How to Avoid the Traps of Narcissistic Coworkers

It’s not fun and not easy to be the change that you want to see with toxic personality types like narcissists in the workplace. When you’re around a toxic person, they will be interested in your story to learn about you, to manipulate you, gossip about you, and to exploit you. The difference between them and a healthy coworker is that the healthy coworker is interested in understanding you and supporting you. It helps the negative coworker’s ego knowing that they can bad mouth you to other people and then have these people believe every word they have said which includes other coworkers or managers. Toxic people and narcissists are impossible to deal with, because they are always looking for something negative to latch onto in order to justify their insulting behavior. Every step the victim takes, they are blocked from getting to the destination. Each move is carefully “watched” and evaluated so the narcissist or toxic employee can learn to make their next conniving move and their intended negative goa towards you. They would wait for you to make the smallest mistake to make everybody else aware of your error, or to call you out as a way to make you feel bad.

• Observation is the key to knowing a person and it is important to learn a toxic person so that you will know their next move or motive.
• Keep your distance and remain professional.