I have an agreement with my manager that I leave at the same time every day (early) to skip peek hour traffic. And that I will then continue the rest of my shift from home.

We work long hours 10-12 hour days (sometimes 15) and give overtime whenever necessary so there are a few agreed perks. In my case, all work can be completed remotely so there’s no difference between home/office. Lately there has been a push in favour of office from other managers.

A coworker from a different branch expresses her feelings by looking at the time and saying ‘wow’ whenever I leave on my time.

I know that if I confront my co-worker she’ll thrive off the attention and gossip. I also know that she’s already probably gossiping. It’s really that petty.

Long story short, I want to put distance between me and this co-worker so she doesn’t feel as comfortable doing the ‘outbursts’ as I know my validation is important to her. I also want to cut her gossip to something else.

My plan is to initiate conversations less often, give shorter responses, and only reward her with positive reactions when she does something good. I’ll also stfu a lot more when she’s around.

My question is, is this the best approach? Anyone have experience with this? Am I going overboard?

Office politics effect my general enjoyment on the job so I need to manage accordingly.