You have a colleague who has an opinion on everything, knows all, finds faults easily and tries to add value to the work of co-workers and juniors with her comments. You are having a difficult day at work. You need a moral-boost rather than comments, criticisms and worst of all, sarcasm. What do you do when you are faced with someone who is often sarcastic?
All of us face such people in our lives. They pretend to know all and come forward to offer their comments and inputs which are often sarcastic. Sometimes, they do not know how hurtful they are. They might do this to add humour or a genuine interest to add value. They need to be told tactfully about the impact they create and the trail of feelings which grip the recipient oddly. Private conversations focused on this behavior would help.
Easier said than done, is to stay objective rather than letting the sarcasm disappoint you and drag you behind. Sometimes, they have valuable inputs that need to be listened to and acted upon.
In the worst case, stay away from such colleagues. If your workplace norms treat this as bullying, you might want to draw the attention of the appropriate authorities about these behaviors.
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