Would you still be able to feel good about yourself even if most other people thought of you as a worthless loser, or hated you?
It would depend on the person, their values, and why they thought that. If I had everything I wanted and some rich ******* told me I was a failure for not putting more energy into making 100k+/year, I wouldn't care.
Actually, I don't think the kind of person who would call me that would give me the impression they should be taken too seriously-- but I think if I f----ed up and caused a lot of hurt/damage to someone who was really nice and they hated me for it, I would feel terrible.
How much do you care about the opinions of people that don't like you? How much do they effect you?
Nobody likes being bullied, especially if the person who is bullying you has power over your job situation. I don't care if they hate me as long as they don't do anything about it.
Being a teacher, I've been exposed to a lot of different types of people and I never felt outright hated... I've had people think I was a joke or not good at my job, but it only really hurt me when I did in fact need to improve and I knew it. But if you're always doing your best and putting effort into being the better person, it's a lot easier to dismiss those kinds of people-- and just wait for them to get over it.
Toxic friends are much worse than enemies, I think... but if you're isolated at work that's pretty horrible/hard to deal with because then it's up to you to climb out of that hole. Or you can just quit. But I can't think of too many situations I've been in where nobody liked me, even when I wasn't exactly charming/outgoing/relaxed... even in school, there were always people who thought I was nice enough to hang out with.
I think to be a total paraiah you would have had to do something to make your own situation worse, beyond just being super nervous or awkward... I guess if the bullies are running things and you're their target that's about the only situation I can think of where paraiah status isn't self-inflicted. Most people are good, I think... in every group there is at least one who you should be able to connect with/who doesn't think you're a loser.
Haha what a rant.