Bully maybe not the right word, but for the last year or so, I have been putting up with crap from a fellow colleague. This colleague has no line management responsibilities for me.
Now this is where this might be outing, but I am pregnant, and since I have told my employer this, I have received some comments which I had addressed at the time and informed my manager, and this has been feedback. Today, I left for a maternity appointment and advised I wouldn't be returning after as it was a longer appointment (I am high risk so it was a scan, meeting with consultant and my whooping cough vaccine), so by the time I left my appointment, it was 25 minutes before due to finish, and my place of work is 20 minutes from the hospital. At the end of the day my line manager was happy with this, but this colleague questioned it! And I felt rooted to the spot and felt no option but to justify why I wouldn't be returning. I'm angry at myself for this.
This colleague has a very frosty personality and has made it clear I am not liked by them, but I want to stand up for myself but don't know how to as they just argue back then walk away and go straight to my manager. For context, they have been in the team for over 20 years, so clearly has deep roots.
I don't know what to do. I don't want to keep annoying my manager with it and I don't want to go down the HR route yet as I will be finishing up for maternity soon, but aware I need to come back to this when I end maternity.
Any tips would be great. They make me nervous to stand up for myself and I left today crying (they didn't see) and I'm annoyed at myself for letting them do that to me!!