Netizen asks, ‘How to deal with offending colleague?’

SINGAPORE: How do people deal with offending colleagues? A Reddit user shared his experience in a post and asked netizens what to do.

u/Delulu-Solu stated in r/askSingapore: “I have this “proclaimed” Gen Z female colleague that is like 5 years younger than me and would go on day after day throwing insults and mean comments around our conversations.” 

Usually on days I don’t really let it bother me as I would just take it at surface value and throw back similar level comments back at her. But some days when I don’t have the mental fortitude to handle it, it ends up affecting my mood for the entire day even after the work hours,” the user added. 

He admitted that what was happening was unhealthy, but he does not know how to tell his colleague to ‘back off’ or ‘tone it down.’

“It baffles me that there isn’t a decent sense of kindness or respect to a fellow person and to not cross over a certain line?.. Has anyone encounter this kind of situation before?” he asked. 

The post got a lot of comments from fellow Reddit users. 

One user stated: “I think you should stop throwing back similar level comments to her. Otherwise she may mistake it as banter. Be the person that you want to be. Be the mature one. Being silent when she talks nonsense is a form of response as well.” 

Another user remarked: “It could just be her way of interacting with other people around her but that is just an assumption. It’s hard to draw any conclusion without an example. Regardless, my guess is she probably doesn’t know that she was being offensive. I think you can point it out to her casually.” 

More comments mentioned: “Just let her know you need alone time..”