@SilverTrees, one of your posts got me pondering about this.

To all at PC:

Do you consider a person's actions against someone else as a warning sign not to get (or remian) close to that person?

For example, if you start to see a very nasty side of your girlfriend when she breaks up with her partner, do you think:

"Well, she is not personally doing this to me, so I'm safe," or do you see that as a red flag that demonstrates her character coming to surface?

Would you ignore a person's vindictive actions against someone else as if you are an exception and immune from such person's harm?

Or would you see that as a proof of what she is capable of, if things were to not work out between you two? Would it be a good enough reason to start guarding yourself by being cautious with her?

I definitely pay attention to how someone treats others, and if their behavior is not nice, I tend to avoid interacting with them as much as possible.

Unfortunately, sometimes at work, we still have to interact with people who treat others shabbily.

In that case I do my best to make myself a smaller target and/or stay out of their line of fire as much as possible.

In situations that I cannot do that, I get whatever interaction is necessary over with as quickly as possible so I don't have to remain around their negativity far too long.

In more extreme situations (bullying/abuse/discrimination), I won't hesitate to go to HR/EOO/ADA about it, though.

To sum it up with what was once a popular bumper sticker ...

MEAN PEOPLE SUCK!

Excellent question Ennie.

[divine1966]

I stay away from nasty people.

Saying that, you don’t always know how and why someone behaves with other people. If someone breaks up with a partner in a nasty manner it could be because they are afraid and worry about their safety.

You can’t know the whole story. So it’s wuse to take time to get to know people first