Don't touch me!

[ariekain]

So I was closing self checkout again, joy of joys.

It was super busy all night, but that wasn't the problem. My night was fine until this wonderful gentleman came up and immediately requested help because his items weren't ringing up right.

Oh, wait. "Requested" is the wrong word. He didn't ask for my help. He came up to me, grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the register he was at.

I stopped, and told him in no uncertain terms to not touch me. He ignored that and continued to demand that I fix the price for him.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since he's the same customer who, at an earlier time, slapped my hand away twice as I was reaching for the screen to fix an error.

[BrenDAnn]

Please tell me you walked away from him immediately after he ignored you. You had every right to walk away and refuse to serve him after such behavior. In fact, you probably had the right to call security on the asshole! Sorry you had to deal with that!

[Nemesis44UK]

That is shocking.

I hate that you had that dickhead customer do that.



I had a contractor grab my hand once and it took every ounce of self-restraint not to give him a left hook. I'm afraid I am absolutely zero tolerance with that shit. However, I do not work for a big company where "the customer is always right" I work for a small firm with largely decent people.

"The customer is always right" is a terrible power of false entitlement for SCs and it seems to give them carte blanche to behave as poorly as they like with no comeback.

[Anthelle]

I don't know why people think it's fine to just grab people. I had a customer grab my thumb and squeeze it and growl "Next time, no receipt". Why couldn't he have just told me that beforehand?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I had some dickhead come into Kinko's once, go to shake my hand, and just about crush my damn knuckles. He then threw an offensive pick up line my way.

I told him straight up that was not cool.

He came in again the next day and offered his hand. I just looked at it with disdain. I think he got the message.

[HappyFun Ball]

Grrr.. I hate people who think they can manhandle you, no matter what the situation.

[LillFilly]

Ugh, had a drunk guy grab my badge, which happened to be pinned over my, ahem, boob, and ask "Is this REAL!?" I let him off cause he was shitfaced and his friends looked horrified and started apologizing.

But yeah, I think you should start refusing to service this guy, since he keeps harassing you.

[ariekain]

Yeah, the next time I see him, if he does anything like this again, I'm getting management involved and letting them deal with him.

And I can't believe that drunk guy. Well I guess I can, 'cause he was drunk, but still... Not okay.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Don't ever cut people slack because they're drunk. That's no excuse. Maybe someone who acts like this when drunk needs to cut down on their drinking when they're around people. Grabbing people is never okay.

[XCashier]

Yeah, the next time I see him, if he does anything like this again, I'm getting management involved and letting them deal with him.

Good. Tell your manager as soon as possible about this guy. Nobody should have to put up with being grabbed, slapped, groped or otherwise manhandled. Employees do have rights, and we mustn't be afraid to use them.

I had a contractor grab my hand once and it took every ounce of self-restraint not to give him a left hook.

I'm surprised you didn't just let him have it. Or at least yank your own hand away from him and demand that he not do that again.

[PepperElf]

did that to a coworker. kinda

she proceeded to push me at a guy she wanted me to date. despite the fact i'd already said i wasn't interested in him. by instinct i twisted and threw her grip off.

she was FURIOUS and OFFENDED at my actions.

[Cymberleah]

I had something like this happen when I visited a customer. There was a new worker, someone who was trying to be friendly but just felt a little... off, y'know? One day, a few weeks after he started working, he went out of his way to walk past me and mock-punched my shoulder as we passed in the hall. I honestly don't think I could reproduce the cold hiss of my voice as I said "Don't touch me" and I think one of his coworkers clued him in that I might have looked, well, a wee bit upset, as he's not gone out of his way to talk to me again.

Best part was, when I got back to work and vented to a friend, her response was "Well, what did you do to encourage him? You must have done something!" <fume>

[Pixilated]

This kind of crap needs to be nipped in the bud. I had a former coworker who used to sit with her back to a hallway. Other coworker was Recently Divorced Guy who, in all honesty, had gone a little off the deep end, IMO -- his wife instigated the divorce and I don't think he saw it coming. He used to walk up behind coworker and ... kiss her on the back of the neck.

This was NOT welcomed by her. However, she complained to me after a couple of instances and I suggested she go to management pronto. Her response: "Well, I would, if anybody else was complaining." Um ... what if he's not doing this to anybody else?? She argued that she was giving him a cold glare each time. I said he was obviously misinterpreting this as a sign of repressed passion, since it was having absolutely no effect whatsoever on his behaviour.

Then management decided to move him into a little office that opened off our office. Coworker freaked but finally did something concrete: she dumped a note on his new desk telling him his attentions were offensive and demanding that he leave her alone. AFAIK it worked.

[emax4]

You could use special effects makeup to put blotches all over your body.

Or pick your nose before you reach your hand out to shake his, a la Booger from Revenge of the Nerds

[EricKei]

Best part was, when I got back to work and vented to a friend, her response was "Well, what did you do to encourage him? You must have done something!" <fume>

Yeah, she was breathing, and doing her job. For some people, that's enough. Look for the thread on here about "a customer gave me a bad review" (or words to that effect) if ya don't believe me.

As for grabbing you at all -- beyond simply being rude, and a violation of one's personal space, it could very well be considered a form of Assault. If it gets to be a problem, look up your local laws. Either way, MAKE SURE your managers know about the "grabby" people who are abusing their employees. That is unacceptable. I'm fairly certain that the LP folks, in particular, would be interested -- after all, what better way to distract people?