People start talking shit about you/mocking you →you do nothing or brush it off or laugh it off →they start getting comfortable with it and continue doing it + you become "that shy dweeb, who it is ok to pick on, because he ain't gon' do sh- about it"

People start talking shit about you/mocking you →you insult them back →you somehow come off as "angry" and "talking back"

People start talking shit about you/mocking you →you resort to physical violence →you're now "aggresive and violent"

You can't win, can you? How do some people manage to make others respect them?

Yeah, I heard that the trick is to make them consistently suffer the consequences for disrespecting you, but how exactly are you supposed to do that, especially if the one disrespecting you is your boss/has another type leverege over you (yet, I've witnessed some people not allowing others to rail them while being in that position)