Sadly, nearlyone thirdof employees experiencebullyingin the workplace. And companies aren’t always concerned about preventing it, which means workers often have to take matters into their own hands.
Quora users have beensharingtheirbest tacticsfor taking on bullies at work, so we’ve gathered some of their stories below. Enjoy reading through, and be sure to upvote the clever ideas that you’ll consider using in your own office in the future!
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A real lowlife who ripped off everyone, and treated his wife worse was out in a bar with a few other workers that couldn’t stand him. He was so cheap that he had to be picked up and driven around all night. In the bar one guy had a throw away phone and texted him that he was a girl he had a crush on. She told him she wanted to hook up with him. He asked where she was, they texted him the address of a bar that recently closed down. He ran around with the bar begging everyone for a ride to meet this fictitious woman in heat. They all turned him down. He called a taxi who drove him to the empty bar.
I grew up poor. I took my lunch to school because I didn’t have money for school lunches. When I made it to high school some of the older high school bullies found it “cool” to pop my school locker open and eat my lunch. This got to be all too regular. So … I baked a large batch of chocolate chip cookies with extra chocolate chips — and 2 boxes of Exlax. These were locked securely in my school locker so no-one would accidentally dose themself with an extreme dose of laxative.Yes, the cookies disappeared. So did five people — for three days. I never lost a lunch again. Yes, this may have been a shitty thing to do, but it worked!
I was bullied at work. It was a constant barrage of pettiness, snarky remarks, being set up for failure. Everything I did no matter how much better it was than other work they had on file, was twisted into being completely wrong. They would give me incorrect data and then scream at me for not having correct data swearing that they gave me the correct data. I did have a document trail on all of it. Being able to back myself up made the bullying worse. It came down to they were doing all they could to drive me off. I did leave and I’m in a really good situation now. For a short time I was traumatized and even nervous about going places in town because it’s a small town and I didn’t want to see anyone.I didn’t get revenge. There wasn’t any to get. If they suffer it will be their own doing. It won’t need my help.
Revenge bullying can get you into trouble. It is best to make note of everything that is being done and reporting it to your supervisor. If your supervisor is the bully, try going to that person’s boss. Try to have witnesses because without witnesses, H.R. is most likely to turn on you. Keep copies of emails. If this all fails, see a lawyer. Suing and having the settlement and bully’s name made public is a good way to alert the public of what kind of a company that is to allow such abhorrent behaviour.
I was bullied at work as a teenager. These two older women would threaten to beat me up every day saying that they would get me in the toilets (I worked in a factory at this point). It went on for months and really affected me. One day, they said if I went to the toilets, they would follow and beat me to a pulp. I don’t like confrontation and never normally stood up for myself. This day, I told them that yes they could beat me up but I would give them as much of a beating back that I could hurt them bad too. It worked. They backed off and left me alone after that. For me saying it to them, I was terrified. My legs were jelly. I think that the thought that they might get hurt too was enough to put them off.Years later, in another job, totally different from then, another wan started bullying me. Being much older and wiser, I used the company policies to stop her. I photocopied the page regarding bullying in the workplace. I highlighted the area detailing specific sentences regarding dealing with bullies and left it on her desk with a little message saying “you have been warned. Stop or this will be actioned” with my name below. It worked. She stopped.
The finest and best revenge to exhibit towards a bully…is to steadfastly REFUSE to behave…as do they. In truth, if we were to do something nice for a bully…that treated us shamefully…it is the bully who would become ashamed.President Abraham Lincoln once said, “ The best way to defeat my enemy…is to make him my friend.” I think that’s pretty good advice.
Seeking revenge on a coworker is NEVER a good idea. It tends to backfire and get you fired. As well as being extremely childish. Whst??? Are you 2 going on 1?
Kindness.Unless physically bullied.Then defend yourself.But kindness pisses a bully off, because their gratification is your reactions to the bullying.Remain patient and strong.But never give them your back, ie, turn away from them.Face them.Don’t react.Don’t leave until they stop or someone else stops it.It’s okay to be afraid, just try not to show it.
Revenge at work is a terrible idea. You are paid to do a job not engage in personal vendettas. If you want to risk your livelihood then your income isnt important enough to you to continue with it. Let your supervisor know what is happening.
What is a revenge trick on a workplace bully?Stop this line of thinking. Revenge tends to escalate things and rarely works out like your revenge fantasy. The very best thing you can do is report the bully. Stick to the facts, and give times, dates and complete descriptions the incident. Get witnesses. Overlook nothing. DO NOT mention anything about what you expect to be done. Do not say you want the bully fired or whatever. It’s not your place. Leave that to your manager and HR.Report every incident to your manager and send copies to HR. Your manager will be forced to address it and if he/she doesn’t, HR will. Workplace bullying is a serious issue and no good company overlooks it.
A bully co-worker did many awful things. One thing he did was to steal my lunches out of the office fridge. I did not catch him red handed but I knew it was him. No witnesses, not camera footage …. after he stole my string cheese multiple times, I decided to do something. I had a co-worker (whom he also stole from) take my string cheese home with her. She took a four hour nap. While she napped she “marinated” the string cheese in her … ah …. private parts. She brought the cheese back to work in the plastic wrap. I put the cheese in the fridge. A couple hours later, I found the cheese missing. A co-worker told me that he was walking around the office munching on the string cheese. My accomplice and I had a good laugh over this.
You do nothing. You hold your head up high and then leave.My first banking job in year 2000 was a doozy. Changed positions there once. The pay was real low…..like $8/hr. After three years I only made $9/hr. I applied at the bank up the street and was offered the job immediately with a huge increase in pay.There were some awful women to work with at that first bank and I was glad to hand in my written two week notice.So, within that two week notice, I attempted to clock in on the computer, like I usually did, and the computer was disabled. So I sat there, like a dummy, trying to figure out what to do.I was beyond annoyed but thought, how can God bless my life if I cause problems on my way out. So I just kind of slinked away at lunch time and never went back.You can do it too. Don’t cause problems. You never know if it will backfire on you.
Honestly, I wouldn’t stoop to their level! I would ask to be put on projects that minimized my contact with them and avoid them as much as I could!
I am not proud of this, and if I had to do it all over again, I would not have. For a little time, I worked as clerk at a rental car agency. I had these two guys who were in town for the week, and they were very rude and condescending to me, because it was my first week, and I was nervous about all the paperwork. I suggested they take out insurance because I could see they had hangovers from drinking at the local bar the night before. They got mad at that also. And did not take out insurance.Anyways, it went downhill from there. So, nervously, I rented them the car that would break down on the desert highway. They would be traveling south toward Mexico about 75 miles on the NAFTA highway. You can go for miles and all you see is cacti, mesquite trees and cracked barren ground. Anyways, I rented them the lemon car that broke down every time someone rented it. We would get desperate calls from customers broke down in the middle of the desert. Nothing I could do about it. But the company still rented this lemon out to everyone.All that day, I was ridden with guilt and worried about them broke down in 105 degree weather. But they made it there and back, and I was so relieved….never again will I try revenge, I do not have the heart for it.
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Hard eye contact and a smile. Laugh at them in your head. And don’t give them anything to work with. If you have ever seen anyone get mad at a vending machine or another inanimate object — be like that object, they’ll tire quickly.
Don’t take them personally. It’s about their issues. If you do something negative it returns to you. So revenge doesn’t work. Avoid the bully and be sure they will reap all they are doing. I could tell you amazing stories about karma.
Wait until your last week. Then pull him aside and ask to speak to him. Do not accept “no” or delays.In your meeting, make good eye contact and keep your voice calm and controlled. In a matter of fact way, tell him calmly and as directly as you can how difficult he made your experience, how much you disliked it, and how unprofessional it seemed to others. Then stop and keep your eyes fixed on his.I’ll bet he is shocked, flabbergasted even, that an intern would speak to him like this. I’ll also bet he is shamed when you directly call him out. He may or may not apologize. He may become defensive, he may even launch a counterattack, but whatever he says, I guarantee you will have made your point.If his response to you is dismissive, or attacking do not respond to any point he raises. Simply reiterate your original point in the same calm tone you did the first time–his actions were hurtful and unprofessional. You expected a different experience and are disappointed to see how day-to-day interactions are conducted in his office.By doing this you will be taking the power in your relationship with him. You are in effect asserting your right to be seen as his equal. That will be far better revenge than anything else you can do.
Revenge doesn’t work.I instead stop giving my valuable self away to this person.And that’s the gift that keeps on givingBy telling your truth, not getting revenge and removing yourself from a situation you will begin to see who your true friends are.The ones that believe the lies, deceit, betrayal and smear campaigns are not your friends, colleagues and bosses you need around you.Instead, the awful colleague is doing you a favor of weeding out the toxic job, boss and colleagues in your midst.And it takes absolutely no effort to do and say nothing after you’ve told your truth.And now you have time to eat more takeout since the toxic people won’t be joining you
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I once had a job as a computer operator at a company that had just placed a new boss over our department. He started bullying me immediately. He called me into his office the first week and told me he didn’t like the way I did my job. I calmly gave him my notepad and pen and asked him to write down how he wanted me to do it, and I would follow his lead.The following week, I had car trouble and came in a little late. He called me in his office and asked me why I was late. I told him. He said he didn’t believe me. I asked him was there anything else he wanted to say, because I needed to get caught up on my work.He called a department meeting 15 minutes before quitting time the following week. I sat there and listened to him tell jokes, nothing about work. At quitting time, I was the only person to get up to leave. He asked where I thought I was going. I told him it was the end of my shift. He told me to sit back down. I asked him was he paying overtime for this? He said no, of course not. I left.Next week he brought in his “girlfriend” from another office. I was to train her for my job. The following week he permanently laid me off.Because I would not bend to his will, bow and scrape or kiss his ass, I was let go. I found out later that he took exception with my being a “yankee” and my friendships with the blacks in the custodial department, and had heard my advising one of them to call a lawyer when he was permanently laid off after 30 years and only 2 weeks before qualifying for his pension. I didn’t want to work there anyways.
I started a new job a few years ago. There was a guy who was a general foreman, but not my general foreman, who I was to learn was a disordered type. I was just one of many random targets. Sometimes I reminded him he was not in my chain of command, other times I just kind of acknowledged him, letting him think I fawned.A year or so later, I was moved to one of the foreman under him, and my assignment to him began with a bit of an ass-chewing. He evidently felt he deserved to be made a superintendent, that general foreman was just a stepping-stone. As our group was wrapping up the big project assigned to him, he was told he was “not superintendent material” for that company. They had used him for a specific credential he held, and they were no longer going to need him.I was then assigned to work for his brother, who was a decent sort, and remains my friend to this day. About a year ago, I was on another job, and the employer asked for recommendations to replace a project superintendent who was leaving for another project. One of the folks I contacted for recommendations was the “good” brother. His first recommendation was his brother. I reminded him that I had worked for his brother, who else came to mind.He did some checking, and came up with someone else I knew who was interested in the job, and that guy ultimately got it. I may never know if the good brother ever told his brother I had rejected him out-of-hand for the type of job he thought he so richly deserved. Even brotherly love has its’ limitations.
Before I try to get even, I try to work out the problem. I have found some things that help with anyone who treats me badly, even bosses. I use this techniques in private. Just like you don’t care to be mistreated and embarrassed in public, neither do they. My first question is, “Have I done something to offend you?” If they say yes, ask what it is, apologize and tell them that you will work on that. A true apology, which very few people know how to make, goes a long way. “I’m sorry, but…” isn’t an apology it’s an excuse. More often, I get a negative response. “Then why are you treating me badly?” puts the impetus on the other person to examine their behaviors. I have never not had an apology and an immediate change of behavior from someone who I quietly but firmly confront.Next, understand that getting even with a boss is a bad idea. You can’t win an argument with a customer and you can’t really get even with a boss. The only way that it works is to change jobs. I hope that your work is so good that your leaving hurts his bottom line and doesn’t give him/her reason to rejoice. Go somewhere else where you are appreciated and succeed there. The best revenge is a successful life.
Kill them with Kindness, they are bulling you because they have low self-esteem and are trying to feel better about themselves. If you stoup to their level they will beat you every time for they have more experience. When we had the old pagers I would sometimes key in a Strip club number, that was before caller ID.
My take is that the first defense is to ignore the person. Any communication is task-related and missing adjectives, adverbs, eye-contact, and enthusiasm. One’s indifference is their kryptonite.
Revenge is never a good thing in the workplace.Let the person know that it is not right to bully someone else in the workplace. Work is a harassment free environment that people is treated with dignity. Once the person has been warned, report him/her to HR when he/she does bully again. It is the right thing to do.
I wouldn’t call it revenge but it was a way to set some boundaries. I worked as a receptionist for HR block tax services. I was told my job was to set appointments from calls that came in change the printer paper and make coffee when asked. There was couple both church going. The husband always can with a smile and asked me whenever the printer paper needed to be replaced. I always complied. That was something anyone could have done in the time it took to go ask me. Well I caught his wife in the back telling others. You know that Gregory is supposed to change the paper. I told her in front of everyone. You sure gossip a lot for a church going Christian. So she would come in on Wednesdays. Whenever people asked for a Wednesday appointment. I would connect them to someone else I did that for about a week. Then she came inquiring about not having anyone and she was talking to the gatekeeper not the receptionist. There was another receptionist but she didn’t get anyone from me until she realized you need to ask me. It wasn’t my job to know when the printer needed paper. It was me who got the Hr Blocks to shred all papers that had people ssi number on it. After finding papers in the trash that had them on it. Yep traced back to the church lady.
Does he drive his own vehicle to work? Can you get access to it; not to get in the vehicle, just the access the wheels. Remove and take at least two valve core. He has one spare two flat tires. The tool for removing a valve core should be available at K-Mart or Auto Zone. The best revenge is when they don’t see it coming and can’t prove where it came from. Does he wear a suit coat and short sleeve shirts to the office? When he hangs his coat on the coat rack, at first opportunity sprinkle red pepper in the sleeves, this could be construed as chemical warfare and get you in trouble depending on where you live. Super glue the cap on his fountain pen. These are HS pranks; but bullies are children regardless of their years. Glue can be your friend.
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