I work in an office where things have become really uncomfortable, and I feel like I’ve been unfairly dragged into a situation that I didn’t cause.
A colleague (T) told another colleague (R) that someone else (K) was planning to leave because of me. R then told me, which obviously upset me because I had no idea where this had come from. When I calmly asked T about it in private, she completely backtracked, saying she never said my name and had actually said “the team” instead.
But then, T came into the office and caused absolute chaos—raising her voice, saying things that pitted everyone against each other, bringing up unrelated work grievances, and making me feel like I was being singled out. It felt like a witch hunt, and I was so overwhelmed that I had to remove myself from the situation. I left work 10 mins earlier I felt very attacked.
After I left, T apparently continued stirring things up, and I later found out she was making comments about my previous sickness absence, implying I was overly sensitive and might take more time off. At the same time, I’ve also learned that some of my messages to R (which weren’t even about work, just general chat) were screenshotted and shown to others.
I’ve since spoken to K directly, and she confirmed she never said she was leaving because of me—only that she had felt an atmosphere in the office. But somehow, this got twisted by T into something much bigger. Now, I feel incredibly uncomfortable at work. T has avoided me completely since, and I just don’t trust R anymore either.
I’ve spoken to my union, who said this was handled very poorly, but I’m still unsure what to do next. I want to remain professional, but I also don’t want to be in a situation where I constantly feel on edge or like things I say could be twisted and used against me.
Has anyone been through anything similar? How did you handle it?