Last week I met a couple of girlfriends for dinner. We conversationally sprinted over work, men and family before settling on to our new favourite subject: the woman my friend hates at work.

This woman – let's call her Louise – has become so irritating to my friend, and has been rendered in such painstaking detail to us, that I cringe inside whenever I hear Louise's name. She has become my friend's office equivalent of an ex-boyfriend. Someone you have fallen so out of love with that their every breath makes your skin crawl and you daydream of dashing their head against the wall.

The difference being, of course, that my friend has never been in love with Louise. In fact, she has always hated everything about her. From her long, swishy skirts and giant mugs of tea cradled to her chest to the way she sits really close when she wants to speak to you.