In life people will treat you the way that you allow them to.
They'll walk all over you if you let them.
As I get older I find that I'm becoming more and more intolerant. I've never had much of a tolerance for poor treatment, however as I grow older I have a lot less patience. If someone isn't going to treat me the way I want to be treated I'm out of there.
When I was younger I'd stick up for myself, I'd make sure that they knew the way they were behaving wasn't acceptable. I don't bother with that anymore, I just walk away. I can't even be bothered explaining myself, I just walk.
Of course, there are times when it's not possible to just walk.
My first full time job when I was 16 I had an awful manager. He was a creep who was always trying to touch me and look up my skirt. I worked in a shoe store and we had to climb up a ladder to reach the shoes on the higher shelves, every time I was on the ladder he'd find a reason to come and talk to me.
You know how I dealt with him? Twice my foot accidentally slipped and I accidentally kicked him in the face.
That solved the ladder problem.
As for him putting his arms around me, whenever he did that I'd elbow him. Didn't take long for him to get the message.
I had another job where the boss was harassing me. It went on for quite a long period of time and there were days when I didn't want to go to work. I knew that if I said anything it'd ruin my career so I waited. I built up a portfolio of evidence to prove what was going on then the team and I (many of whom he was also harassing) made things unpleasant at work so he got another job.
The other job was temporary and he was intending to come back in three months. When he left I presented my file of evidence to the deputy manager.
Sleaze bag wasn't allowed to come back and I got his job. Winning.
There are many ways to deal with awful people, it doesn't always have to be confrontational.
People can be assholes. It's them, not you. Don't allow an awful person to dent your confidence or make you feel inferior.
