak to her when necessary. She knows exactly how I feel about what she did. An apology could go a long way with me but I am not expecting one from her. I will also be the utmost professional as I always am. Knowing how I am though I can not fake the idle chit chat.

One the plus side my boss has to have her hiring approved so maybe it won't happen.

Will let you know
SamKaren
your resident DJ

You must work for a very small operation and/or in a totally different environment than I've ever worked. I can't think of a place I've worked and certainly in my businesses, when someone quits without notice they're not eligible for rehire. This has been a boon and a bust at times. Sometimes someone has had a legitimate reason they had to leave but no notice is no good. And when the termination documents are filled out and the eligible for rehire is checked no, it really takes something special to override it.

I've never felt like my bosses needed to consult me or how *I* would feel about a hiring decision unless the person was working for me. Since this person won't be working for you why should your feelings be a concern? If companies base their hiring decisions on how an employee feels, certainly EEOC would go out the window for one thing.

To me, it's Mongo only pawn in game of life rules. Do the job. If they're dumb enough to hire someone back, they should know what to expect. I'd cover myself and do the job. Summer will be over soon and the snow will be flying around here before too long.

Follow the MYOB path. As cynic said above,...who they hire or rehire is really none of your business. By being overly cool or gossiping is unprofessional and the only person you can harm is yourself.

There's a lot that goes on "behind the scenes" that managers know about, but not the other workers. Maybe you think she walked out with no notice, but maybe upper management had forewarning. Maybe she had a very legitimate reason for not returning - and management doesn't feel that it's anyone's business but hers, and they're keeping her reason(s) private.

You referred to her as a "student worker." In state service, we use students from the local colleges/universities. As students, they do not accrue civil service credit, they get no benefits, and they get no guarantee of hours. They can be let go at any time without any notice and without any type of severance pay. Althought it's great when a student gives advance notice when they intend to leave, they don't all do it, and, really, how can we "expect" them to when the state at any time can say to them, "we don't need you any more"?

People generally don't quit without notice without a good, solid reason. Nowadays most companies won't hold that against them. Plus, even when people do quit, often the company will tell them to pack up there and then anyway -maybe that happened?? Or, maybe she quit because that other crazy co-worker the company just let go was creating a hostile environment for her or something??? I just think there's a lot more to the story.

On a side note, I once had a very successful person tell me that the best way to make your way up the ladder in a company is to leave and come back. He said it's very hard for someone starting at the bottom to work their way all the way up... the other employees don't easily accept it and even management doesn't often see it. Once a secretary, always a secretary.

Apparently, your boss thinks this person is more valuable to the company than you give her credit. I would just smile, do the very best job I could do and mind my own business. If the boss has that much confidence in this person you never know if that employee could be your supervisor some day.

If you dont' have to work with her, I would just ignore her and try to act like she's not there.
If you have to work with her just do what you have to do and nothing more.
Then count the days til she's gone. I've worked with a few who are like that and I've learn how to look at them without seeing or acknowledging them. Of course you have to have 2 faces. One happy face for the co-workers who are really nice and the other stone face for those like her. Good luck.

I agree - be professionnal.

If I were the boss, I might have been tempted to have asked her when hiring whether it would be O.K with her if I held back the amount of her first-earned pay to cover the time that she was to have given notice, last year.

ole joyful

Do your job. Don't sulk, don't gossip, don't give her the evil eye.

Just do your job - it IS why they pay you, and anything less is unacceptable.

I would do exactly what kat wa would do. I learned that method of treatment to meanies from my husband...in the end he has always gotten the last laugh, as he is being sarcastic, but the way he goes about it no one knows, and the meany usually will try to be friends with dh in the end.... The person more that likely will start coming to your side. I/dh never let the person know what a a@@hole we think they are. I figure they get what they deserve. I am not one to have to let the whole world know what I think of a creep. I like to play them.

I don't know who penned this saying, but I've used it on many an occasion with much success:

Indifference is the worst insult, forgiveness the best revenge.

I'd give a hearty "goodmorning", go on with your business of the day... a pleasant "goodevening" at the close.

Why expend energy punishing something you know very little about?

I'd be kind. Everyone has a story. It won't cost you anything to be kind.