Awkwardness with co worker?

so ive been at my job for two years and have been able to make some sort of friendly conversation with everyone except for one person and its so awkward. We both went to high school together and he was a huge douche to me and tried to make fun of me if i remember correctly. Now hes very respectful to me but we dont have anything to say to each other when its just us in the room. a few years ago when i didnt work with him, i saw him at a bar and he tried to talk to me and so i was able to talk to him a little that night normally but then i gave him the cold shoulder just cuz i remembered him from high school and hes sort of a hoe too. I even text once in a while with everyone outside of work besides him. whats the deal and how do i talk to this guy and get him to talk to me like everyone else?

We've all have had types of bullies in some form back in our school days. We all mature as we age, he's maybe changed and feels embarrassed. Talk to him when you are both alone address the elephant in the room, it might make you feel better and make him realise that is the problem, hopefully it will make you both move on and make life easier at work. Life's too short, let go of grudges and live a happy life.

I’ll try this. I’m a little nervous but it’s worth a shot. Thank you.

Goodluck🍀 I hope you can both resolve this.

Treat this guy as you treat everyone else regardless of the past & see what happens. You just need to ask yourself why it's important to get to know this guy & manage to have a conversation with him. Going by your post he was an insecure youth & probably still is unsure how to interact with you after you cold shouldered him a few years back. He could well be still clueless. If we treat each other, no matter who we are with respect, after it's shown to us, then things usually work out. Respect is a two way street no matter what, who, when, where & why. but anyway, Good Luck.

I did try to talk to him the other day and he said he was a “douche” in high school but that’s it and then it was awkward again… Maybe I should apologize too?

What for? NO. Office protocol is this: you're the newbie so it's up to the longer-running staff to make the first move. YOU said, " (how do i talk to this guy and (translation: in order to) get him to talk to me like everyone else?" Overall translation: HE is the cold-shoulderer. He's still an ahole. If he's still an ahole despite he's no longer struggling through the natural, teenage, Narcissistic phase (which belongs to toddlers and teens ONLY) then obviously he has not changed. Narcs can't change ("don't want to" is their face-saving, propaganda of a cover story). Continue to ignore him back. Because this is a (Narc) game of Chicken. You can't get a Narc (or highly narcissist-IC) to step up to your high-road level where a confrontation is concerned. And you will NEVER get their cooperation if it's for your benefit. So you have to (temporarily) fight them on their low ground OR Emotionally Walk Away - either-or, done PROPERLY i.e. to the hilt. One of the ways is (a) making it worth their while, or, (b) not making it worth their while. It can be done if you know how. But you basically have to lure and put a leash on their ego and meanwhile/or 'give them enough rope to hang themselves with' (i.e. pressure them and get them to lose the plot and expose their true colours behind their Nice or Benign mask). You try to be your normal Good Person self with a Narc, including trying to stay polite, refusing to lie, etc., and you're at an extreme disadvantage. Now let's tell it like it is: he's respectful towards you when there are witnesses, but otherwise, he's blatently blanking--cold-shouldering you. Okay? Ask yourself: WHO WOULD DO THAT TO ANOTHER PERSON? AND IN A PLACE OF WORK? (Unprofessional much?!) Putting himself before the company machine by jarring the cogs. It's Workplace Harrassment. You could quietly complain ('seek suggestions') to your respective boss. Two years of hampering yours and everyone else who CAN sense it - SENSE the tension/slightly 'off' atmosphere... Not only does that hamper smooth-running but TWO YEARS IS UTTERLY, INSANELY RIDICULOUS. I repeat: insanely. APOLOGISE FOR WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHAT?!! Don't you daaare prostrate yourself to your STILL-ONGOING Bully! That's precisely what he's trying to forcibly, cruelly, manipulate you into doing! Why? Because they don't change and can't heal/absorb and re-cycle their repressed, now enormous, rage, unlike us normal-healthies. If you think about it - that IS a form of Changing. So he's not over you and never will unless you Walk Away versus Blow The Whistle (boss) versus Cleverly Counter-Manipulate and get a leash on. Okay? HE'S *STILL* A DOUCHE. Where you're concerned. You threaten thus irritate him with whatever (greater intelligence, strength, and contentment level (how very dare you!), I imagine). Employment Law and Protocol is that you should only have to try ONCE and succeed or AT LEAST demand a pact of better cooperation from him. And it's no longer allowed to be a douche in the workplace. If I was your Fairy Godmother or Genie In A Bottle and could grant you your wish for how you know in your heart and mind would like this dealt with, what would it be? Please describe the result? PS: What, can you tell/gauge by their change in vibe/behaviour/conduct around him, do the other staff members and boss(es) think of him/feel about him? PPS: Bullies rely on your conditioned-in politeness, your silence ("if you tell you're admitting you're a doormat"..PFFFF!), and your itchy female urge to convert your enemy into your friend (not poss with a Narc, you have to subtly but decidedly turn the power tables to get them chasing again for your approval - and they LOVE the chase). Emotionally thus also somewhat cognitively, they're seethingly resentful, bitter, jealous (etc etc) Kids in Grown-Up suits so don't buy into thinking that they're an adult behaving towards you like that. Genuine adults DON'T, they too want it sorted asap for the sake of honesty and harmony AND SELF-RESPECT I.E. GOOD OFFICE PROFESSIONALISM & CONDUCT. Okay? Google "Narcissistic colleague secretly giving me the Silent Treatment" or some such. And report back? I repeat, this is NOT how healthy-minded, genuine adults think, behave or respond - ESPECIALLY not in the workplace. They wouldn't DREAM of it! Well.....WOULD YOU? No. Me neither and I can't see any of the other visitors/vets here being capable, either. Except maybe the once, back when they were EIGHT! (...And then still here and there plagued by guilt and shame forevermore, usually.) I mean - ask yourself? When it's just you and he - how has anything changed? He's still back in the playground. Even at work. Even at a funeral. Even anywhere (- no sense of propriety, doesn't follow social rules and norms).

By the way, this is your Evidence Log/Table. Go into more detail. And then start logging everything Iffy that he says/does/fails to say and do. Or just, the fact it's continuing AFTER (excuse-me) TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLE YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! You're one effing tough cookie, you are. Most people have to leave and/or have a nervous breakdown after far shorter a period. IT. IS. HORRID. You start to feel sick and jittery the minute you open your eyes on a workday morning. It affects you (and your nervous system) in an acid drip-drip-drip, erosion way. Permanently feeling awkward and over-vigilant, even when he's NOT doing anything now...just 'waiting for it' (google Walking On Eggshells). You ain't paid enough for that sh*t. Plus if you secretly bring it to the attention of your boss(es) and still nothing changes (or worsens), you could leave (Constructive Dismissal....because tolerating it, everyone now knows, is at whatever inevitable point, damaging to your well-being, performance then very health) and sue the eff out of the company AND take him personally to civil court (depending on your country?). Don't get me wrong: one is allowed to find a colleague 'not their cup of tea' but the professional grown-up wouldn't let it show - let alone to that overt-in-front-of-you hostility/Silent Treatment extent; they'd be civil and friendly enough, try NOT to let it show. You'd know but be okay with it because it wouldn't feel HOSTILE, you'd just get the sense that the person wasn't particularly interested in getting close to you and deliberately keeping a respectful distance (they'd talk but stick to small talk, now't personal/intimate - the weather or just office biz). See the differencios? Office Bullying is Office Misconduct or depending on severity, Gross Office Misconduct, on his part.