Difficult co-worker

There's not much information to go. Are they the same grade as you? Are they on your team? As A general rule of thumb I don't particularly care if I offend my co-workers. Now, while at all times I'd avoid it if possible, but sometimes you need to break a few eggs to make a cake. It might be worth just ignoring them and stop consulting with them on everything unless it's specifically required as they are your manager.

What's your grade? If you're an AP just bide your time and mobility at the first opportunity. If they are not your manager then you will just have to feed them information on a need to know basis.

I worked with a complete bellend for about 5 years and he eventually left. He had been there for years, wasn't a very nice person and eventually the opportunity came about where a few of us were able to push him out. Did I mention he was my boss? Organisations do change over time and before you know it things will change. Maybe you are not there long enough to assert your position but give it time as it will change. If the opportunity comes up to work somewhere else, then take that opportunity but don't worry too much about it as most of the time difficult co-workers either mellow over time or realise the world around them is changing, nobody likes working with them and they leave.

That's what I've tended to do with gate keepers. Left them to their own area and carved out my own.

But being careful to document processes and work items so it's clear (though subtle) that any bottle necks or delays are under some else's remit. But I'm hitting it out of the park where I'm given free reign.

Because you want to be can do, not can't do.

Also part of gatekeeping is to make everyone else look bad. So that's the battle.

"....a workplace doesn't stay miserable forever..."

Don't really agree with that. Many companies or business area have terrible reputation for working conditions or corporate culture that exists for decades. Or People that have terrible reputations. They establish a terrible work environment that persists long after they leave.

It's often not possible to bypass or outperform these people. For sure try things. But ultimately I think you have to move away from these people so not to caught in their web.

The longer you are in a job, the more immune you become to all the bull. Workplaces are shaped around the people that work in them so it's nonsense that they don't change over time.

Just to add a slightly different view on this. I worked in a place over 10 years but other people would rotate around me. Over years we tried many different methods and the process had been refined over time. To the extent when people new to the area would make a suggestion to change something they found cumbersome. You could explain why things were done that way or the problems doing it a different way. The "new" person would be sure they were right and go to a "new" manager and make the proposal and they wouldn't know the reasons for the process so agree.

As an experienced person in the area I would highlight why it didn't work before and why it won't work now either. Overruled and they attempt the change only to abandon it months later with productivity having dropped or other issues coming up. Bare in mind the process is fully documented beforehand but the majority of the staff never fully read it nor follow it. Often the change in the process is an attempt to find a way to do something that is covered by the existing process and the problem is actually people not following the process they are meant to.

Roughly every 18 months somebody would suggest changing a process for some "insight" they had. After many failed attempts while I was there I stopped having the discussion with the person who came up with it and talk to the manager and show them the failed attempts doing the same thing before or why we do it the way we do. Some managers listened and others didn't but by the end ever manager would tell the new manager if I gave them a reason to not do something to listen.

I left 4 years ago because another manager came in and insisted on changes while ignoring warnings and within 6 months of them joining productivity drop and 4 massive bugs were deployed live. He tried to blame me and that was the last straw. I never interfered or tried to slow things but did not raise any concerns when I saw issues as when I did I was accused of trying to reverse the new process. They were in the process of reinstating the old process when I left and it took them a good 2 years before performance was back on track.

I could have been accused of going behind peoples' back or torpedoing an idea but what I was doing saved so much hassle of endless discussions. I find most people ignore processes in place before they come up with "new" ways to do something. One of the old rules was make sure payment processing is completed fully before signing off on a change to any payment processing change no matter what the developer says. New rule if the developers says it is only a minor change and won't affect any other payments only test internal process and sign off. This effectively removed UAT and had a tester taking the word of he developer on how to test it. So what happened when an inexperienced tester and inexperienced developer meet? Worse an experienced developer tells a junior tester they only have to test a small part of the system?

I was a contractor so it wasn't really me stuck in a place but it just wasn't worth the money to stay in a place that just wanted to repeat mistakes over and over again while never saying I told you so.