I once had a woman who never smiled glare at me every day as she passed my desk. Every single time. And if she ever opened her mouth, she was complaining. I decided one day to just "kill her with kindness," because nothing else worked, what was there to lose?

So the next time - and for many weeks, whenever she passed my desk, I smiled so hard that anyone who knew me would have been able to tell it was fake. I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt, and dropped it as soon as she had passed. I am nothing if not stubborn. I kept it up. Week after week, day after day, until suddenly, one day, the unthinkable happened.

She stopped in her tracks, looked at me, smiled (none of my coworkers had ever seen her smile, they thought her incapable of it) and said "You have such a lovely smile!" in a pleasant tone of voice. I managed to mask my astonishment, and said (not - "but I've been smiling ugly smiles at you!!!) "Thank you, my parents paid a lot for the orthodontist, so I always figure I better show off his work!" and we had a pleasant little conversation, and we stayed "almost friends" for the remainder of my time on the job. And she was a smidgen kinder to my coworkers as well - and they suddenly saw her in a different light as well, conversing pleasantly with someone.

Kill her with kindness, baby! Bite your tongue if you have to, but could you invite her to lunch or for coffee some day? Smile so hard your cheeks hurt ... and you can know inside you don't MEAN the smile ... which makes it a little victory for you, that you can smile in the face of unpleasantness.