Don’t expect workplace allies if you don’t act like one yourself.

It seems like common sense that you have to give a little to get something back, but this is a lesson that many people refuse to learn time and again in many different areas of life. This is especially true of the workplace; a lot of professional success depends on who you know and how you know them, but certain employees are more interested in stoking rivalry than working as a team.

Facing interpersonal conflict in the workplace is annoying, because you have to behave yourself if you want to keep your job. Direct confrontation is not always the best way to solve the matter. That being said, there can sometimes be indirect opportunities to get back at a mean coworker if you happen to be the petty type. It is just about knowing when to intervene and when to keep out of certain situations. If the individual involved has a problem with that, they do not technically have a strong argument that you have done something wrong.