Dealing with That Person...

You know who I mean - that one person who crawled out of their own personal hell to spread hate and dissension at the office.  Hopefully you are not that person.  If you are, stop reading now.  They may be a project manager, or even worse, the head cheese.  Nothing says I value you like sitting in a meeting and listening to someone find a flaw in everyone or everything that people in the office do on a daily basis.  Even worse is getting cornered in your cube or office.  The situation can be dire, and you may contemplate passing out to get rid of the person (bad idea, they may try to resuscitate you).  How do you, the cube dweller, a person not in a position to change personnel, deal with "that person"?  There are a number of way to confront this situation, so let's start with the worst way and work backward to the best situation

Confrontation

You spend a few hours the night before role playing the confrontation (with or without Wild West music), and bide your time to finally put "that person" in their place.  It may be that someone told you to confront bullies when you were a kid.  I did that once in high school, to the star wrestler who had a penchant for bullying soccer players.  Not a good result.  I escaped (barely).  Confronting the office bully will result in one of two things - they will curtail their genetic disposition for a little while, or you will get it even worse from that point forward.  Mostly likely the latter.  You might as well paint a bulls-eye on your back.  As Andy Andrews says, "Directly confronting what someone believes is a waste of time".  Or, as Dave Ramsey says, "Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still."  Resist that urge to unleash the dogs of war.  It will not go as planned.  Trust me.

Complain

You rally the troops and spend productive work time complaining and gossiping about "that person".  End result?  Same situation, only now there is a underlying tension throughout the office.  If you work for an effective leader this may lead to your release back to the wilds of unemployment.  Even worse, the very person you are complaining about gets wind of the dissension, and decides to turn it up a notch.  Way to go, hero!

Remember the Golden Rule

No, this isn't a cop-out attempt.  There is a high probability that there is absolutely nothing you can do to change the personality of the office bully.  Best thing you can do for yourself, and your ever increasing cortisol levels, is to just chalk it up to another one of life's lessons and move out smartly.  Treat that person the way you would like to be treated.  Don't gossip, don't complain, and don't confront.  Try to knock them over with kindness.  I'm not advocating sucking up, I'm just trying to clear the air in the office.  Maybe, and this is just a maybe, you can help the entire place by setting the example.  You'll be a better person and a better co-worker regardless of the outcome.