17 Visible Signs Your Coworker Is Threatened By You

Written By Shahzaib Arshad

Do you have a coworker try to undermine your work and get in the way of your success?

They might just be threatened by you. Check out this post for signs that you threaten them!

Also, see the possible ways to deal with a threatened coworker Or the signs coworkers are intimidated by you.

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17 Signs Your Coworker Is Threatened By You

It can be vague to guess if your colleague really feels so or is it in your head?

Guessing for the Signs coworkers are intimidated by you? Look at these signs to make sure if it’s true.

1. They Speak To You In A Condescending Tone:

Do you notice that your coworker speaks to you in a rude tone? If so, this may be a sign that your coworker is threatened by you and is trying to make themselves feel better.

Many people speak to others this way because they feel inferior. They speak down on those who are better than them.

2. Your Threatened Coworker Acts Hysterically When He See You:

Your threatened coworker might bang the coffee cup on the table, the moment you enter the office. He is either showing his frustration or trying to cover up his anger.

You’ll often see him rushing to the other side when you’re in the kitchen for a coffee break. 

His actions will say a lot about his thoughts. Threatened people don’t know how to act whenever you’re near to them. So it’s an absolute sign your coworker is threatened by you.

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3. He Never Lends You A Helping Hand:

If you’re stuck in a bad situation, your threatened coworker will never help you and pretend he didn’t saw you. When you confront such people, they use excuses to get away with it.

He might say that he was too busy to help you but in reality, he was enjoying the situation you were stuck in.

If you think your coworker didn’t have a fine reason for not helping you, he’s threatened of you.

Moreover, it will be an embarrassing situation for you when asking for help because he’ll refuse somehow.

Your Coworker Always Seem To Be Too Busy
He Never Lends You A Helping Hand

Your threatened coworkers might even throw some negative comments after you move away.

That’s a clear sign of jealousy and hatred. Thinking you to be an external hire, your coworkers never let you be with them.

4. He Gets Away With Everything By Throwing You Under The Bus:

Whenever a project turns out to be the result of poor performance, he’ll push you to face the trouble.

Moreover, a threatened coworker always looks to steal the credit. So the project you both did together will go to his name.

They will tell others they did the project and never mention your contributions. Also, make you look bad and try their best to destroy your reputation.

And that’s why they place the blame for their shortcomings on you. So you suffer the consequences of whatever happens next.

5. He Taunts You Every time You Get A “Good Job” From The Boss:

A threatened coworker will do everything possible to make you feel low and worthless. He’ll taunt you when you get appreciated by your boss just because he can’t stand your success.

Signs Your Coworker Is Threatened By You
He Taunts You Every time You Get A “Good Job” From The Boss

What you need to do is gather yourself up and try not to get it to your head. Because the more you’ll think, the more it’ll absorb you.

You can offer genuine appreciation in return for not making things go too much worse. So give a “thumbs up” when he does something great.

6. A Threatened Coworker Makes Conspiracies Against You:

Threatened people can never stand your success, they’ll try their best to bring you down. When you’re at your highest, look around to see conspiracies getting birthed against you.

Your threatened coworker might use negative points to get you kicked out from the job.

Such a coworker talks behind your back and doesn’t refrain from spreading hatred.

But you should be graceful enough to keep yourself out of such conspiracies. While you do so, don’t allow your emotions to come into the way.

7. The Threatened Coworker Always Seems To Run Away From You:

Your threatened coworker will avoid you as it’s challenging to face a person we hate.

He rolls his eyes when you enter the office and in such situations make sure you threaten him.

He Avoids You Because He Feels Threatened By You
The Threatened Coworker Always Seems To Run Away From You

He might not feel comfortable around you. If you’re getting avoided by your coworker at the cafeteria or he avoids the place where you stand.

Then add it to the list of signs your coworker feels threatened by you.

8. Signs Your Coworker Is Threatened By You – Pretends To Be Rigid Around You:

It’s his way of telling you that he doesn’t care about your presence or you aren’t that important to him. While in reality, he is jealous and your presence threatens him.

Such people keep their expressions and body language stern so that other people keep a safe distance from them.

There’s nothing special about such personalities, they’re just trying to create suspense and behave like a mystery.

Your threatened coworker might be doing this because he wants to hide his insecurities.

9. He Keeps The Tittle-Tattle Game On:

Your coworker is jealous of your success and engages in unethical or immoral behavior just to belittle you. 

As he feels threatened, he’ll chit-chat about you with every person he sees throughout the day.

He Starts Spreading Rumors About You
He Keeps The Tittle-Tattle Game On

For weakening your image in the workplace, this person is ready to talk falsely behind your back.

So if this coworker is spreading negative things about you, take it as a sign he’s threatened by you. However, you should take an action, it would be a good gesture for you and everyone around.

10. The Sign Your Coworker Is Threatened Is He Never Nods His Head On Your Opinions:

One of the easiest signs to spot a threatened coworker is to look at if they respect and consider your point of view.

Threatened coworkers will always oppose your ideas and points of discussion.

A state of continuous disagreement with you says it all!

It would be clear to you that they don’t like you  because of their biasness.

Even sometimes, before finishing your sentence, your idea gets rejected. It’s an evident sign that your coworkers don’t like you.

11. He Keeps The Communication Very Short:

Being reserved is another thing, but if a person is overly uncommunicative then there’s something weird. A coworker who is being very short in his communication might be threatened by you.

If a person is avoiding you he must have something in his mind. Either he hates you for no reason or feels inferiority complex while talking to you.

Your Threatened Coworker Talks Short To You
He Keeps The Communication Very Short

Such people are always in a hurry to get rid of you and reply shortly when you try to talk.

So it won’t be wrong to say that the person is avoiding you because he feels threatened.

12. You Never Got An Invitation Of His Parties:

It can be their choice to invite you to their private parties or not. But if your coworker is inviting everyone else from the office to her birthday party, and it’s only you! Then it’s a sign of a threatened mate.

It’s a natural human behavior to keep the special people close in our big moments and avoids those we hate.

Even if you invite them to your gatherings, they won’t show up.

Turning down your invitation is also a clear sign that they don’t like you.

13. He Never Chit-Chats With You Over The Coffee Break:

Is that coworker closer to other people but not with you? You must have seen him talking about vacations and trips with other colleagues.

But he doesn’t talk to you in the same way. Even he avoids talking about his personal life whenever you’re somewhere around.

You Are Not Invited To His Personal Space
He Never Chit-Chats With You Over The Coffee Break

 It may be their way of showing their dislike towards you.

They won’t avoid gossiping about you, and you’ll feel that they stop talking when they see you.

Now it’s time to beware that they are talking bad at your back.

14. Signs Your Coworker Is Threatened By You – Keeps On Spreading Stones In Your Way:

When you achieve success, look around for those who clap for you. There will be very few people who are genuinely happy for you.

The others are those who smirk and never cheers you up for your success. Yes, these are the ones who are threatened by you.

They are the same people who will cheer others for getting success on the same projects.

Tries To Lessen The Impact Of Your Success
Signs Your Coworker Is Threatened By You – Keeps On Spreading Stones In Your Way

This differentiating behavior is a sign that they have hatred for you. Sometimes threatened coworkers will keep reminding you about your past failures.

So you can’t enjoy the happiness of your present success.

15. Not Trusting You Is A Strong Sign They Feel Threatened:

There’s a considerable lack of trust in you. For instance, you get included in a project but then get removed at the same time.

That’s because your coworkers don’t trust you. They think you can’t handle the responsibility.

If your ideas get questioned more than often, this is a clear sign of a threatened coworker.

16. Everyone In The Office Tells You “He” Hates You:

Threatened people become contagious in their hatred, and they can go to any limit. When they hear your name, they won’t refrain from openly telling other coworkers how much they hate you.

Threatened coworkers can’t even bear your presence.

To worsen the situation, they make false statements in your name. So you fall in other’s eyes too, and your reputation gets destroyed.

17. You Aren’t A Participant Of Their Dirty Jokes:

Your coworker is threatened by you when he doesn’t include you in his humor. He keeps a distance to show you aren’t important to them.

Cracking jokes makes the relationship between coworkers stronger. Also, it lessens the stress of the workplace.

But if you aren’t allowed in such discussions, then he probably doesn’t like you.

Threatened Coworker Never Include You In His Humor
You Aren’t A Participant Of Their Dirty Jokes

At times you’ll feel a sudden change in the environment when you enter the office. That’s also because your coworkers aren’t comfortable with your presence.

You don’t get considered a part of their team, and it’s a sign.

How To Deal With A Threatened Coworker

It’s essential to deal with a threatened coworker to maintain the peace of the workplace. Here, have a look at what you need to do in this regard if you see signs someone is threatened by you at work.

1. Ignore This Situation

Ignoring your threatened coworker is the best way to deal with it. It would help if you continued being the kind person you are.

You Should Choose To Ignore This Situation
Ignore This Situation

Stay professional and include your coworkers in your meetings. Follow their informative talk, and don’t let their negative comments get over you.

If they start to insult you, just let it go and move on because you don’t need to bend to their level.

2. Get Yourself A Support System

It’s easy to say to ignore a threatened coworker than actually dealing with it.

You must have a healthy support system available for you. It can either be a best friend or a mentor to whom you can talk.

He would also help you to plan your next move. Suppose the hatred thrown by your coworker surrounds you. Then make sure to have a way to put it all out.

Along with having a support system, try to take care of yourself.

You can join a yoga class or read a magazine to get yourself together.

3. Document Your Projects

Whatever you do at the office, please keep a record of it. Documenting your projects and having proof would help you to prove yourself.

Keep A Record Of Your Projects
Document Your Projects

Suppose you have all the emails and copies of correspondence. Then your threatened coworker can’t lie about your performance.

So consider having a backup of everything, so you don’t get in trouble later.

4. Consider Other Options

No one of us wants to give a coworker the power to push us out of our job. It’s a scary situation if all your coworkers feel threatened by you.

But you have to deal with it instead of getting worried.

The toxic environment of a workplace will make you wish you could take a leave.

It’s time you should look at other options because your mental health is more important than your job.

Having a jealous coworker is hard, but you should have some empathy. Try looking at the reason behind it. What makes them threatened of you?

Communication can be helpful here. Confront your coworker and sort out the matter in a polite way.

If it doesn’t work, then there’s always an option to look for another job.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Can You Tell If You Threaten Someone?

There are many signs to spot a person who is threatened by you. A threatened person won't make eye contact with you and stay a bit away from you. He won't ask you any question about you and refuses to give any constructive feedback.

What Do You Do When You Feel Threatened By Someone?

Dealing with a threat on your own can be dangerous, so tell someone and involve them. Keep the evidence of how the threat occurs and get a restraining order. You can also call on civil remedies for help.

How Can You Prove A Verbal Threat?

A verbal threat is a crime when the speaker threatens to kill the listener or his family. He keeps the threat specific. The speaker will communicate his threat either verbally or through electronic media.

What Does It Mean To Feel Threatened By Someone?

Feeling threatened by someone means to feel as if they are going to harm you. You'll show anger or rejection in response to feeling threatened by someone.

Conclusion

We all see our jobs as a type of worship and consider the workplace as sacred.

No one of us wants to spread hatred and negativity at such places. So it’s probably a sin to spread hatred against someone. Feeling threatened at workplace can hamper one’s growth.

And it can also lead to career loss for some of us. Extreme cases can sometimes put lives at risk.

Share what you learned from this article in the comment section below.

Last Updated on 5 months by Saad

Shahzaib Arshad
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