When you hear the words "harassment" and "workplace" together you probably automatically insert "sexual" in there somewhere, don't you? Although sexual harassment does seem to get most of the press these days (sex sells, I guess) there's an even bigger threat lurking out there: workplace harassment in the form of bullying.

Surprised? Some of you might be thinking that bullying is something that doesn't survive past the school-age years, but a whopping 37% of you have a real idea what being bullied at work means -- at least that's how many people have experienced it according to this article in The New York Times. That's more than 1/3 of us! Can that be right?

The symptoms are very subtle in some cases, so it's possible not to even realize it's happening until you've got a full-blown crisis on your hands and are looking for a new job. For example, do you hate Mondays because they mean the start of a long week? Who doesn't, right? But if you really hate Mondays it could be a sign of bullying, as could these other signs and symptoms:

• Constant criticism. Work environments naturally come with a certain amount of criticism, but in a healthy one it should be balanced out by praise and success. If you feel the criticism is a constant in your work life even though you're showing competence and even excellence in your job duties, a bully could be to blame.
• Yelling. I don't think bosses should ever "yell" at employees (it's just not professional) but unfortunately many of them do. The difference between an unprofessional boss and bullying boss, though, is how often they yell. Is yelling and humiliation in front of others a common theme at your job? Heads up, bully on the block.
• Mistakes: Remembering them and/or false accusations. If your mistakes are always remembered and brought up for no reason, or if you're often falsely accused or blamed for errors, you're probably being bullied.
• Gossiping. Bullies who are more subtle will often start, spread, or simply fail to stop the spread of, destructive rumors and lies.
• Lack of invitations and isolation. Bullies at work will often try to isolate their targets, either by neglecting to invite them to important meetings and lunches, or by moving their desk or workspace to somewhere inconvenient, undesirable, and/or isolated.
• You need a lot of mental health days. Wasting away all your vacation time on "mental health days" to get away from the misery of your work environment is a solid symptom of bullying, as is having friends and family that complain how you're always complaining and obsessing about work.
• Sabotage. Bullies may try to make you fail by changing rules unexpectedly that apply to you, or by neglecting job duties that directly impact you (like failing to take phone calls or sign off on details).
• Impossible scheduling. Constantly having late meetings scheduled at the last minute on days when your boss knows you have somewhere else to be? A tell-tale sign of bullying.
• Stealing the credit. Work your butt off just to have your co-worker or boss take all the credit, again? You're probably being bullied.