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March 29, 2024, 09:19:27 am

Author Topic: How to deal with abusive people at work?  (Read 3117 times)  Share 

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JR_StudyEd

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How to deal with abusive people at work?
« on: January 01, 2020, 01:47:21 pm »
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I'm currently waiting for an interview at my local Macca's, and also waiting to hear back from a couple other restaurants which I recently applied to. I would like to ask how people who have experienced abuse or harassment of any kind dealt with it, both in the moment, and mentally afterwards. My internet browsing has found that fast food managers don't necessarily teach their new employees how to deal with such things, and that concerns me.
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angewina_naguen

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Re: How to deal with abusive people at work?
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2020, 03:49:10 pm »
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I'm currently waiting for an interview at my local Macca's, and also waiting to hear back from a couple other restaurants which I recently applied to. I would like to ask how people who have experienced abuse or harassment of any kind dealt with it, both in the moment, and mentally afterwards. My internet browsing has found that fast food managers don't necessarily teach their new employees how to deal with such things, and that concerns me.

Hey, JR_StudyEd!

It's unfortunate that workplace discrimination and harassment is more common than we might think so I'd like to hear what if others have faced it here on the forums and how they've overcome it. As an employee, you are entitled to the right to be treated fairly and with respect by your employer and fellow coworkers.

I haven't had direct experience with this but both my parents, who are immigrants, have been mistreated and taken advantage of all the time in their jobs. A big factor in why it remained an issue for so long for them was a reluctance to report it and to take it as it was. They always saw themselves as "just workers" and would eventually accept that the treatment was how all workplaces are which was really sad to see. It wasn't until they told their managers that they had secretly been harbouring years of racist comments and uneven workload did the work environment change. If you do find yourself in a position where those rights aren't being acknowledged and fulfilled, you should raise it to your manager and work with them to develop strategies for resilience, as well as urge them towards communicating these concerns to the other employees. Again, I haven't personally experienced this so my outlook is only one possible solution  :) Hope that helps and interested to hear what others say!

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Re: How to deal with abusive people at work?
« Reply #2 on: January 01, 2020, 04:13:06 pm »
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Hopefully your manager will be supportive if this ever happens in the workplace. You have the right to be respected so make sure you tell them straight away if you're being mistreated.

Working in retail basically my approach is to calmly say something along the lines of "I'm sorry but I won't serve you until you change your behaviour/treat me with respect' etc etc. Then if the person continues to be rude I'll go get the manager/most senior person rostered on and get their help dealing with the customer. Usually they'll tell the person to change their behaviour or else they'll be asked to leave the store.
If a customer is rude to me about something that is the company's fault and not mine I tell them that they're welcome to take their concerns further but I'm only acting based on directions from my manager as an employee and I don't have much jurisdiction.

Dealing with it afterwards is really important. I think the biggest thing is to speak to someone at work about it and debrief. Make sure you don't take it personally because most of the time it's directed at the company/store not you, despite the fact they're saying the mean stuff to you (obviously racism and stuff excepted - that's a very personal attack). And leave it at work, really. Over time you'll grow a thick skin and stuff won't affect you as much. You just have to compartmentalise, accept that not everyone is nice and friendly, and keep going with your day. It sucks that someone has treated you poorly, but you have to not think about it too much and don't give that person a second thought - if they've treated you poorly, they're really not worth your time (this is the biggest thing to remember for me).

If you're concerned, I'd recommend speaking to more experienced members of staff and your manager. They might not give you all this info initially (there's only so much you can talk to a new person about before you absolutely overwhelm them) but if you ask questions, you'll find out and I think most people should be happy to give you advice.

Hope this helps a bit and makes some sense!