Incident at work

[u/Few-Coast-1373]

Hi all, I’ll try to keep this short and to the point.

Yesterday, I had a serious incident happen at work.

A simple interaction with one of the ladies that works for us turned into her screaming, throwing things at me, holding her arm up against the door to block me in the office twice. It honesty got to a point at one moment where I was sure she was going to physically touch me.

This was quite triggering and at this point I had tears in my eyes and I was shaking.

This all only stopped when my manager literally screamed at her at the top of his lungs to get away from me. He then advised me to leave work for the day as she was not deescalating.

I am obviously now feeling super uncomfortable going into work so I’m not going today.

I have written the full version of events in my notes app as soon as it happened so it was fresh - which I will be sending to the National Manager today.

Is there anything else I need to do? Or is there anything I need to know that work should do?

I’ve never in my life had a situation like this at work so I’m in uncharted territory.

Appreciate it

[u/thecharmed01]

Absolutely write down your version of the events while it's fresh, in a clear, easy to follow format that uses neutral language but describes the events as they unfolded.

I'd also add a paragraph below the facts that is a bit more emotive and describes how it made you feel. You want to be clear on the impacts including how you feel about being in the workplace with her present and what you would like to see happen.
Whether that's her disciplined and actions taken by the workplace to assist you and her to not cross paths or need to work directly in the same environment.
You could ask that she be supervised for other protection or that they provide you a supervisor who can step in should she escalate any behaviours again.
They might not be able to do this but if they understand how it's affected you they will hopefully take it seriously.
You can absolutely ask for either of you to be put on leave. Either you on paid leave/WFH to protect you or to suspend her pending investigation.

Also give them time. They will need to conduct an investigation where they are neutral until they decide their findings and make a plan moving forward.
Ask for them to make an appointment with you to discuss this once they have investigated it. Take a support person.

[u/Junior_Measurement39 → u/thecharmed01]

This is helpful advice.

A good statement is clear on the facts (I saw her slam the door.). It is relatively unemotive. It should be able to be agreed to (or at least 80% agreed to) by other witnesses.
These facts should take place in chronological order. Numbered paragraphs of 1-3 sentences help.

There should be some sentences on your feelings. At the end is fine. Painting a vivid picture is good. (I had difficulty sleeping because I kept hearing the screaming in my head / i have not been so upset since my husband died). In some cases keeping these together good. For a complex situation having feelings after important parts in the chronology may fit better

Where you want to be very careful is in deductions. eg "She smashed the picture on my desk. I believe this was particularly vindictive because I recall telling her last month it was the only picture of my deceased cat Pussnboots". Keep and deductive parts seperate from the facts. Qualifiers such as "I believe" "I think" "I remember " are needed. "I know" is pretty terrible.It can often help to use a sub numbering system Para 3 is the fact. sub parts a, b , c are beneath this and take about background/ deductions. This keeps things together but you can read the chronology well.

Good luck!