Are you working with a SLIPPERY SNAKE? 🐍

Has this happened to you?...

You’ve confided in a colleague. Maybe it is about something from your personal life, or maybe someone or something has ‘irked’ you in the workplace, and you’ve chatted with this person about it. They have been totally lovely and supportive about it at the time, and empathised and even AGREED with you (if it was a workplace matter).

They may have even been the ‘instigator’ themselves in sharing with you their feelings about a work colleague or situation.

THEN,

Without you knowing, they have slithered over to someone else in the workplace and told them all what you’ve said. Of course, leaving out their input / true responses from the original conversation.

IN FACT:

They slither from person to person (or group to group) - finding out all the ‘gossip’ and then spreading a mixture of half-truths and (in some cases) plain lies from person to person. Under the guise of being, ‘everyone’s friend’.

BUT THEY’RE REALLY NOT!

As it turns out, they are NOBODY’S FRIEND.

THE TRUTH IS:

You CAN be everybody's friend… if you stay out of the drama!

But with a slippery snake, they are in the thick of the drama and invariably, CREATING the drama in the first place!

And that is not being a friend at all to ANYBODY!

What can you do if you work with a slippery snake?

Well, the first bit of advice is to be very careful with what you share with them. Maintain a friendly manner with them but don't reveal too much about yourself and your true feelings about your personal life and in the workplace.

Keep the conversation on a surface level. Be vague.

ULTIMATELY:

They have a desire for everyone to like them, and in their mind, THIS is the way to go about it.

Understand that these types of people do have a tendency to create drama intentionally. They also have a propensity to make things up and/or manipulate any nuggets of ‘truth’ and there is very little you can do about it.

People believe what they want to believe about you in life and in the workplace.

Be kind - be friendly AND protect yourself! Don't share anything that you don't want them to know or can twist in any way.

Try and stay out of the drama yourself and just go about your business and your life the best you can and as I said, if people want to make up things about you they will but HOLD YOUR HEAD UP HIGH! and be true to yourself.

The truth invariable wills out!

Don't let the experience put you off ever trusting in people again because the majority of people in the workplace do show themselves to be kind.

But just hang fire before you share sensitive things with colleagues. Take some time to really see if they can be trusted and where their allegiances lie. Obviously, even with time, people can still surprise you and betray you, but it’s less likely over time once trust has been built.

Ultimately, we HAVE to trust some people in our life. We HAVE to share things and get things off our chests from time to time. It is sad world indeed if we ever felt we couldn’t tell a soul anything sensitive.

The good news is though, the reign of a slippery snake is relatively short-lived.

Their behaviour is childish…playground like…and before long, their ‘slipperish’ behaviour comes to a halt.

I have met a few slippery snakes in my time - in the workplace and in life - and it's not long before all parties concerned cotton on to their behaviour and begin losing trust in them as a confidant.

The slippery snake gets to learn their own lesson, very soon, as they realise no one is quite as willing to share themselves with them as before.

The trust has gone.

Let those snakes slither off back under their rock.

Take care of yourselves.

🧡🐣