Feeling isolated as a worker in an office can be an awful feeling.

If you’ve been there, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

You feel left out, alone, and you have annoying, nagging suspicions that everyone is out to get you…and sometimes, they are.

Yes, some would call that paranoia, but there are definitely some workplaces that are toxic and encourage employees to plot against each other.

How’s a person supposed to concentrate and work in that kind of environment?

Well, just ask the person who wrote this story.

They talked about why their job is driving them up the wall and causing them some serious mental distress.

Read on and see what you think.

My peers are subtly icing me out, and now I’m too paranoid to leave my desk.

“I started a new corporate job a few months ago, and I’m on a small team of three.

I am the youngest by a few years (my coworkers are in their late 20s), but we are all in the exact same role—there is absolutely no hierarchy between us.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of backstabbing in the corporate world.

We used to be pretty close and would regularly go out for lunch and coffee breaks. However, there has been some friction recently.

A while back, I noticed they were subtly taking credit for collaborative work.

It gave me terrible anxiety, and the dynamic got a little toxic, so I tried to quietly distance myself.

They kept inviting me out, though, so I eventually caved just to keep the peace.

As the saying goes, people are strange…and it can be next to impossible to figure some of them out.

Now, there has been a really weird shift. They still expect me to go to lunch with them, but they have started making up excuses to avoid our usual coffee breaks. It feels very intentional, like they are suddenly freezing me out of half of our daily routine.

Now, I just endure lunch with them and spend the rest of the day sitting alone at my desk.

Because of the previous issues with them taking credit for work, my anxiety is through the roof. We all pull from the same ticket queue, and I am now terrified to leave my desk.

Nobody likes to feel this way at work.

I have this constant, nagging fear that if I get up to stretch or grab a drink, they will snatch up the tickets, or management will come over to assign work while I’m away.

I feel like I’m chained to my chair out of pure paranoia and I’m experiencing massive imposter syndrome again.

Has anyone dealt with this kind of subtle peer exclusion?

How do I navigate this dynamic and just do my job without feeling like I have to guard my desk with my life?”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who was stunned when her friends finally admitted the reason for their falling out.

Check out how folks reacted on Reddit.

This person had a lot to say.

Another Reddit user chimed in.

And this reader shared their thoughts.

This poor person…

You might not agree with how they’re handling this situation, and you might even think they’re blowing things out of proportion, but they’re clearly having some serious issues in that office.

Let’s hope that they get it figured out sooner than later.

They need to get this under control…or find a new job.