Dear Steph:

I just noticed your thread for the first time, and will read and reply when I am back to the computer in about 13 hours from now.

anita

Dear Steph:

It seems like you hit the “report” feature (for inappropriate content) by mistake when you posted last, and therefore I was unable to reply to you since you posted last, Nov 27.

I read your original post and it reads to me to be true to the reality you’ve been experiencing at work, as in no exaggerations on your part. It reads like a case of a Workplace Bullying.

Reading your account, I was reminded of something I witnessed a few years ago during a County Fair: there were three pigs in a pig pen. Two of the pigs looked alike. The third pig was bigger and had lighter skin. The two similar pigs kept poking the third pig who kept accommodated the two bully pigs by moving to wherever it thought they wanted him to move. The two bully pigs were never satisfied with the bullied pig’s passive accommodation, and kept poking him relentlessly. It was clear to me that their motivation was not to have the bullied pig move away to any particular location, but to keep bullying him endlessly.

Similarly, I think that if you accommodate your two workplace bullies, they will never be satisfied and they will keep bullying you all the way to March 2022, their last day at work. I suggest that you do not accommodate them, that you will indeed stand up for yourself, that you don’t submit. The more you submit, the more aggressive they are likely to be.

anita

Dear Steph:

You are very welcome. My analogy does read appropriate, being that you are different from the two bullies/co-workers (“They wanted someone different”), different and better. So, protect the one who is better, stand up for her and ask for your boss’s backup when you need it. Also, post here again anytime you need to, if you do.

anita