I don't understand why people pussyfoot around those types of people.
I worked for several years in a busy office. One woman there, doing a similar job to the rest of us, had a bit of an attitude problem and was rude, snappy and downright nasty at times to many of the other women. At various points she made some colleagues actually cry. It was all just dismissed, by staff and management as 'just her way'. She spoke badly to me a couple of times and I let it go, then one day when I'd not been there long she was very rude to me when I dared to place a message for her on the wrong side of her desk. I told her never to speak to me like that again, and whilst she sulked for a few weeks with me, she did eventually start being very respectful towards me. I was the only one, to my knowledge, who ever stood up to her.
More recently I have come across a woman at a toddler group I take ds to, who is very rude and abrupt with people. She's very moody, and makes put down comments. And again everyone pussyfoots around her. I tend to stay away from her, as its a large group, but everyone lamely puts up with her comments. If any child argues with her dd she starts ranting and raving at the mum of the other child. And yet still everyone flocks around her and speaks to her each week. She refuses to take her turn on the washing up rota and everyone tolerates it, and then other weeks she totally takes over the toy clearing up at the end and snaps a people if they do it wrongly. I am going to end up saying something to her at some point, or possibly leaving the group as she is totally ruling it and is a total cow! No one has a good word to say about her but they all enable her behaviour.