Sabotage In The Workplace

I really can’t make this stuff up when it comes to dealing with narcissistic people. They seem to surround me wherever I go.

However, just because I am surrounded by narcissistic individuals doesn’t necessarily mean they are all narcissists. It’s their troubling behaviors that make them narcissistic on varying levels, and it’s highly aggravating for me.

Right now, the culprit of my problems always revolves around work. Fortunately, I have a sense of serenity and peace on the home front. However, at work, I feel that as soon as one narcissistic individual is no longer an issue for me, some other narcissistic individual rises in the previous one’s place.

I just can’t seem to get away from narcissistic people. I just can’t catch a break. It’s fatiguing and maddening on so many levels. I have to wonder if these people show up in my life because they are aids in my personal development, and I have to wonder how much more developing I need if there has to always be a narcissistic person in my life – whether directly or indirectly.

There’s literally no great outcome with an actual narcissist than to be free of one. I’d go as far as to say the same about those who wallow in manifesting their narcissistic traits. There is never a good outcome for the targets of their behaviors either. There’s also not even a good outcome for narcissists or those who continue to exercise being narcissistic.

Workplace Narcissism

Currently, I’ve been dealing with a host of coworkers who exhibit varying narcissistic traits that leave me exasperated and wanting to simply throw in the towel, but not only that, some of these coworkers are simply lazy. They don’t actually like to work. Maybe work doesn’t like these lazy coworkers either because work seems to escape them at all costs.

The bulk of the job I do requires team work even if I work alone. When one person becomes slack, then collaborative efforts fail to accomplish the daily goals. When this happens, the bulk of the work mainly falls on one to two people.

The crazy thing is that managers know this. They know who the lazy ones are and will often team two lazy ones to work with two hard working ones. This always goes awry, and the team always ends up needing additional assistance to get the job done.

The need for additional assistance often creates tension amongst coworkers because those giving assistance must stop doing their regular work assignments to help another team.

Needless to say, I’ve taken notice that I end up doing more than my share of the work because I’m more often paired with coworkers that don’t like to work. They don’t even do the bare minimum, and that’s crazy to me.

To me, the workload is always unbalanced, and it’s frustrating. Not only is it frustrating, it’s physically taxing. I actually feel resentful of the job and have been on the hunt for a new one. In fact, I’m fed up with the narcissistic behaviors that some of these coworkers exhibit to get their way, and I’m tired of being around them. I often feel like slacking up myself, but I actually like the work I do. I just don’t want to have to do it all.

The managers are usually no where around when the shenanigans of the lazy ones are occurring, and when the managers do show up, the lazy ones always pretend to be working. How convenient! My soul sometimes burns with an unquenchable rage at the way some of these coworkers manipulate their way out of work. I don’t think I’d really care if I wasn’t directly affected by their laziness, but I am. I’m called upon often to pick up the slack.

Workplace Sabotage

One particular coworker who’s recently arisen from the shadows to irk me to no end was someone I thought was a great worker (in theory). This coworker seemed quiet and unassuming, but over time, I began to notice some changes in this coworker’s behavior. This coworker is not who I thought themselves to be, and once I noticed a chink in the mask they were wearing to shield their true self, I took notes (literally).

This coworker is a copy cat, but there’s something even more insidious about them. I discern that they are so sabotaging me in my position. The irony of it all is that we both have the same position, but this coworker stands in second to me in rank when we are both present on the job. There was never any competitiveness that I sensed between us before, and I was even tasked with the duty of training this coworker.

Oddly, after a brief training session, this coworker wanted no further assistance from me, but even then I hadn’t realized that anything had changed with them. It wasn’t until several people left their posts on the job because they either quit or were moved to a different department that this coworker seemed to view my particular job post as a position to be envied and taken away. It also helped that this coworker’s “friend” was placed in the same position too.

It wasn’t long after these changes that I began to sense that something was off with this particular coworker when it came to the shared duties of our work. I literally began to feel there was some competitiveness going on that I wasn’t even trying to be a part of because I don’t like competing with others.

This coworker and I literally do the same job. Why do we need to compete when the objective is for us to finish the work together in a timely fashion? We are all assigned what tasks we are to complete, but this coworker will literally race to get to the stations first to complete tasks that they are not even supposed to complete individually until a specific time frame. If the time frame is not followed, then the entire team is thrown off, and someone – usually another coworker, including me, will have to shoulder extra work that this coworker is actually supposed to do.

I have already spoken to two different team leads and a coworker about this situation to no avail. Instead of making sure the coworker does their part, the team leads will not say a word. They behave as if they are fearful of addressing this coworker. Instead of telling this coworker to do their actual job, they will defer to someone else to do that coworker’s part. That someone else has often been me.

The anger I feel when this happens is tangible and hot red. Although I will react outwardly with compliance, inwardly I am fuming at the injustice of it all. It doesn’t make sense to me how this coworker gets away with it, but then I know that there’s a lot of manipulation involved in their behaviors. Plus, this work department is literally built upon an overt narcissistic power structure. Even though the three overt manager bullies are no longer in a position of power in this department, the residue of their narcissism still remains.

For the most part, I’ve considered that maybe I’m being punished for even bringing the problem up to the current team leads, but when the leads question why our team isn’t further along in our tasks, I fall speechless into disbelief. By all accounts, it always looks like the manipulative coworker in question is doing their job because they are actually working. The only issue with this is that the coworker is not actually doing what they are assigned to do. Instead, they are doing what I have been assigned to do!

So as it has happened each day, this coworker would literally race me to complete tasks just so they can work in the same area as me when they are not even assigned to do so. This coworker makes their own rules and does whatever they feel like doing when they feel like doing it, and no one – absolutely no one – has said a word to them. The thing that angers me … literally fills me with a burning rage … is the fact that this coworker manipulates everyone and gets away with doing whatever they want with absolutely no consequence or accountability.

In fact, this coworker is aware that I notice their behavior, and the feeling that I’ve had in this situation is that there is an attempt to drive me out from my position. It’s an actual feeling that I have within the atmosphere, and it seemingly began suddenly one day when I went in for work … like out of nowhere there was this bleak and dark change in the atmosphere. I could literally feel a penetrated evil within the atmosphere.

For almost an entire week, I felt as if there were unseen forces attempting to drive me out of the job entirely. Some coworkers who’d been so friendly towards me seemed distant and irritated by my presence. I tried to take note of my behaviors and kept silent. I didn’t even respond as I normally did in my cheerful way of greeting them. It was apparent that something had changed in a major way.

I felt demoted in my position even though no manager or leads had given me any negative verbal feedback about my work. For the most part, there’s been a shortage of workers, and I’ve simply had to do different tasks which I’ve always been receptive to because I know it’s a part of the job. However, despite the toxicity that exists within the workplace, I have little to no tolerance for a manipulator. My nerves become seriously grated by manipulative behavior – particularly when I know a person is purposefully attempting to manipulate to provoke me to anger.

Although it’s hard to prove this type of behavior, I know manipulation when I see it. I’ve experienced it through all of my senses since I was a child. Yet, it’s hard for me to explain it to anyone else when it’s happening because of the subtleties of it all. I know that I’m mainly wrestling against a spirit of darkness when I’m dealing with a manipulative person. Their objective is about controlling a situation or person. Their objective is to take ownership while sabotaging their target in the process.

So it is with this particular coworker. I’ve seen their strategy, and I know what they are up to when it comes to their gameplay. Yet, no one else seems to see it, and if they do, they willingly turn their heads to the side and shut their eyes.

In particular, this manipulative coworker has gathered allies who are accustomed to the toxicity within the environment. They seem to shape themselves by this toxicity and play along with manipulators – not realizing they are just pawns in the game.

To distance myself from this manipulative coworker, I went to a manager over the department to voice my concerns and frustrations. Mainly, I requested a move to be away from this manipulative coworker so that I wouldn’t react out of character towards them. However, I also made it clear to the manager that I was so frustrated by the situation that I also contemplated giving my two week notice. This, in fact, is the aim that a manipulator wants. They want their target to go … to leave … to disappear.

Admittedly, the mention of giving notice could have backfired on me, but because I know I’m a hard worker, and hard workers are rare within the department in which I work, I was confident that the manager would support me in a change. Fortunately, this was the case, and even though he trusted my discernment regarding the manipulative coworker, I wanted to be cautious in how I expressed myself. No one likes someone they perceive to be a nagging complainer.

Plus, I don’t want to see anyone terminated, but I also don’t want to be driven from my position because of subtle bullying or being someone’s target for whatever their reasoning. I don’t want to be anyone’s target at all. So, I decided to remove myself from this coworker’s one-sided competition. Plus, this coworker is young, and has a lot to learn. I also don’t want to stoop to their level. I’ve realized that giving back the same energy that someone is giving me isn’t really that hard. That’s another reason to remove myself. Giving someone the same energy they give me isn’t always for good.

Despite me loving the job that I do, making myself open to trying other skills and allowing myself to be cross-trained in other areas makes it easier for me to hopefully extend my longevity within this corporation. Of course, I will leave nothing to chance. A job is here today and gone tomorrow, but at least I can say that I tried to learn all that I could which is certainly a far different arena than I am accustomed to compared to my previous career.

Then again, the work environment is still toxic. I’m not sure how it is within other departments, but within the department in which I work, the new manager is fighting a battle, and he seems to have no idea that there are resisters to his efforts. So far, this new manager has cleaned house. Some of the narcissistic coworkers who seemed to revel in the old regime of narcissistic toxicity have left, changed departments, or have been fired from their positions.

Survivors of the old regime have risen and are shining in ways they weren’t allowed to before, and it’s a good thing. However, there are still narcissistic coworkers sitting in an angry silence awaiting for their opportunities to arise too – but for destructive purposes. So it has been with this manipulative coworker that has been an annoyance to me. They have arisen for such a time as this … to be a prickly thorn in my side. Yet, I’ve removed myself and won’t be held down by their grip. I won’t be chained by their desire to control me. They can’t make me leave. I will leave on my own.

Instead of playing this manipulative coworker’s games, I’ll simply remove myself and remain silent. I will continue to navigate myself throughout this environment, but I refuse to put up with manipulators. I literally cannot stand to be around them. It isn’t about hating anyone. It’s about hating their dirty tactics that I so badly want to call out but often cannot. It’s not my job to set things right within the workplace, but at the same time, I’m not one to back down when someone’s coming for me either. When I have a chance to voice what I see can be improved upon, I do so.

Overall, when it comes to dealing with a manipulator in the workplace, I might not argue or behave in a manner that shows I can be unprofessional, but I will remove myself. I will stare a manipulator down with silence while studying their facial expressions, micro-expressions and tone of voice. I will hear them, but then I will distance myself. I will grey-rock. I will step back. I will observe and document, document, and document some more.

I will not stand down to a manipulator. I will rise above. This most recent coworker is by far more manipulative than another manipulative coworker I’ve had to deal with and is now no longer a direct issue for me. This most recent manipulator has a wicked vibe about them. I’ve discerned their vibes on a spiritual level, and they are not good at all. Their behavior towards me has brought out the spiritual warrior within me, and I’ve had to metaphorically glue my mouth shut so as not to speak out against what I’ve seen as their manipulation, control and injustice.

Stay tuned as this saga continues …