THIS IS HOW YOU SURVIVE THE MEAN GIRL AT THE OFFICE
We've probably all encountered her at some point: the mean girl at the office. The Queen Bee. It's just that I now work at Amayzine where we want to stay together until retirement if possible (by the way, check out how I envision that), but god, I've experienced differently.
To stay in Mean Girl terms : I have worked with Regina George. And she was intense. The colleague who acts like she’s your best buddy, but is incredibly jealous. Gossips out of insecurity. Sweet as pie to your face, asks you questions all day long to suck information out of you but has anything but your best interests at heart. And yes, she is funny. A real life of the party. You trust her with your secrets, but those same secrets end up with others. With elbow work, she tries to sabotage you, until one day you figure it out and suddenly your whole so-called friendship collapses like a house of cards and her true nature comes to light. Believe me: you don’t want to pass that station. My tips for surviving Regina unscathed?
Always listen to your gut feeling
The simplest tip ever and yet I didn’t even follow it well myself. Dear friends, if you sense that there is a colleague in the workplace who doesn’t have your best interests at heart, then that’s often the case. It’s that simple. Don’t give Regina too much information and vent your heart to people you do trust.
Analyze the problem
Does she continue to display certain bitchy behavior? See if you can identify a behavior pattern with the mean girl. Write down the moments when you felt like a victim of her behavior if necessary. Also, ask colleagues you do trust if they have noticed anything strange about her behavior towards you.
Take steps
You’d be surprised how many women at work get snapped at by the Queen Bee without doing anything about it. But if it really affects your job satisfaction, then having a chat with your employer might not be such a bad idea. Click? Ha, I don’t think so. This is self-protection.
Determine the course you will take with the mean girl
If you feel too uncomfortable to confront her about her nasty behavior or think that confrontation will only escalate the situation, then it might be smarter to come up with a strategy to simply avoid her. Alone time with her? Hell no. Try to minimize the time you spend alone with her. Goodbye negative energy!
If none of the above works? Do your colleagues strangely not notice anything because she can be nice and normal to them and your employer doesn’t take the problem seriously either? Are you stressed and going to work with reluctance because of that annoying colleague? Then I would seriously consider working somewhere else. Really. That might feel a bit extreme, but don’t forget: life is short and we spend most of it either sleeping or at the office. So if you don’t feel happy, fulfilled, and supported in the workplace and day in and day out have someone playing games with you: pack your things and get out. Slam the door shut. Go look for the job where you are so intensely happy that you never want to leave. And I can tell you: I never heard from Ms. Regina again. Wonderful.
