Don't let toxic behavior rule

Courtney snides at you and rolls her eyes during your presentation.

Matt pretends to be a team player in front of your boss and co-workers, yet he is jealous of you and your accomplishments and credentials.

June stabs you in the back the first moment she can. She even has a posse of subordinates who do the same.

Taylor can't stand to see you look better than her. She'll even claim your idea to be hers.

Mike, your co-worker, will tell your boss all the things he thinks you do wrong.

Cheryl doesn't like you because you received a promotion. Therefore, in conversations with team members, she will give them eye contact, but ignores you.

Judy doesn't like you because English is your second language. She laughs when you mispronounce words and phrases.

Jessica schmoozes your boss left and right Everyone can see what she is doing. It's enough to make you want to vomit, but it works for her because she receives special privileges, such as not having to record time off and getting to go to lunch with the boss.

Ted has a potty mouth, will tell you inappropriate jokes, speak thoughts he should keep to himself and curse profusely.

Sarah walks around with a feeling of entitlement since your boss shares confidential information about you and your co-workers with her.

Courtney brags about her work over and over and over again.

Blake blows a small mistake into a huge one telling anyone he can and quite loudly to take the focus off how behind he is in his work.

These are just some examples of toxic behaviors in the workplace.

Unfortunately, they occur in almost every organization and throughout each work day.

Yet someone once said, "Hatred is toxic waste in the river of life."

None of us knows when our last day on Earth is. And even if we did, why go out being toxic?

And besides, isn't one of our purposes in life to build each other up, not tear each other down?

Truly, one answer to toxic behavior, according to American writer, Eric Hoffer, is compassion.

"It is the antitoxin of the soul: Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless."

So if you're doing any one of the toxic behaviors above, try replacing them with compassion, especially since when you have concern for another, it takes the focus off of you.

It may not be an overnight cure, but at least it's a first step.

Cynthia Kimball is a professional speaker and trainer. She writes a column for weeklies' in southern Utah and is a southern Utah correspondent for Deseret News. She can be reached at kimball@every1counts.net. Her column, "Every1Counts," appears on deseretnews.com bi-monthly.