Have you had to deal with character defamation bullying?

[Anonymous]

In such a situation, people are spreading rumors, gossiping, and people you know may be backstabbing you (usually fake friends).

Did you encounter such a situation? If so, can you please share your story of what may have triggered it and how you handled it?

[ManOnFire]

Oh definitely. And it was one of the worst experiences I ever had on a job. Some guys were going around spreading rumors that I was trying to date or fuck all the females, to the point where females I came across wouldn't really speak anymore, even ones I never even really spoke to but now they were proactively trying to avoid me.

It was very damaging for me at the time and the rumors got so bad they were spreading to other offices. It gave me a lot of anxiety and even made me start feeling like I wanted to quit. One reason I got so much anxiety was because as a black man, people tend to think we're always trying to fuck a woman, especially any non-black women, so I definitely didn't want that image.

How I handled it was I started distancing myself from those guys, especially the ones claiming to be my friends. My manager also knew about the situation and he didn't like it either, so that helped a little. And for all the females not speaking to me, I simply pretended they didn't exist if we were in the same group of friends talking, and they knew why I was ignoring them, which eventually guilted them into fixing their attitude and trying to be cordial. Hopefully it taught them that you shouldn't be listening to people's rumors without ever knowing someone else's side of the story.

[Asker]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, these situations can be difficult to navigate. I am glad you were able to navigate through this and come out well on the other side.

[skyla_is_learning]

I didn't hear people talking behind my back. Focused on improving myself

[Asker]

Is there a typo or you never encountered such a situation?

[skyla_is_learning]

I don't understand you. I had this event

[Asker]

You said you didn't hear people talking behind your back. So what did they do? I guess your response to whatever it was to improve yourself.

[skyla_is_learning]

my best friend talked about our problems and everybody thought I was a bad friend and nobody talked to me, they just talked behind my back. If I had listened to them, I wouldn't be so strong right now.