You've received death threats from SC's because...

[Antisocial_Worker]

Reading the thread about the ninny who threatened to shoot up a grocery store because they'd run out of Ocean Spray brand canned cranberries inspired this thread.

People who don't work with the public wouldn't suspect that receiving death threats is a pretty common occurrence in retail, hospitality, food service, and every other field where you have to deal with your fellow man face to face. The thought of receiving such a threat is appalling and shocking to such people.

I, on the other hand, got so excited when I received what I thought was my first death threat that I called my mother to tell her all about it.

Her response: "What about the one you got at the bookstore?"

I'd forgotten that one.

Yes, over the course of my years employed in fields where I had to put up with the idiots with which we share this planet, I received two death threats. The first came at my very first job, at a chain bookstore. Why? Because we did not stock The Anarchist's Cookbook. It could be ordered, but it wasn't something ordinarily found in the general selection. This was not good enough and it was all my fault.

The second threat came during my years in Motel Hell, when a guest's wife fell down our lobby staircase. She fell because she was wearing those stupid clunky sandals with the chunky high heel, and I know this because I came running from around the front desk to find her flat on her back on the lobby tiles. Nevertheless, several days later in an attempt to shake us down for money, the guest called us, spoke to me, and the conversation degenerated quickly. I don't remember all the details, but at one point I accused him of being a child molester. Sometime after this he began to threaten me, and I began to laugh at him. I have an extremely creepy laugh when I have a mind to, and when I let loose he hung up. Later, he called my boss and spoke to her, and she reported back to me that he'd told her he was scared of me. It was the laugh that did it. Totally made my entire week to hear that.

Now, what about you? You've been threatened, surely. Under what circumstances did it come about?

[Jay 2K Winger]

Not so much a death threat as a threat of bodily harm (possibly leading to death). I've related the story before.

At the movie theater, when I refused to sell this guy a ticket because he didn't have his ID. "You better watch your back when you leave tonight, man!"

I called his bluff: "Tell you what, I'm on break in ten minutes, how 'bout I meet you outside?"

He walked away, sneering. Nothing ever came of it.

[CiggyStoreClerk]

I don't even work with the public face to face and I've gotten death threats. I work in a call center now and I had one repeat-caller that all the employees better watch our heads when we leave, cause he was going to shoot us all as we left the building. Mind you, he thought we were in Costa Rica (we're actually in Canada :P) so I wasn't too worried.

[LillFilly]

Before I started where I work now, I was told a couple of employees were threatened with being shot for some seemingly small incident they got involved in. They were given bulletproof vests by the police to wear while there was an investigation. I personally have never been threatened bodily, but it's gotta happen some day.

[Crossbow]

Before I started where I work now, I was told a couple of employees were threatened with being shot for some seemingly small incident they got involved in. They were given bulletproof vests by the police to wear while there was an investigation. I personally have never been threatened bodily, but it's gotta happen some day.

Sounds like a situation that happened about a month before I started my payroll job. Some plant worker threw a fit because the child support enforcement agency found him and put a garnishment against his wages. He threatened to shoot the payroll clerks as they left the building and headed to their cars.

Apparently, he was stopped by a police cruiser several days later for some minor infraction and the officer spotted a rifle in his back seat. Nothing ended up happening, but he went to jail for at least a couple of years.

[tropicsgoddess]

Sounds like a situation that happened about a month before I started my payroll job. Some plant worker threw a fit because the child support enforcement agency found him and put a garnishment against his wages. He threatened to shoot the payroll clerks as they left the building and headed to their cars.

Apparently, he was stopped by a police cruiser several days later for some minor infraction and the officer spotted a rifle in his back seat. Nothing ended up happening, but he went to jail for at least a couple of years.

Serves the d-bag right! It's not payroll's fault he got caught by the agency to have his wages garnished for child support. Glad the cops got him before he could've done some serious harm. I find that half the time the threats SC's make (death threats or not) are idle threats, but there's only a few that would actually try/will make good on their threats.

[taurinejunkie]

When I worked for Directory Assistance, I got death threats twice. First one was because I couldn't find the listing. I quote: "I'm gonna kill you, you f***ing b****!" -- I was caught off-guard and didn't think of anyhing to say for a few seconds, and then simply hung up. Second time, this old, sweet-sounding lady told me what she wanted and added:

OL: And if you don't find it, I'm gonna kill you.
Me, thinking I misheard, but still dropping my voice extra deep to indicate that this was no joking matter : I'm sorry?
OL: *laughs* I'm gonna squeeze you. Squeeze you.
Me: Here's the number. *send*

Yeah, that job really did wonders for my faith in humanity. Kept it wonderfully low.

[MaseMan]

Didn't happen to me, but one of our employees was told by an angry customer; "You'd better watch yourself when you leave work."

I told her to call the police and she did. They told this idiot that he was banned from the premises and that if he ever showed up again, he would be arrested for trespassing.

[Marmalady]

When I worked for the council car parks dept, we were always being threatened that people were going to wait outside for us, to the extent that we were issued with personal alarms and given talks and demonstrations on self defence. We never wore name badges either.

This is what happens when you tell people that they can't just park wherever they like, especially in areas where permits are needed - I know Argabarga won't be surprised at the level of hostility this provokes.

[Sapphire Silk]

When I worked in the ER and in corrections my name tag did not have my last name on it, though a lot of people knew it anyway. I got a lot of threats of "I'm gonna kick your ass!" in the ER, but oddly no death threats. Of course, we had the cops in and out all the time

When I worked in the county jail, I had to deal with an inmate who was faking a seizure. He'd been nabbed for swindling little old ladies for cash with the "My car broke down, I need money for new tires" scam. He had a warrant from another state and knew he was in for prison time. So he was trying to fake a medical emergency to get sent to the ER in the hopes of escaping from there.

One of the nurses I worked with was on to him, and he ended up stuck in a medical cell over the weekend until the doctor came in to see him at sick call. Being in medical over the weekend really sucked: you were locked down 23/7, with no tv and only an hour to use the shower or phone in booking.

He's pretty pissed off, so he fakes a seizure when lunch comes around. Nursing staff was not onsite on the weekends, so I think he thought he could get the guards to take him to the ER. Instead, they called me, since I was on call.

He didn't respond to a sternal rub, but I could see him clenching his teeth and knew he was awake. A shot of ammonia salts was enough to wake him up, and he was "Oh, oh, did I have a seizure?" Not behaving like a post seizure patient, so I knew he was faking.

"No, " I told him. "Keep this up and you'll buy yourself another week in medical."

Boy was he pissed. Next Monday I come into work, and the nurse who originally put him in medical was ROFLMAO Seems he'd threated to kill her over the whole seizure thing. All it bought him was a week in solitary and another charge

[Amina516]

You know...someone looking for the Anarchists Cookbook...mightve scared me with a death threat. Lol.

[Skelly]

You know...someone looking for the Anarchists Cookbook...mightve scared me with a death threat. Lol.

You mean the book that teaches idiots how to make TATP, but doesn't bother to tell them the very high probability that they will blow themselves up because impure TATP will occasionally explode if you look at it in a threatening manner?

[ApolloSZ]

I never received the death threat, but did have a guy try and run me down in his car. Because I told him he couldn't park in my old company's car park

I posted it here somewhere....

[It shouldn't]

Pfffttt............. I've lost count.

I work at a locksmiths. We change the locks on people who have not paid their rent. It's almost a weekly occurence.

I've actually had guns pointed at me and been chased with baseball bats (2.5lb ball peen hammers make for a great throwing tool and are fairly easy to master and surprisingly accurate) I giggle at verbal threats, which sometimes gives the thread thrower a coronary and did result in one of the gun pointings.

The silliest cause for a death thread........

The cam had bent on a tool box lock some 'lady' had bought from us. I would have just gave her a new cam (got a drawer full of used ones), but decided to call PD instead.

[Midorikawa]

Oh, the death threats you receive when Fox drops their satellite link to the cable co during a broadcast of the season premier of season 2 of 24. Got 5 in a row for that in fact.

Had another guy who claims one of our techs went out and tore up his phone box and left it. Lived 5 blocks away from the call center, recognised me somehow, named the car I drive and what I look like, and threatened to stand outside with a shotgun. He'd never had service with us, and claimed we just did it to get him to sign up with us for phone service. The whole thing smelled fishier than a trash can of rotting seafood, so I refused to credit him $250 or so he claimed the phone co wanted to rewire things. My supervisor was monitoring the call, and responded with "So what do you want me to do?" when I told him about the death threat.

Also got a death threat over the fact that an admin shut down his server to install more RAM and connect the server to a faster switch (moving to gigabit from router -> switch -> server, instead of 100mbit from router -> switch -> server.