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This dick at work
Valaena
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, I work at <redacted>.
I sell computers and computer accessories.
I also sell protection plans and such through the company, who, despite the majority of my department claiming are assholes, I've gotten along well with. until recently.
when we get rushed with people the protection company is pulled to the floor to help out. I had been talking about switches to a previous customer and someone came up to me about a router, which, getting tongue tied, I mistakenly referred to as a switch. the protection company fellow took the chance to berate me for it in front of my customer, who I had already corrected myself to. simple mistake, no harm done. I hadn't lied to them or fed them misinformation. the guy then tried to jump on my sale, which most people on the floor consider a big no no as it means its almost impossible to successfully sell something as it makes you look incompetent. so I asked the guy to leave, which apparently he took as a huge insult.
later after closing he yelled at me.in my department telling me it was my 'one freebee' or some.such and next time he would lose his job because he'd beat me up or some shit. my supervisor was out of the department at the time so the only other person who heard was a co-worker. but I do have a witness.
he agreed this dude completely overreacted.
I don't think his fit was anything but pointless posturing trying to be an 'alpha male' or something. but still.
all I want to know was did I do the wrong thing? and I don't want to escalate this, but I also won't be spoken to like this by a fucking 40 year old tech group employee.
if he does try to start more shit, basically, what is my recourse and who should I speak to about it?
thks was written on my.phone so please excuse the terrible.formatting. ill tidy it up later on my computer.
I sell computers and computer accessories.
I also sell protection plans and such through the company, who, despite the majority of my department claiming are assholes, I've gotten along well with. until recently.
when we get rushed with people the protection company is pulled to the floor to help out. I had been talking about switches to a previous customer and someone came up to me about a router, which, getting tongue tied, I mistakenly referred to as a switch. the protection company fellow took the chance to berate me for it in front of my customer, who I had already corrected myself to. simple mistake, no harm done. I hadn't lied to them or fed them misinformation. the guy then tried to jump on my sale, which most people on the floor consider a big no no as it means its almost impossible to successfully sell something as it makes you look incompetent. so I asked the guy to leave, which apparently he took as a huge insult.
later after closing he yelled at me.in my department telling me it was my 'one freebee' or some.such and next time he would lose his job because he'd beat me up or some shit. my supervisor was out of the department at the time so the only other person who heard was a co-worker. but I do have a witness.
he agreed this dude completely overreacted.
I don't think his fit was anything but pointless posturing trying to be an 'alpha male' or something. but still.
all I want to know was did I do the wrong thing? and I don't want to escalate this, but I also won't be spoken to like this by a fucking 40 year old tech group employee.
if he does try to start more shit, basically, what is my recourse and who should I speak to about it?
thks was written on my.phone so please excuse the terrible.formatting. ill tidy it up later on my computer.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Valaena on
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Go to your manager the first chance you get and explain the situation. Though we only have your side of the story to go on, it sounds like this person's behaviour was completely unacceptable. He shouldn't have been berating you in front of a customer, and a physical threat is so vastly inappropriate in such an environment as to be utterly inexcusable.
Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong, but you should do what you can to cover your ass (don't just write out this post, write down *everything* you can think of about the incident, from lead up to the confrontation at the end of the day).
Hell, for all you know there have been prior complaints and your boss is just waiting for an excuse to get rid of the dude.
Absolutely
insanely important to notify the proper authorities at work whenever an incident like this happens
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For real. I would delete the company name from this shit asap.
Don't take his bullshit about making a slight error, however, don't return his threats of physical violence. Absolutely report him to your manager and his manager. This sort of behavior is completely unacceptable both professionally and legally.
Also, goose that goosing dork.
I'll try to elaborate on the lead up.
The customer came up with a router and asked what all it was capable of and how to hook it up and some.such. basic questions. When explaining how to hook it up I said 'plug your computer into the switch here' meaning to say 'the port here'
The guy came up to us and tried to get all condescending saying 'you mean the ports?'
And I took it as a friendly notice of 'hey you got your words mixed' and just said 'yeah, sorry, what he said, the port there'
But then he tried to go into the spiel on protection plans and such, and I said 'oh, I'm about to tell them.'
One of the first things beaten into me was don't jump on other people's sales. It just leads to disaster most of the time.
It makes it look like we're just trying to talk you into buying things. Which is explained thoroughly when I started there.
And honestly, its a huge money maker for us, but they are pretty damn nice plans if you happen to make use of it.
But he pushed too hard for my tastes, maybe he was genuinely trying to be helpful, but if he continued chances are I would have list the sale. I'm a damn good salesman, to be honest. But I do horribly on tag team things like that, so I told him I'd take it from there. Maybe I said it in a bad tone? I honestly don't know. Up until this point I considered the guy a friend there. He was one of the people I went to to get help if I needed it. But something got lost in translation I suppose and he took offense to it.
He left and I had no idea he was mad at all. He made small talk a few times before closing and when the doors shut he came over to me and did the wagging a finger in my face like some kind of movie about high school bullies and started yelling at me about how if I didn't know what I was talking about I shouldn't lie. And I said I made a mistake, which I corredted, as you saw. Then he told me not to disrespect him in front of the customers, which I never felt that i did, but I suppose I offended him letting him know I could handle it alone.
I apologized, because I had no desire to start shit at work. I left high school last year. I have no desire to go back.
So I said 'im sorry I offended you, it wasn't what I meant to do at all.'
And he said 'this is your one warning. Next time ill lose my job because ill take you out to the parking lot and beat your ass'
Like it was some kind of high school fight challenge behind the cafeteria.
I just said 'sorry' and let him walk away. I mean, if the guys threatening a dude half his age, over not wanting to share a sale, maybe he has problems. We don't get commission so the only thing I could have done was hurt his pride with this perceived slight.
That's the whole thing. Any other insight or is the advice still the same?
Thanks again guys!
You did nothing wrong, talk to your manager about the situation, chances are he probably has done this to some other dude as well.
If he does try and still have a go at you just walk away. You don't deserve to be treated like that. You don't even have to respond to him.
Satans..... hints.....
file a formal complaint
he threatened to physically attack you, that's not something a manager or supervisor wants on their team
get it filed, write it down so it's on record, copy it and keep it for yourself in case it gets misplaced
create a paper trail and make it clear that this sort of macho BS is hurtful to the company
Go back to school or you'll probably be working with bottom feeders like this for the rest of your life. Most jobs require you to have a High School Diploma, not because it's some amazing scholastic achievement, but to filter out the people that don't have the discipline, intelligence, commitment, or whatever to get one.
All the advice people have given you is great, definitely do those things.
However, don't be a patsy for this guy. Some people read apologies a s a sign of weakness and that because you admitted to doing something wrong, he can walk all over you.
You apologized for maybe doing something wrong. You don't have to take any more shit from this guy. Odds are you two will not work together anymore, but if you do, and he says anything, then
a) Document it,
b) Make sure management knows because this is now getting into ongoing harassment,
c) Don't be afraid to tell the guy to go fuck himself, because you're not there to be his bitch.
Some people only respond to strength, I guess is my point.
That would probably be worst case scenario though, i'm pretty sure this guy is going to get shitcanned. I missed the name of the company, but unless he's the owner's nephew or something, this company does not want that sort of liability on their payroll.