I want to learn to deal with passive aggressive co-workers without getting aggressive.

I work in retail. Theres honestly alot of gay guys and girls, along with a few straight guys.

Ever since I worked, I became good peers with most of my co-workers. I also noticed one of the girl co-workers attempting to flirt with me and getting to know me, but I don’t shit where I work so I kept it professional. (reason for this later)

So the other day, I noticed one of the straight guys were a bit of a slimy guy. He was “cool” with me when we talked one on one, but also I felt that he was always trying to belittle me or passive aggressive when there were others around. I brushed it off the first few times giving him the benefit of the doubt but he started to get more bold.

In the beginning it started off with little things like me making a small mistake with a customer (Im just starting out) and he would snicker.

Next, he would start to pass by me and passively laugh.

I let these things just go and was indifferent to them and gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Now yesterday, one of the gay guys whos been there the longest, he sees me and says “Snakeskin! Whats in the ceiling!” I look up and when I look down, he does the dougie.

It was like a fun tease and I noticed the gay guys always banter with other guys they want to bond with this type of way.

And I also laughed hysterically.

But what I noticed is that the girl who was flirting with me was watching this go down. Also, the straight co-worker started laughing AT me hysterically and saying “what a dumbass”.

So I took a mental note “okay he wants to play this game. got it”

The gay guy after came up to me and said hey snakeskin i know you got a lot of work so i got you, let me help you out. So i knew he was genuinely just bonding with me, but this slimy guy was using that situation to laugh at me in fromt of the girl.

Now, weirdly, the girl doesnt even talk to me and ignores me.

Today, the slimy guy passes by me and starts laughing and says “you good bro?” and snickering.

I iust turned around (after being good to him and inviting him out with some buddies of mine, I had enough). I told him, “Obviously, you got something you wanna say to me. If you got something to say, we can actually just step out real quick cause Im not gonna deal with you acting passive aggressive while i work here forever”

From there he said nah nah we good, and has been avoiding me and avoiding making eye contact with me.

I actually liked the dude cause he was acting fine when we hung out alone, but he started acting up around people or when a girl is around. I tried laughing it off or joking about it, but it seemed to encourage him to do more.

What are some better ways to handle shit like this without making them uncomfortable?