Physically aggressive co-worker

[Anonymous]

Hello. I started a job in food service about a month ago. It's not the most glamorous job, but it pays better than retail, and, most importantly, they work with my college schedule. I have been having several issues, though, at work.
1) one of the managers is a dick. Not encouraging at all, and wonders why they can't find new employees. I stood up for myself when he said something about how I needed to move faster. I said I was doing my best and doing the job of three people, so please give me some credit. He was a little nicer after that.

Anyway I got hit by a knife a few weeks ago! An employee dropped it, and it hit my foot. I was okay. This same employee was very aggressive with me tonight when I asked where something was in the fridge. I haven't been trained in everything so it's very normal for me to ask questions and he should have handled it professionally. This employee is a supervisor. He goes from being friendly to aggressive, and it's worrisome since we work with knives and hot food. I spoke to the manager about it and she said she's aware he's like this, and he gets moved around to different stores and they have worked at different stores together. I don't know what to do because my safety should be #1. Most likely, the general manager will suggest I work in the mornings. I'll loose hours/ money if I switch to the morning shift so it sucks he's kind of pushing me out.

[Anonymous]

You say in your title that this co-worker was “physically aggressive.” Yet I don’t see any example of this employee being physically aggressive with you. You were clear that the knife dropping was accidental. But you’ve given no examples of him being physically aggressive. That would look like putting his hands on you. Shoving or throwing something at you. Has anything like that happened?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You say in your title that this co-worker was “physically aggressive.” Yet I don’t see any example of this employee being physically aggressive with you. You were clear that the knife-dropping was accidental. But you’ve given no examples of him being physically aggressive. That would look like putting his hands on you. Shoving or throwing something at you. Has anything like that happened?

Op here. He moves extremely fast and shoves me. He slammed the fridge door when he knew I was behind him. There are two walk-in fridges connected to each other. We take food items out of the oven so he could throw them out on the cutting board too fast/aggressively. There are so many things. He was throwing the knife on the boards too hard, or moving so fast when I have a hot tray in my hands. A lot of movement is going on, so it's not uncommon to bump into each other.

[Anonymous]

Get the hell out of there!

[Anonymous]

You can get a job easily at another restaurant. They’re begging for help.

“Hi manager. I’m putting in my notice. I cannot continue working with a co-worker who is physically aggressive. It’s an unsafe workplace.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can get a job easily at another restaurant. They’re begging for help.

“Hi manager. I’m putting in my notice. I cannot continue working with a co-worker who is physically aggressive. It’s an unsafe workplace.”

No-one will pay what I make now. $18 an hour, and I'm home by 10 pm. The area I live in isn't close to a lot of restaurants. I worked at a nicer one, but getting off at midnight wasn't working. I would drive home. It was so scary. So many semi trucks out. Night driving is hard for me. I work assembling food, not serving it at a sit-down restaurant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get a job easily at another restaurant. They’re begging for help.

“Hi manager. I’m putting in my notice. I cannot continue working with a co-worker who is physically aggressive. It’s an unsafe workplace.”

No-one will pay what I make now. $18 an hour, and I'm home by 10 pm. The area I live in isn't close to a lot of restaurants. I worked at a nicer one, but getting off at midnight wasn't working. I would drive home. It was so scary. So many semi trucks out. Night driving is hard for me. I work assembling food, not serving it at a sit-down restaurant.

Op. The commute was 30 minutes and I'm a newish driver. Maybe I will take a pay cut and work at the grocery store or something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get a job easily at another restaurant. They’re begging for help.

“Hi manager. I’m putting in my notice. I cannot continue working with a co-worker who is physically aggressive. It’s an unsafe workplace.”

No-one will pay what I make now. $18 an hour, and I'm home by 10 pm. The area I live in isn't close to a lot of restaurants. I worked at a nicer one, but getting off at midnight wasn't working. I would drive home. It was so scary. So many semi trucks out. Night driving is hard for me. I work assembling food, not serving it at a sit-down restaurant.

Okay, so then stay. You’re given advice to quit after saying that you’re unsafe, but then you come up with all these reasons why you can’t. What exactly do you want here?

[Anonymous]

Time to find another food service job and quit this one OP. Now you have experience and hopefully can find a better one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get a job easily at another restaurant. They’re begging for help.

“Hi manager. I’m putting in my notice. I cannot continue working with a co-worker who is physically aggressive. It’s an unsafe workplace.”

No-one will pay what I make now. $18 an hour, and I'm home by 10 pm. The area I live in isn't close to a lot of restaurants. I worked at a nicer one, but getting off at midnight wasn't working. I would drive home. It was so scary. So many semi trucks out. Night driving is hard for me. I work assembling food, not serving it at a sit-down restaurant.

Okay, so then stay. You’re given advice to quit after saying that you’re unsafe, but then you come up with all these reasons why you can’t. What exactly do you want here?

She shouldn't have to quit. Would you say the same thing if she worked in a different sector? She needs to document this and see if she can work in a different area of the store or transfer to transfer to another one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can get a job easily at another restaurant. They’re begging for help.

“Hi manager. I’m putting in my notice. I cannot continue working with a co-worker who is physically aggressive. It’s an unsafe workplace.”

No-one will pay what I make now. $18 an hour, and I'm home by 10 pm. The area I live in isn't close to a lot of restaurants. I worked at a nicer one, but getting off at midnight wasn't working. I would drive home. It was so scary. So many semi trucks out. Night driving is hard for me. I work assembling food, not serving it at a sit-down restaurant.

Op. The commute was 30 minutes and I'm a newish driver. Maybe I will take a pay cut and work at the grocery store or something like that.

That's tough. Try to work a different schedule..daytime workers usually are more professional.

[Anonymous]

Is there an HR department? Can you file a formal complaint? Talk to OSHA?

[Anonymous]

Also if he actually touches you (sounds like he did) I would file a complaint about that too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there an HR department? Can you file a formal complaint? Talk to OSHA?

Op. It's a billion-dollar company, so there should be. Tomorrow the general manager will be there during my shift. The assistant manager was there tonight and she said he could have a meeting with me tomorrow. He's very professional and accommodating. The assistant manager mentioned some coworkers only work on drinks and others only cashiers so it's possible he could switch me to that area. That's more independence. You are kind of by yourself doing that work.

[Anonymous]

Talk to HR. Tell them exactly what you've said here, but leave out the knife accidentally dropping on the floor and hitting your foot, which is not an aggressive act. Detail all the other actions, with the door slamming, shoving, et. Tell them you do not want to quit but if the situation isn't improved you are going to.