How should I address this work situation (if at all)

Since you said co-worker, I am assuming she is your equal and not someone you report to. Eight more months of putting up with this situation is a really long time, so I think you should address it with Jane. “Jane, I think you over reacted to a really minor situation yesterday. This seems to be happening quite a bit lately and it’s something we need to talk about. Is there a reason you keep jumping me? Is this something we can work out or should we both go to the boss?”
Maybe not so blunt and of course in your own words, but I think you need to discuss it with her. Good luck!

Agree with @chyna. If “Jane” is a peer, you need to speak directly to her about this issue as a first step, and do it in a serious, neutral place like a conference room. I know it won’t be easy but it has to be done. If it doesn’t turn out the way you’d like, consider speaking with your manager (your manager, not Jane’s if she has a different one.)

Is she your trainer or something like that?
”...she straight out yelled at me for something that was not a big deal at all.” I’m not sure what you mean by “yelling” but that is unprofessional and abusive behaviour. I would take it more seriously before it gets worse. Tell her without mentioning that she is yelling at you & picking at you that you’re going to “talk to the boss about this”, and see what she says.

No boss likes a complainer. So the bet rout is to talk to the girl who upset you in the first place. You can do this on mutual ground, ask her out for coffee at lunch time. Chat in a regular fashion when you and ask her what upset her that day so much. You will feel great afterwards for being the more mature person and for dealing with it on your own.

No one should be yelling at anyone. There is no excuse for it, esp. if it’s becoming a habit. Abusers should not be kowtowed to.

You sound smart and very likable, but I think if you give this Jane a ‘free pass’ until you leave, you might look back on this after you’re gone and regret just “taking her crap” for the next 9 months.

A lot of good thoughts and advice were given above. Along the same lines, I suggest that you have a brief, casual conversation with your boss regarding this behavior, saying that you don’t expect her to do anything about it, but wanted her to know “just for the record” that you will invite this Jane to coffee (or whatever), and calmly ask what her problem is.

The boss will respect and admire you for handling this yourself. If Jane has more than two marbles in her head, she will have a new-found respect for you. Most importantly, you will always remember the extreme importance of self-respect, and standing up for yourself in life.

Go get it, tiger.

GRRrrrrrr…..

Speaking as one who has absorbed more than my share of undeserved criticism in my youth, and just learned to shut up and endure it, and made that a bad habit, I would say that especially if you’re planning to leave the company within the next year, this is an excellent time to practice the advice you’ll get from others above me (and from those who will also respond later) and choose some strategies that you think might work… and apply them.

You can’t go wrong. Even if you pick strategies that make the situation worse, then at least you’ll know better for the next time. And there will be a next time, and, again especially if you already know that you’re a good employee and that’s also been confirmed to you directly by the boss, you should never never make it a habit to suffer undue and undeserved criticism, or abuse in any form.

Practice now sticking up for yourself. Not that you want to stand out in this way; I get that. You just want to get along here, and do your normal good work, as any decent employee would. So you should be treated that way, and not with disrespect, contempt and abuse. Of course, as I’m sure you already know, you should always accept, and be thankful for, deserved criticism that’s delivered in a constructive way. But that’s not what you’re dealing with here, so you need to learn how to cut that off before it gets started—as it already has.

Good luck with this situation.

I do not respond well to being yelled at, particularly when that person is on an equal footing with me. The first thing out of my mouth, usually quite loudly, is “Kiss my ass you (string of personalized epithets)”. And it goes downhill from there.
So, I certainly commend you for keeping your cool and not overreacting as well. Please follow the advice of the saner heads who have answered above me and confront her in a less aggressive manner than I am capable of. Definitely go to her first and if it doesn’t modify her behaviour, you still have your boss to go to but you can then say that you have tried to work it out with her but to no avail; she is still being abusive. If you can list times and dates more power to you.
But, the main gist of all this advice is do not just sit there and take it. You are an adult. Demand to be treated as one.

Good luck with this. Hope you can make it work for you.

Every person have their different nature & sometime it will be change but it doesn’t mean you’ll change yourself for others. Just be what you are & ignore all silly stuffs.

Yes, be what you are, and ignore it, but DOCUMENT every event! This can blow up in your face. And just because you’re giving the co-worker the impression that you are ignoring it, doesn’t mean you don’t alert your supervisor to the situation. As mentioned before, you don’t need to make it a complaint, but DO tell the supervisor about it so that they are aware. It puts you (and the company) on good ground legally. Something isn’t right with that woman, and sooner or later, it will come to a head.

The best course of action is to tell Jane about how you feel and ask her why she keeps picking on you. Bosses really don’t like complaints so the most adult thing to do is to confront her at a good time and speak about that incident where you think you were unfairly treated. ps are you a guy? When a girl picks on a guy like that often it could mean that she likes him!

If you’re leaving anyway, I’d keep my mouth shut and move on. That kind of thing happens in a lot of offices everywhere all the time, including my own.

Life is unfair, managers don’t always deserve to be managers, as long as you get your check and other people notice the maltreatment, just suck it up and smile. You don’t have to play ‘suck up to mgmt’ to make your way in the world, I just refuse to play those stupid games and make my work show my worth.

@KNOWITALL _”...just suck it up and smile“__ ?Wha!
But isn’t that why “that kind of thing happens in a lot of offices everywhere all the time,...”. isn’t it?

@JamesHarrison “Every person have their different nature”? That is not nature that is a bad habit that needs to be broken.
And ” ...it doesn’t mean you’ll change yourself for others” As in, continue to be abused, become a doormat. Terrible advice.

And to those who suggested to take her out for coffee, and calmly talk to her she doesn’t deserve any of that respect, She’ll see that as a reward. She is a colleague who being yelled at, not her psychologist.

Also, bosses who “don’t like complainers” are probably lazy, sadistic, or both. The right kind of boss would want to not be kept in the dark, about things.

@flo Because all offices have favorites and suck-ups, so you can either play the game to get ahead or you can focus on your work and move on. I choose to work and move on.

@KNOWITALL Esp. the “smile” part, is just going even further than just taking it. You’re dead dead wrong about this. Again, enabling the bullies is why the problem continues to exist. Please, look at @CWOTUS @rojo‘s answers, if you haven’t.

@flo All I can say is that I’m 40 yrs old and I’m not going to explode at someone just because they do, and I’m going to pay my mortgage and other obligations regardless, so for me, it works.

When being a a-hole is against corporate policy, I’ll say something, and I do document things I feel uncomfortable about.

@flo By “taking her for a coffee”, I am not suggesting that efferrara tries to have a laugh, or makes any effort to “smooth over” anything with this woman. I have just found that staring someone in the eyes and quietly (OK, even a little coldly) asking them to explain their behavior is many times more effective (and respected) than just shouting back at an idiot. Paying for the coffee just turns the “you idiot” screw a little tighter.

Occasionally people have told me that it really bothered them when I “got in their face and challenged them” about bad behavior, yet I assure you that I (intentionally) made my point calmly, and spoke barely louder than in a whisper. And they remember that for a loooong time.

“Hold your friends close, but your enemies closer”.

(Didn’t you see ‘The Godfather’ ??)

I don’t think that anyone is counseling “exploding”, @KNOWITALL. (@rojo did suggest that this might be his default mode of response, but he wasn’t counseling that; in fact he recommended not to do that.)

But most of us, I think, are discussing various methods of working with the person in question one-on-one to defuse and correct the misdirected and overly harsh criticism. Quite the opposite of blowing up.

On the other hand, I understand the source of a thought to “turn the other cheek”, too. But we’re not talking about violent altercation or any kind of escalating violence, just attempting to obtain some workplace harmony and strategy for dealing with “ornery” people from time to time.

@OneBadApple “asking them to explain their behavior is many times more effective (and respected) than just shouting back at an idiot. ...” Who is suggesting shouting back at anyone? No one.

@KNOWITALL Who is suggesting to go the exploding route?

Office politics…. you’ll need to learn to deal with this. I have learned after many years that the best thing to do is figure out the offending person’s quirks and learn to push their happy buttons. You could complain to HR if it’s really out of line but it’s usually best to figure the person out first. If you can’t get on their good side you may consider leaving especially if you are dealing with a sociopath. Leaving is about the best option then if you can. Some people you encounter in the office will act like toddlers and quite literally throw tantrums. Find out what they are unhappy about and then make them feel good. They’ll work with you then usually. Management generally will not do anything about these folks so don’t rely on them to remedy the situation.

Others have said this, and it bears repeating: There is never an excuse for yelling at work—unless, you’re yelling for people to get to safety during an emergency. Otherwise, that behavior is 100% unprofessional and disrespectful. If you go to your boss first, your boss is going to want to know what steps you’ve taken to resolve the issue yourself.

Remember, never go to a boss with a problem; always go to a boss with a solution. Have your conversation with the co-worker first. You could say something like: “Jane, when you (focus on what seems to be minor issues/yell), I feel (devalued/disrespected/singled out). What I prefer is (a conversation that allows us to calmly discuss issues that merit/deserve our attention.) What ideas do you have on how we can accomplish that?”

Of course, you can fill in the parenthesis with your own details. This will let her know that her actions will not go unchallenged. If she persists in picking on you, then you can go to the boss having already attempted to resolve the issue and request that a meeting with all three of you may solve the problem.

Good luck.

@flo . . . @LornaLove is correct. Bosses don’t like complainers. Do you? Speaking as a “boss” as well as someone who has worked in HR for over 25 years, I can tell you that bosses prefer adult behavior. When there is a problem, an adult does not yell, ignore, or suck it up. That’s the behavior of children and avoiders. What professional adults do, is address problems and face challenges in a respectful manner. There are some people who never deal with problems but love to complain about them. I’m not saying that’s the case here. But what I am saying is that people who don’t like complainers are not lazy or sadistic. As a leader, of course you want to be kept in the loop about what’s going on in your area. And there is a professional way to do that—a way that does not absolve employees of their responsibilities to address their own challenges, first. Now . . . if an employee makes an attempt to resolve an issue and it fails, then by all means, go to the boss with a full report and an idea/recommendation of what the best next step might be.

@give_seek
The idea is to send her the message that ”..will let her know that her actions will not go unchallenged” to use your words. Read my first post, and see if it says to not deal with it yourself first. I’m just for giving her a notice, in case she is planning to persist. Hopefully she will say nothing believing that you will report this abusive behaviour to the boss.

A “conversation” gives for Jane to come back with:
“I think you’re just being too….(fill in the blank) or any number of possible garbage responses. Then what? You’re assuming once you go to her with a converation, she will just start behaving professionally.

@give_seek
Just ignore my last statement: You’re assuming once you go to her with a converation, she will just start behaving professionally..” because your:

“If she persists in picking on you, then you can go to the boss having already attempted to resolve the issue and request that a meeting with all three of you may solve the problem.”

Most likely there are real problems that require a meeting/converstion in different workplaces, that get put on the back burner, just so too much respect can be bestowed in my opinion, to these abusive people, who maybe acting like children who try to get attention even if is negative attention.

@ARE_you_kidding_me
”...the best thing to do is figure out the offending person’s quirks and learn to push their happy buttons.”
.....
“Find out what they are unhappy about and then make them feel good” omg.
Are you Jane?