Verbal abuse at work

Something really scared me at work. We had a person come in with a complaint, screaming and yelling and smelling very strongly of alcohol. He was drunk and very aggressive. I got screamed and cursed at. I was scared he might have a gun or hit me. I think he was very drunk. I was one of two other women in the room. My boss finally came back in from being out and he threatened to call the police. The man stopped yelling so much. He finally left.

I was on a tight deadline but I had to go out to my car and go get some juice and get away from the office. I called my mom just to talk to try and calm down, but my mom just got even more upset than I was and started fussing about why my office doesn't have a policy to protect us. I don't know! I just work there! I wanted support and ended up getting fussed at by my mother because it scared her, too.

I felt all shaky but I managed to go back to work. I talked with my boss about what we could do to train for a situation where someone comes in with a gun..

I'm really upset, I don't feel safe at work. I don't feel safe, period. Why do people have to be like that?

some people are just assholes, and are really not worth anyone's time in the ffirst place.

if they can't aproach the situation calmly, and in a good frame of mind, they're honestly not worth it.

I am sorry you had to deal with this guy, and you feel unsafe at work.

((((((hugs)))))

Can't blame you for being upset and you did the right thing by asking your boss about having something in place to protect too. I know you wanted your mother to be reassuring but it sounds like what happened upset her and concerned her too.

Is there a way to find out the name of this person and report this to the police?

That is a scary situation and you should talk to your supervisor about having a panic button installed and have a written protocol for how others respond to the button being activated. It's not an expensive type of fix. It could be a flashing light outside your office where others could see it. They could call the police and approach with caution. The police can always be cancelled if the problem resolves itself. Depending on the office layout maybe a barrier(full or partial) could be put up to keep people away from you and give you time to take cover. It is something you should present to your boss and have other employees sign it with you so it would show a group concern. Then a copy needs to be filed away somewhere by you. Most drunks are all mouth, but you just never know anymore. Be careful.

Thank you all...my boss was very nice and talked to the local police, and then we had a staff meeting about preparation in case something like that happens again. I feel a little better. I've been trying not to let this upset my equilibrium and send me into an anxiety spiral. I guess the word is triggering...when something like this happens I often feel upset for days and get way oversensitive to everything.

I may have been the only one really upset over it, the others in the office were kind of like "whatever" in retrospect. I guess maybe my existing issues make me more prone than others to having a bad reaction to feeling threatened?

I'm trying to talk myself down, that even if I was the only one who was freaked out, it's okay, I'm not bad or wrong for that, it wasn't overreacting to want to be proactive about our safety in the office. Otherwise I might start ragging on myself for even bringing it up to my boss and feel stupid and embarrassed for being upset. I struggle a lot with it being okay to feel things and admit to other people that I'm feeling things. I always expect to be trashed for it. It was nice that my workplace took me seriously.

This would be a good thing to work on with your therapist.

I'm not in therapy, but thank you!