It is vital to know a bully's traits before you fall victim to his/her trap. Yes, it is a sort of protecting yourself from a bully's claws when you know all this tips and be prepared to confront him/her.

Here are common traits among bullies:

1. Ambitious

He/she is always aiming for the top. No wonder he/she would do everything, even beyond decency and all just to get promoted and enjoy certain power over his/her peers.

2. Aggressive

He/she won't let any stone left unturned just to add feathers to his/her cap. Even to the point of rubbing elbows with the powers that be, then after getting his/her desires materialized, he/she would show his/her real color. A bully has no sense of empathy or loyalty or what.

3. Rude

Respect is nowhere found in his/her dictionary. He/she would ignore others feelings or what when given a chance to, for what matters most to him/her is fulfillment of success, power and influence.

4. Manipulator

He/she has mastered the skills of getting weaklings support and unsuspecting victims loyalty, thus, he/she gets the feeling of accomplishment once his/her desires is materialized through manipulations.

5. Dishonest

Taking advantage of others naivete, say making people fools about the real score. He/she would not share information that could help others avail of same advantage like promotion, scholarship, etc.

6. Arrogant

He/she looks down on others. Narcissistic is what aptly described him/her. Through feeling superior, he/she lavishes on him-her/self of being the best and mightiest among the group of dumb-weakling- and -nobody.

7. Selfish

With his/her desire to dominate the workplace, monopolizing a meeting, say doing the monologue all the times, thus, any butt ins would be evaded by him/her and dismissed others opinion as inferior or impossible or laughable.

8. Self-centered

Always sees him-her/self the star of the show. Once you ignore him/her in any event or what, wait for your reprimand the next meeting. With an air of mega proportion in his/her head, he/she would not be able see where he/she really stands.

The above traits are just but a few. When you see any of these traits from your bully or bullies, be ready to see more of their hidden agenda.

The author is a mentor of teachers in elementary grades in the Philippines. Aside from being a grade school teacher, he is also contributing articles to magazines just to make good use of his spare time. He has joined writing contest in the past, but until now, he is dreaming of bagging an award! This is why, he is now trying his luck in this endeavor--blogging-- to find his niche and somewhere, somehow find a way of publishing a book.