Confronting office bullies

Dear EthicsTalk: I work in an office with many "cubes." A team of three women sits in the cube next to mine. One woman, Sue, supervises the other two, Barb and Vickie.

Sue and Barb seem to bully Vickie. When Vickie makes a mistake, Sue makes her send a correction notice to the whole department. But when Barb makes a mistake, she just sends a note to Sue and that’s it. I was bullied in a previous job and feel bad doing nothing.

Should I stay out of it?

Signed: Guilty Bystander

Dear Guilty Bystander: You are working next to three scorpions trapped in a bottle. Do you really want to crawl into that bottle?

We all hate bullies. We want to help their victims. But what you describe could be various things...click here for more