Every job is going to have workplace drama. I’m also in sciences, I spent 2 years on a masters thesis, 8 years in a research pathology core lab and now I’m about to switch over to medical lab work which has all the same core issues. Most people are nice and supportive but from time to time you run into arrogant personalities that refuse to listen and learn or ask for impossible requests in a very short amount of time. Management is under constant pressure to crank out high quality work with limited resources, salaries are low resulting in poor staff retention, brain drain and turnover so over time the work becomes more and more difficult for the incoming new hires as the scope of the job slowly creeps. What really helped me was to embrace and accept the chaos. Its just a job like any other. Go to work, you do you, go home. Just one good friend at work makes a huge difference, be flexible and help each other out. These are hard jobs so do everything you can to make everyone’s lives easier. Also don’t back down from conflict, speak up for yourselves and others. I’ve had bosses that advocate for my interests and bosses that don’t, you really need to speak up for yourself because no one else will. Sorry for the rant but I hope this helps. You remind me of a new hire trying to find their foothold in the sciences and I’ve found this advice useful in the past. Things just happen, go with the flow and try to emotionally detach yourself from it, things just happen for no reason sometimes and its out of your hands.