- Joined
- Aug 18, 2020
- Messages
- 2,243
- Points
- 113
I have a colleague (B) who is the same age as me. Both of us had just been promoted to director level recently.
We joined at the same time, but in terms of PQE, I am obviously 2 to 3 years shorter than her because of National Service.
I am not sure whether B is jealous of my fast track promotion or not.
Anyway, a week ago, another peer guy colleague mentioned to me that B is a very insecure "creature". So I decided to pay more attention to her behaviour.
I have since made two observations on B.
1. Alone with me, B would say that I am very resourceful and put in lots of hard work and effort.
She even went on to say to me that I am a handsome guy, even more competent and handsome than her useless husband, and also much more intelligent than her.
In addition she would tell me how my lady VP boss admired my work rate and strong focus on project deadlines.
Apparently my lady boss (who is now my secret GF) had told some of our colleagues (including her) that I had always gotten excellent feedback from the company's clients, specifically on responsiveness and work rate.
2. However, when I am around with B and other colleagues, or when B and I are in the same project team for a project client, B would try to dumb me down.
With junior colleagues, she would often make the conversation about her and how guys since her university days couldn't stop staring at her in school.
With senior colleagues, she would attempt to fish for praises like she is smart and has great foresight to make a certain decision, or take a certain course of action, which is excellent for cost savings, etc etc.
With clients, she would try to act as project lead (even though we are joint leads). She would try to project to the client that she is more senior than me.
For example, in a recent discussion with client, she would out of the blue respond to the client "'Dont worry, (My name) will take care of that for you".
I am beginning to feel that she is projecting her insecurities onto me.
I am generally a reserved man who thinks more rather than talk more.
However, she is beginning to annoy me after my careful week long observation.
Should I just ignore her sly attempts to put me down in front of colleagues and clients?
Should I just let colleagues and clients observe her sly "political" behaviour?
How do senior Sammyboyers, with a wealth of work and office politics experiences, deal with a sly office political animal like B?
We joined at the same time, but in terms of PQE, I am obviously 2 to 3 years shorter than her because of National Service.
I am not sure whether B is jealous of my fast track promotion or not.
Anyway, a week ago, another peer guy colleague mentioned to me that B is a very insecure "creature". So I decided to pay more attention to her behaviour.
I have since made two observations on B.
1. Alone with me, B would say that I am very resourceful and put in lots of hard work and effort.
She even went on to say to me that I am a handsome guy, even more competent and handsome than her useless husband, and also much more intelligent than her.
In addition she would tell me how my lady VP boss admired my work rate and strong focus on project deadlines.
Apparently my lady boss (who is now my secret GF) had told some of our colleagues (including her) that I had always gotten excellent feedback from the company's clients, specifically on responsiveness and work rate.
2. However, when I am around with B and other colleagues, or when B and I are in the same project team for a project client, B would try to dumb me down.
With junior colleagues, she would often make the conversation about her and how guys since her university days couldn't stop staring at her in school.
With senior colleagues, she would attempt to fish for praises like she is smart and has great foresight to make a certain decision, or take a certain course of action, which is excellent for cost savings, etc etc.
With clients, she would try to act as project lead (even though we are joint leads). She would try to project to the client that she is more senior than me.
For example, in a recent discussion with client, she would out of the blue respond to the client "'Dont worry, (My name) will take care of that for you".
I am beginning to feel that she is projecting her insecurities onto me.
I am generally a reserved man who thinks more rather than talk more.
However, she is beginning to annoy me after my careful week long observation.
Should I just ignore her sly attempts to put me down in front of colleagues and clients?
Should I just let colleagues and clients observe her sly "political" behaviour?
How do senior Sammyboyers, with a wealth of work and office politics experiences, deal with a sly office political animal like B?