An interesting guide that will help you interact with toxic colleagues and recover from forced communication with them.

Many people at work have to deal with people with whom communication causes enormous stress, although they do not violate company rules. Teresa West describes the six most common types that we have encountered at least once in our lives:

1. The 'Careerist' curries favor with management, but at the same time has absolutely no respect for colleagues.

2. The 'Wolf in Sheep's Clothing' gains trust, but can let you down at any moment, belittling your contribution to the common cause and attributing the success of the project to himself alone.

3. The 'Freeloader' knows how to get comfortable: does nothing, creates the appearance of work and gets paid for it.

4. The 'Bulldozer', whose main goal is to push through their vision and impose their rules, even if this is contrary to the interests of the team and the company.

5. A 'micromanager' who doesn't respect your personal space and time and is used to controlling everyone, sometimes to the detriment of their own responsibilities.

6. A 'gaslighter' deliberately distorts the real picture, tries to 'cancel' your feelings and create their own reality, the one they need.

7. A 'negligent boss' first ignores you for a long time, then begins to worry about not knowing what's going on, and as a result, in order to get rid of the worry, begins to smother you with control.

The author explains why people become toxic (there are often deep psychological reasons for this) and gives strategies for dealing with the behavior of these colleagues.