Problem at Work =/

[DandyDandelion]

I have this coworker who talks down to me and treats me as if I'm not better than dirt. She's ten years older than me; she treats me like she's my boss. She points out things she thinks I do wrong, she bosses me around and she's mean. She's nice sometimes and we talk and laugh and all that, but then she'll turn around and be rude. I felt as if she was picking a fight with me today because she was just going for my throat (figuratively speaking, of course). I was trying to make an announcement and I started crying during it. I am NOT one to cry, but I couldn't take it anymore. She'll go through the stuff I do at work, looking for little things to criticize me for. Sometimes, I can't believe the things she picks at because they're soooo miniscule and she'll do things worse.
I can't take it anymore. I want to tell her off but I can't. I get talked down to at home enough as it is, I don't need it at work. Especially not from someone who has no authority over me and has done some mean things to the other workers' belongings. I don't know what to do.

Also, I forgot to mention. Today, I was so upset that I was shaking. I thought I was going to have a panic attack and I thought I was going to throw up. I've had a mad headache since I got off work and I feel like quitting. It's so close to the holidays though, and I can't do that because that would be messed up of me. Still, part of me wants to just make that statement because I'm so sick of being mistreated and talked down to. I know she's talking poorly of me to other workers as well (not spreading rumors, but telling my mistakes and making me sound like a complete idiot). All I could think of today was how worthless I truly feel and how it'd be better if I just weren't there or anywhere.

 

[Theodore1]

1 thing works like a charm in these situations, since you say she's not your boss.
Completely, and i mean Completely, act as if she is not even there.
Don't say you can't do it. You can.

If she comes near you, move away.
If she starts talking to you. move away.
if she is comes between you and another person/people discussing, excuse yourself to the person you are talking and move away. Go back when she leaves.
Move away the moment she comes near you or begins to talk. Do not give her the satisfaction of even to begin to say anything.
Show her that you really don't care to have people like her in your life.
If eventually she asks what is up with your behavior, you may, if you want, tell her, that you only have room in your life for real friends, and not for people who act one way at one time, and another way at another time, and who find faults with everything and everyone, and leave.
If she says she's sorry, then you can see if she is willing to change.
If not, continue ignoring and avoiding her.
At some point, she'll get bored of not getting your attention, and she'll leave you alone.
It works.

 

[DandyDandelion]

I've tried acting as though she isn't there and that just makes things worse. She said she and another worker have asked me to do things that I never got around to doing (which isn't even true) and when I asked her to present an example, she said she couldn't at that moment and that she didn't have to give me an example. I started laughing because it was ridiculous and she was like, "What's so funny?" She talks down to me so badly and sometimes I feel as if she speaks poorly of me to other workers.

I don't know why, but she constantly picks at everything I do. She says I never just do bigger projects or anything around our area, and that's true. It's true because when I've tried, she only picked it all apart, changed everything back and told me not to do it. Why should I have to do "bigger projects" when all she's going to do is shove in my face how she doesn't like it (even though, the majority of the time, our area actually looks cleaner when I get certain parts).

From now on, I don't even care. I'm just going to do what I want to do, start throwing things away that we don't even need (yet, somehow, stay hoarded), etc. If she doesn't like it, she can deal with it on her own. She doesn't own the area and she has no right to talk down to me. It just bothers me when she implies that fellow workers in our area have spoken ill of me because they are nice to me, but now I have to question if they've been talking about me with her or if she's said bad things about me. It's just not even worth it anymore. It's like walking on eggshells with her. If she's having a bad day, she LOOKS for reasons to give me an attitude. She's bossy and overbearing. Good grief, I can't stand it. Now, when I'm at work, I'm in a constant panic state because I'm trying to find ways to make things perfect and when there's nothing more to do in the area, I still panic because I feel it's not good enough. I'm even stressed about going in tomorrow night after school because she's going to be there and I just KNOW she's going to have rotten things to say.