Beaten with a ruler.

[NightAngel]

Beaten?
I want to see pictures of the bruises then.

[Jester]

Technical definitions of assault and human rights etc aside, I think a few of these suggestions are a bit extreme. I'd have just asked him not to do it, and walked off if he didn't stop.

It's a whack with a ruler. It's not like it's painful. Just annoying.

I think the assault laws are getting a little weird when one person can be done by another for putting a supportive hand on their shoulder (unwanted, but not done with harmful intent). IMHO, "assault" requires pain. Anything else is merely invasion of personal space. An annoyance, but not worth decking someone or calling the cops over.

I tend to agree with One-Fang here. What happened was an assault on the OP's dignity, but physically pretty much harmless. Before anyone throws me in the wood chipper, let me continue.

Physically harmless it was, but again, that was an assault on your dignity, and one you do not have to put up with in your position of a retail employee. As always, hindsight is perfect, but I dare say I would have handled it somewhat like this:

FIRST TIME:
ME: "Sir, I'll help you momentarily, but please do not HIT me."
SC: "What, you don't like that?"
ME: "No sir, I do not. If you do it again, I will be forced to have you leave. I will be with you momentarily, once I am finished with this fine gentleman."

SECOND TIME:
ME: "Sir, I told you not to do that. Now you need to leave this establishment, or I will call security/the cops and have you escorted out/arrested. There is no reason for that, at all."

THIRD TIME:
No offense against the OP, but there is no way on heaven or earth that this would happen to me a third time. I strongly believe in customer service, but I also strongly believe that no one is going to be hitting me just because I am working. If I wanted that kind of physical abuse, I would arrange for a blind date.

[Barefootgirl]

Call me Mrs Thickie, but why didn't you simply ask him to leave? Was the ruler his, or one he'd picked up in the store?

[LostMyMind]

It's a whack with a ruler. It's not like it's painful. Just annoying.

I'm going out on a limb that you've never been really whacked with a ruler. I'll let you know from experience (went to a private christian school). They do and will hurt just as bad as a belt across the bottom.

While true a "tap" is just annoying. But professional whackers can put some sting in the whacking.

[MystyGlyttyr]

Anything can hurt like hell or even be fatal if you use it right. I was trained that putting your thumb over the end of a straw somehow strengthens it (I can't remember all the sciencey stuff) and it's capable of going between ribs with a good strong thrust. My personal favorite weapon in my office would be a paperclip. I always keep several straightened paper clips laying around so that if someone tries to attack me, I can grab a couple and put them right through the person's eyeballs.

In the right person's hands, ANYTHING can become a deadly (or at least severely painful) weapon in no time. Just because it looks like a crotchety old man with a ruler doesn't mean it isn't a former Navy SEAL with uncontrollable flashbacks. Or a crotchety old man who's looking to pick a fight because he just got his license to carry and he wants to put it to the test.

Short of knocking the man on his ass and hoping for the best, I would definitely have involved management. This guy sounds like the bully scum I dealt with in school who thought they were "tough" and could push people around because of the knives in their back pocket.

[chainedbarista]

exactly, the issue isn't whether or not the hits hurt, but the treatment, the humiliation and the sheer stupidity on the part of this suktomer.

why he was carrying around the ruler also begs the question, 'does he do this every where he goes?' if so, then someone must stop this, before someone actually DOES get hurt.

by the way, the edges of a metal ruler can CUT you, so as for the 'it can't hurt much,' i don't buy it. i've been hit with them as well and yes indeed, they DO hurt.

while it's not likely to happen, someone may take it away from him and give him a dose of his own special medicine...

[Jet]

No bruises like most people said, but it was aggravating. Most people who know me I'm usually a quiet and unassuming guy besides telling him to stop I didn't really do anything. Guess I really didn't think to do anything else like ask him to leave, was more shocked than anything no one has ever done anything like that before.

I told the story to my friend D and apparently the guy shops there quite often this is just my first run in with him. As far as being beaten, some of the definitions are being struck forcefully and repeatedly. And he did it hard enough that it stung but was more of an annoyance than anything else. And funny you should say that about Navy SEALs thing, the guy was wearing a USMC hat at the time.

[DistantStar]

Technically this was battery, not assault. They don't have to actually touch you for an incident to be assault, you just have to be convinced they will. If they touch you, then it's battery.

Sorry. SO is a defense attorney. I'm no expert, but that one I know.

Oh, and I'd have called management immediately. There is no way that is acceptable. No way at all.

[XCashier]

Why, oh why, do complete strangers think they have the right to touch you in any way?

Because of that evil saying, "The Customer Is Always Right". People are so used to being coddled, spoiled and bootlicked by spineless management that they honestly think that they, as the Almighty Paying Customer, can literally do anything and the management will let them.

[Tito]

I would have grabbed the ruler and smacked him in the face, no one has the right to do that, what a jackass.

Then I would be like, "Oh, you don't want to be hit?"

[Becks]

It's a whack with a ruler. It's not like it's painful. Just annoying.

Depends on how hard you get hit with one. A good whack with even a wood or plastic ruler can hurt a lot. The fact that the man had a METAL ruler is something else entirely.

[Customer Beating Robot]

IMHO calling for management and blah blah blah would entail filling out a statement for the company, police, ect, ect, and turned it into a much bigger scene and made the day that much longer.
best course of action would be if you see him again with the ruler ask him to lose it or leave

I agree. The customer stopped after you told him to, correct? Then problem solved. Now if he does it again, I would make a case out of it. But calling the cops and getting the manager involved just because someone taps you on the arm with a ruler is a little overkill.

Sure, no one has the right to hit you, but did the customer really mean to harm you, or was he just ignorantly trying to get your attention. What would you do if someone taps you on the shoulder? I view this as the same thing. Now, if he was really laying into it and leaving a red mark, sure I would have kicked him out. But I have people use all sorts of objects to touch me to get my attention. Nothing is meant by it, and the customer may have just been trying to be relaxed.

[JuniorMintz]

Frankly I would have told him to stop once, and if he did it again yank the damn thing away from him and give *him* a couple of good smacks. That, or hold it high above his head and make him jump for it. I'm assuming he's a short, weenie sort of fellow, so that could be funny.

[RogueOne]

TIMHO, "assault" requires pain. Anything else is merely invasion of personal space. An annoyance, but not worth decking someone or calling the cops over.

Would spitting on somepne fall under that definition?

[batmoody]

Just the idea that there are people out there that really think it is ok to behave that way. I think calling the cops might be extreme but the manager should definately be told, maybe he done that to other people.
After that turd hit me once I would have made some smart ass comment and just left him standing there.
"Actually sir, I am going to find you an employee that likes to be smacked with a ruler."
And never go back.

I agree. The customer stopped after you told him to, correct? Then problem solved.

He did do it again after he was told to stop.