I have a feeling that we have touched this subject before, however, Picard's thread on stress at work made me come again to this subject.

My work is stressful too. Not because there is lots of work but because bad decisions are made daily that makes a non-comfortable work environment even more miserable. For example, near my desk there is some instrument that lots of people need. So, I cannot work comfortably with everyone coming to use it and "chatting with me" while they use it. I requested another instrument for that side of the buidling because ( in addition to stress on me ) there is stres on that instrument too and it cannot handle the load.

What supervisor did ?
He ordered something else, which totally unnecessary. So, now we have another problem of congested space becoming even more congested with boxes of equipemnt that we do not need.

Anyway, this thread is about difficult personalities.
The same supervisor had lots and lots of bad habits. Some of which did not bother me much ( like putting his feet on the table facing me when he discussed something ) , and another employee fried him in a meeting and told him to be mature enough to understand this was offensive and impolite.

What bothered me is another habit. Whenever he came to my desk, his eyes were 100% focused on the screen of my computer. He didn't look casually, but looked there like a laser beam. I didn't like that, and one day I jimped on him. He stopped doing that alright, but see what he does now ! He very clearly hasn't learnt it was impolite. He only is avoiding another confrontation with what he sees as a tough guy with a rough character !! So, Instead of sitting comfortably on the chair and talking with me and casually looking anywhere (even looking at the PC screen ), no, he shakes hands and WITHDRAWS BACKWARDS behind the other chair so as to clearly avoid seeing the screen.

Belive it or not , this botheres me too. There is nothing secret on my screen. My intention is not to prevent him to see my screen at all, but he should stop zooming on it like a torpedo. I want him to act naturally. But he does not get it.

So, it seems, some people are mentally centered on narrow view of life and relationships. They do not seem to able to act "normally" or "naturally" without offending others or somehow making them uncomfortable at all times.