Oh man, let me tell you about my last job. It was at this tech startup, and honestly, it should have been awesome. But the people on my team… they just kinda turned on me.
The reason was actually pretty simple, but it hurt. I was just… better at the job than they were. Not to sound full of myself, but it’s true. I was the new guy, but I picked up the software we were building way faster. I could fix bugs in, like, an hour that had them stuck for days. And instead of asking me how I did it, they just got jealous.
It started small. I’d ask a question in our team chat, and it would just sit there with no replies. But I’d see them all talking in the breakroom five minutes later, laughing. Then, they started “forgetting” to invite me to important meetings. I’d show up to work and my boss would be like, “Where were you? We decided on the new project plan without you.”
The worst was the credit. I built this whole new feature for the app, basically by myself. At the big presentation to the bosses, my coworker, Heather, was talking. And she says, “So we developed this feature to help the users…” She said “we” but she meant “me.” I did all the heavy lifting! I just sat there, my face getting hot, not knowing what to say.
Getting out of that mess was so, so hard. It wasn’t like I could just walk into my boss’s office and say “everyone’s being mean to me.” I felt like a kid on a playground.
I tried to be extra nice, offering to help them with their work. But they just took the help and still left me out. It made me feel so lonely, even in a room full of people. I started getting really anxious before work, my stomach would be in knots.
I need this job but my coworkers are getting on my nerves all the time. What can I do?
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