If you ever had to provide a service to someone (e.g. through service, healthcare or education) have you ever had to deal with a violent customer, student, patient, etc.?
I have not dealt with a violent student before. Angry students yes, but not violent.
I saw patients get angry when they wanted their controlled drugs re-filled way too early and the pharmacist would have to say no, but never violent.
There was an employee at one of the sites associated with the company I worked at who threatened violence after being terminated but he never did anything thankfully. I heard about this second hand and thankfully was not involved.
I work in special education and there aren't many things found in a classroom that haven't been thrown at me or used as weapons over the years. I've literally had students try to stab me with crayons.
shareI've mentioned this before on here and even recently again, about being a cab driver in a rough military town during the graveyard shift. Payday weekends for the soldiers were the most lucrative but also the most tumultuous and dangerous. I had a steady stream of soldiers, hookers, dope dealers and their customers in and out of my cab all night long, and yeah, some of those people became really hostile at times. I wasn't aware until after I took the job that there was a rash of robberies going on against cabbies. I narrowly missed getting shot in the head one night when a couple of soldiers robbed and shot a driver from a rival company and all they got was $5. He miraculously survived that incident. I got into the habit of driving with one of these tucked under my thigh. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/22297-late-1800s-wood-lead-filled-detroit-mic Yeah, it's a police Billy Club filled with lead. That thing was lethal! One whack in the head with it could have meant death. And I'll say it again, I'm so grateful I was never forced to use it.
shareA few times during all these years, I had some unpleasant phone conversations with customers at work, but the word " violent " would be exaggerated.
shareYeah. I work with gamblers and some people are really bad losers. The nighttime brings out the harder players, and don't even get me started on when it's a full moon!
I've learned that when people are shouting that they're gonna smash the machine or the staff, it's all talk, they're just angry at themselves for losing their money. Fortunately, we kick most of them out before it gets that bad, but a few just blow up without warning.
If someone is going to do something, they'll just do it - they won't tell you all about it first.
The worst I've ever had is being spat at. Someone tried to slap me once, but that was my own fault.
No, no one ever violent.
Upset people, of course - we all have to deal with it. Handling it is simple, diffuse the situation.
What one is finding common these days are extremely unpleasant check out people. Some of them so miserable it's beyond belief. I end up thinking to myself...
"If it's that bad, why don't you just quit?"
ANyway, turns out there is a simple remedy, self checkout. I started using it around 6 months ago. You can get in and out of the store in peace. You don't have to walk on eggshells because you know the person checking you out is already po'd. IOW, the delicate - "If you don't mind, could you please double bag my milk?" - and then the inevitable dirty look.
In the self checkout lane, you can bag your food any way you like. No problems, no hassles, no dirty looks.
I worked in a Kmart for almost 14 years and dealt with plenty of verbal abuse but never any physical violence. A couple of stories.
- I had a woman try and pick up her layway on Christmas Eve only to see it was returned to stock. She was mad and then broke down and cried right in front of me. It was full of Christmas presents for her kids. One of my coworkers did their best to pick out all the merchandise for her to repurchase again. She didn't make her payments in time but I felt awful after that.
- I saw a service desk worker in my store faint and have a panic attack. A customer was mad it her over a return and said "I'll be back and you'll be sorry". Nothing happened but that was a direct threat in my eyes.