How To Cope With Nasty Colleagues In The Work Place
Posted: Monday, May 08, 2006
by Steve Hill
Stuttering therapy
I worked for many years in an office environment and would have enjoyed the experience if it was not for a number of over bearing and annoying colleagues. These people seemed to spend the whole day bitching and gossiping about other people which can make life at work very stressful and uncomfortable.
After leaving school I was excited that I was now entering into the adult world. I was more than happy to leave behind me the childish ways of school life where people are constantly taking the mickey out of each other, which is apparently supposed to be fun and basically act like fools. This was certainly not what I saw as enjoyment.
The males in the office were always at each others throats, throwing insults which I have to add were mainly in jest, and basically acting like they were fourteen years of age.
The women though were so annoying it was untrue. Of course it was not all of the women but just a handful of them. This however was enough to make it an uncomfortable place to work. These women were always ready to spread gossip about other people and were so two faced it was unbelievable.
As an example, I will tell you a story which I am now able to laugh about, but which at the time was quite hard to handle. I went out for a few drinks one night and in the bar, there was a woman who worked in the same office that I did. She was what I called, one of the bitches!
I went over and started talking to her. I had had a number of drinks and felt quite sociable. She had a friend with her who I have to say was very attractive and I also started to make small talk with her. I started to get on really well with this friend and thought that I had pulled etc.
After buying them both a drink I went to the toilet. Whilst I was in the toilets my friends warned this friend of my colleague not to get too close to me because I was gay (which I am not). They were just trying to ruin it for me, nice hey!
I came back to the group and both of these women had left to go somewhere else. I was most frustrated but was unaware of what had been said.
I went back to work the next day and people acted differently towards me. I later found out from a good friend that this colleague had told everyone that I was gay.
I have no problem with people who are gay and this incident showed me what it must be like for them at times.
I went up and told this woman exactly what I thought of her and warned her never to spread any rumours about me again, as it would be the last rumour she would ever spread, if she did etc.
The next few days were quite unpleasant as people were treating me like some kind of leper. I did not try to convince them that I was straight as it should not be an issue in the first place.
After this I went to work with the sole intention of doing my job, I do not need these type of people in my life.
If you work with people like I have described above, I feel sorry for you. Try hard to not let them ruin your day at work as if they do, then they will have won.
Steve Hill helps to promote a number of websites including:
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Good article. It does help to know that I'm not the only one with difficult colleagues. I'm currently having trouble with a particularly nasty, vindictive woman where I work. I've managed to hold my tongue & be pleasant to her but for some reason this seems to antagonize her even more. I don't know why I threaten her so much but it seems that I do. I've found out recently that she's sleeping with her (and my) immediate boss so I've also started getting nasty remarks from him.I have such a duo in the office where I work too. The woman has been in a relationship with a manager for nearly 6 months now though dumping him several times. She has a number of us that she does not like and uses a combination of colleague coersion and her hold over the Manager to make biased complaints and get her every whim. People are so scared of what she could do to them that they even contact those of us who are unpopular with her in secret in case she finds out. Is this the economic crisis? I wish other managers would put a stop to it so we can stop being watched all the time by her vulture ways trying to find cause for complaint.
I understand what you felt. I also have some issues about work environment problem...It is difficult to handle colleagues who are unprofessionals and selfish. The kind of people whom they think of themselves as somebody with the higher position and we should be scared of. The sad truth is, they are not even worth to be respected not because they are not humble enough but because they do not even show respect to everybody...And the funny thing is these people have high regard in their own selves yet when you look at their work, it is of POOR quality. As the saying goes, - mirror yourself first before you mirror others...
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