A friend was recently recounting an incident in her office when she had a row with a colleague, a person who has a reputation of silencing everyone, including the boss, with his wit and sarcasm. She said that the problem arose in her case when most interns seemed to be just busy doing his work and completely ignored carrying out tasks that others would give them. It became a pattern, so she lashed out and this derisive colleague got a chance to pass many uncomplimentary statements thereupon. It was a crushing experience for my friend who said that most of us have our verbal ceilings in place and we don’t go below it which makes office bullies triumph who have no such limits set for themselves. Such spats are very draining, and saps a lot of vital energy out of us and therefore following tips can take some pressure off situations like these:

1. Usually office bullies have many groupies who go along their conclusions whatever they are. Hence, it is always a better option that you also have your set of friends or a group in the office so that you are not alone to take all of your colleague’s intimidation.

2. Verbal bullies thrive on their verbal smartness; don’t provide them opportunities where they could congratulate themselves for road rolling other’s confidence through their words. Have very little to do with them. Keep out of their way to thwart such situations. Moreover, such bullies do not deserve company.

3. Be forward-looking and do not mull over rough incidents for long. Remember that sarcasm is a tool that bullies would use on anyone to win an argument, hence what they say is not to be taken personally.

4. If the conflict is taken to the boss’s table for resolution, make sure that you express inefficiency in work as your main concern and who does it is of no importance for you. It not only belittles the bullies’ self-estimation but also acts as a check of whether you got embroiled in a clash for something valid or for the sake of upping your own ego.

5. Even if an aggressive scene is created, be the first one to suggest that you regret the episode and would like to resolve the whole issue peacefully after some time. This approach would work in your favour. 

 6. If you think you are right, don’t let your confidence waver in any given situation. Verbal bullies use words to defend their interests and if you have concrete basis for what you believe in, then let your actions speak louder than others’ words.