Quiet person and not liked at work

Ever since I was a kid I've always been a quiet, I thought I would be able to snap out of it - by going to uni but it didn't work.

Now at work, I'm being treated very unfairly by management because I'm quiet and the rest of my team are bubbly and talkative people. I'm the only quiet person.

They see my behaviour an issue because they told me I'm not being a team player because I don't talk a lot... I do share work and do talk to my team - but obvs not a lot.

I had to explain my personality to management, Is this right? I am nice, kind and work really hard. I get on well with people

I'm 25 and I've accepted who I am and I know I can't be someone I'm not. I don't want to be like other people to please others.

But I feel like I'm being persecuted because I'm quiet.

They're doing loads of things to make me quit my job because I'm not liked.

I've never been treated this way before in my previous experiences

I feel very self conscious now what people think about me, I feel stressed and I'm now suffering from physical issues because of anxiety/stress

Any advice?

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

I'm almost 25 and have been through what you're going through. I've always been quiet but have always got along fine with everyone and been liked. Then a couple of years ago I started at a workplace where I would socialise and be friendly and hang out with the others at lunch but my supervisor and colleagues would pick apart my personality and say that I didn't join in and they would just criticise everything I did even though I was training. If I asked questions they said I was asking too many questions and if I didn't they said I wasn't asking enough. I was really nice to everyone but my colleagues would always go back and tell the supervisor really stupid things e.g. if I didn't hear someone asking me something and they had to repeat themselves they would tell the supervisor that I didn't listen to them or if I was in someone's way and didn't notice they'd go and report it to the supervisor. It got to the point where my supervisor came up with a list of petty things about me and said if I didn't improve I would lose my job. I didn't even do anything wrong and then I got fired and was never told the reason, just that it was a combination of things and I wasn't the right fit.

Since then, I have started at a new workplace and been there for over a year and I am appreciated and respected. My colleagues all like me and although I am quiet I am comfortable to chat and get along with people fine as I am in a place where I am treated fairly and the people are nice. You might be quiet but you'll find that it will be naturally easier to chat to people who aren't constantly judging you. My advice would be to not stress and find another workplace where you can be happy and fit in. If you stay where you are you'll constantly be trying to please people who are treating you poorly. You need to be working somewhere where you are treated as a human being and not persecuted because you're a bit quiet.