Separating the People from the Work
I'm sure there must be hundreds of Dilbert strips about this one fact - the people you work with need to be treated as totally independent from the work that you do. There's no two ways about it. If you confuse the two, most often times, you're going to pay for it. And unfortunately, it goes both ways... think your boss is your friend? He probably is... until the budget cuts come and he has to make the tough decisions. Think your boss is your mortal enemy? He might be... but it's your work that makes him look good. So either way, it's important to remember that the work is what you do, and the people are just those that you share space with.
This came up in the recent days for me when a friend talked about the grief he was getting from the folks he worked around. No two ways about it, these guys are not nice. I can remember dozens of times when I'd be in a work environment and find out that people found it funny that I was as passionate as I was about the work. So much so, that in one place, I found out they were taking bets as to who could get me upset about something the quickest. Nicely done, guys... Nicely done.
You can't control these people. If they are going to be insecure enough to see your passion and commitment to the work as a threat, and therefore have fun poking you in the side, well... there's really nothing you can do, and doing anything just makes them feel more important as they were able to draw your focus away from the task at hand. So you have to let them be exactly who they are. Maybe they'll grow up, but most likely not. Not your concern. Life goes on, and there are enough things to worry about that this doesn't need to be one of them.