This is what happened to me at my previous job where one more senior member of our department would leave me out of conversations and idea generating tasks but only engage with the other two of my coworkers who are no senior than me. I now know what is going on. I tell myself something is wrong with this woman but I just can’t pin point it. Turns out the situation I was in was triangulation. Back then I thought that I simply wasn’t likeable and smart enough to pick brain with her. I guess a neutral description of the term triangulation at least helped me with defining the problem. I at least know now that she is very likely a narcissistic b@&$$.