I've been in my job nearly 10 months now, but this is something I picked up on from pretty much day 1. I'm in a small group in my company consisting of about 10-20 people, and it seems like everyone is always gossiping. Me personally, I hate drama. I do whatever I can to avoid it. I just try not to engage when I hear it. I'm actually very anxious too and always think people are talking about me behind my back, so this only exasperates and validates that fear.
The team I'm on is half younger people, and then a few really seasoned people in the industry (I'm talking decades). The older folks especially just seem so… hateful towards their coworkers. Sometimes it's to their faces, “making jokes”. Sometimes it's behind their backs, pretty much just talking shit about someone in the group or insulting them for whatever reason.
Thankfully, I can work remote up to half my hours, but I find myself working more than that from home out of fear and anxiety. I'm afraid the “office politics” is starting to affect my work and I don't want this to spiral into a writeup or God forbid, termination.
So, what do you think? Is the shit talking amongst my office harmless? Or is it toxic? What do I do about it???