workplace aggression --> violence and all that ...

[30 cal slob]

i don't know where to start.

this morning, in a conference room right next to me, i could hear a very heated altercation between two people. it progressed from angry words to screaming (f-bombs etc) and banging/breaking stuff. the most vocal of the two stormed out of the room and out of the building with a pretty disturbed look on his face. for a brief scary moment i thought he was going to his car to retrieve a weapon. i was pretty close to calling 911.

i work in a fast-paced high-pressure environment (financial services - securities brokerage and trading and investment banking), where decisions are made in a millisecond and money is made or lost on a large scale in that transitory time frame. there is enormous pressure to produce and miscommunications are commonplace.

there seems to have been a lot of this going on as of late in that little conference room right next to me (times are tough i guess).

a private space to blow off some steam and work out differences are one thing. screaming at the top of the lungs and fights ... well, i didn't sign up for that. in a larger company the offending party would be shown the door.

our little firm seems to have a culture that implicitly tolerates this. we don't have security personnel or thought police managers.

i am definitely perturbed. i don't know if should just shut up and go with the flow, or should i talk to the one-lady HR department and tell her i'm a little fed up with this? nobody else seems to mind. call me a wuss, but i definitely don't like confrontations at all.

yes, i'm ccwing @ the office, but that's just between you and me.

 

[Neocode]

Would complaining to the HR person actually do anything though? I've worked in some places that "HR" was a myth....

Sometimes it just serves to single you out for retribution depending on the situation.

 

[BobCat]

This is none of my business at all, but as I read your account I was asking myself why the [expletive] you had to deal with such behavior in the workplace.

It is up to management to keep the environment civilized. If this happened once, ok, there was nothing for it - but the worst loudmouth ought to get a talking to. If it is SOP your talk with the HR person is justified and probably overdue. A stressful job is no excuse for shouting / bad behavior. Just the opposite - people are under stress, they don't need additional stress from {derogatory term} folks who can't control their outbursts.

Best of luck.

Regards,
Andrew

 

[K3]

I'd offer to liberate the fax machine and invite them out to a field to have a party with it, ala Peter Gibbons....

PC load letter... ***?

 

[ZeSpectre]

If an altercation gets physical...call the cops.
Oh and don't forget to time the call so you can tell us how long it took for them to arrive.

Seriously though... Freshen up the resume and get the hell out. Life is FAR too short with FAR too many interesting things to do to put up with a work environment that tolerates that kind of behavior.

 

[Deadheadted37]

You should look into you company’s harassment policies (may have to look under sexual harassment), a hostile working environment is usually umbrella’d under that. A hostile work environment can be viewed as serious as sexual harassment but does not seem to get the same attention.

Good luck and document, document and document everything!!!

 

[Exmasonite]

Call the police. Do it a lot. the last thing the management wants is cops crawling over the building, etc. It's not good for business if there are police cars in front of your place of business all the time. do it anonymously if you have to.

i think if you/others start getting the police involved, management will become EXTREMELY intolerant of this sort of behavior.

 

[ilbob]

Call the police. Do it a lot. the last thing the management wants is cops crawling over the building, etc. It's not good for business if there are police cars in front of your place of business all the time. do it anonymously if you have to.

i think if you/others start getting the police involved, management will become EXTREMELY intolerant of this sort of behavior.

Bad idea IMO. The cops have real criminals they could be out catching, instead you are calling them to complain about some yelling.

Some people are yellers. As long as they don't attack other people, get over it.

If you don't like the work environment, it is not your place to change it by calling the cops. Move on to another place that is more to your liking.

 

[Exmasonite]

i don't know, ilbob. i'm going to give 30 cal the benefit of the doubt... if he's feeling (potentially) threatened in this situation and the management is unwilling to get involved, what options does he have?

nothing wrong with a good, heated debate but screaming obscenities, throwing/breaking things (in an office environment no less) is a tell tale of anger management issues and possible underlying mental instability.

i wouldn't turn a "white" eye to this situation.

As for cops having "better" things to do, i agree to a point but last thing we want is to be reading about how this went down on CNN.

 

[ilbob]

I noticed something in the OP that stuck out in my mind. Nowhere did he mention that he had a chat with his boss to relay his concerns. IMO, going to the HR dept first is a betrayal of your relationship with your boss.

If you go to your boss and get nowhere, especially in a small company, going to the HR person is unlikely to help you any. In small companies they almost always are nobodies that are hired to deal with the paperwork issues associated with insurance and employment issues, and really have no say in anything, even if they have a fancy title.

If you feel threatened, the thing to do is move on or deal with the problem head on.

 

[vynx]

Can you talk to your boss about getting moved to another office that is far from the conference rooms?

Mention it distracts you - makes it hard to do your work, etc.

You want to be a good employee but its hard when you are waiting for the sound of gunfire or hear things being trashed not to mention the shouting.

 

[tepin]

+1
(IMHO) Don’t trust HR to keep anything confidential. I have yet to work for a company where HR had the employee’s best interest at heart. As a matter of fact, the role of HR is to protect the employer by mitigating risks associated with lawsuits. The HR department is not an advocate for the employee population.

Would complaining to the HR person actually do anything though? I've worked in some places that "HR" was a myth....

Sometimes it just serves to single you out for retribution depending on the situation.

 

[FieroCDSP]

I've gotten mad enough to punch steel doors and freight boxes. A lot of times it's simply a matter of getting out for a week's vacation to blow off the stress and come back right as rain. I try not to break things intentionally.

If this guy was mad enough to make a reasonable person (not panic monger) fear for his safety, someone should watch him carefully for a while. Ask him if he needs a vacation early or just an extended weekend. Most incidents can be avoided if people simply take the time to care. I know that sounds lovey-dovey, but seriously, sometimes all it takes is giving them someone to tell about it. Just don't expect it to work all of the time.

 

[edman]

Well in case you missed it, we are in a recession heading for a depression, maybe another great one.

Your work environment in that industry will just get worse.


I would in fact, actually be VERY surprised if nothing happened.

When, What is the only real question.

http://www.financialsense.com/