I (30F) work for a well known, nationwide supplier as an Assistant General manger. I have two employees I need to dispatch as drivers during the day regarding our business – there is no way to avoid them. I'll also prefix this entire thread : I have been employed here for almost a year and within the last month, have had my General Manager resign (he was with the company for close to ten years). This has been a roller coaster of an employment, corporate is terrible all the way down to managers.
I've two issues at work, regarding two separate employees, the incidents that happened yesterday, have completely baffled me and basically brought me to a breaking point. Incident one is regarding the safety of one of my employees, incident two is regarding my own safety as one of my employees assaulted me.
Incident #1 :
This happened in the morning. One of our employees for dispatch (84M) completely spaced out and acted as if he was having a stroke in front of my desk. I immediately called paramedics and he was taken to the hospital. (As of right now, he is ok). He's a host of medical issues, including prior cardiac emergencies and a diabetic. He does not manage his health very well and it scares the ever loving heck out of me that he'll hurt himself or someone else at any given time. I needed to call an ambulance two weeks ago as well, he wasn't looking right and I could not get a hold of his wife. He has also worked for the company for many years, however his health has seriously declined since he returned from a prior cardiac incident – he cannot hear very well (even when his hearing aids are working), can walk without assistance (but hobbles and slowly) and doesn't seem to be overly aware enough to be driving a vehicle period – his reaction times are, understandably, heavily delayed. There have been many instances where he has simply forgot where he is going, taking an hour ride and extending it into four hours, it's concerning when I watch his GPS location on the map. I care about my employees as family and have repeatedly requested my (now resigned) manager to speak with someone regarding his condition. His response was consistent – “his doctor cleared him to work, there's nothing I can do”. I personally do not understand how any doctor can clear him for the type of position he's in – required to lift 50 lbs and a host of other physical and mental work. With the ambulance ride the other week – my new manager (35M I'll call him Jim), along with the traveling manager (58M Ben) (who is training my new manager, both stated that he shouldn't be working. However, he came back to work. Regarding yesterdays incident – both Jim and Ben stated he shouldn't come back to work and requested that he (the driver) get a clear from his doctor to return. I do not believe any time he's had a lapse of memory or when I called the ambulance the other week – was recorded. Yesterday was recorded.
Incident #2 :
I have consistently had a respect issue with one of my drivers (60M) I'll call him Ted. He disregards many of my instructions, which is pretty crucial since he literally delivers things and I am the one who knows the order. Ted quips back at me, changes his order of stops and is usually going on about how he's done my job for more than thirty years and I really don't know what I'm doing. I am not a confrontational person and typically just let him go off on me (I have tried multiple times to “stick up for myself” in an appropriate manner and all it does is prolong our “disagreements” and he ends up doing whatever he feels like doing anyway). This has started from almost day one, he has consistently talked down to me and tries to explain to me how to do my job, both in front of other drivers and even in front of my old manager. My previous manager had several talks with him, which I also believe were never recorded in any form and Ted's behavior has never stopped. Friday during the day, Ted was talking back to me as per usual, in front of my Jim, I initially decided to let it go and just “yes” or agree with him in order to stop the conversation. When I realized he wasn't going to stop berating me, I told him to stop talking to me and requested he speak Jim (who was within feet of me and never once tried to intervene). During the entire thing, Ben actually came into the office from the warehouse, I'm assuming because he heard Ted get loud, and immediately walked back out without getting involved. Saturday, I was alone with Ted all day, in which he told me several times he can do my job better than I can and doesn't understand how I have my job in the first place. I spoke to Jim yesterday about Friday and Saturday, explaining that this has been a consistent issue and I need him to resolve it. Not hours later – Ted came back from a delivery run. I was at my desk correcting inventory – I had just come out of the warehouse not moments before and had not been in the office at all to dispatch, as Ben requested I leave Jim to run the store by himself. As Ted walked in, he noticed I was alone and asked where Ben ran off to, I did not know. This was the conversation:
“Sooo, where did Ben go?” -Ted
“I'm not sure, he might be on a delivery”
“Woooww you sure know how to communicate here” – Ted
“I just came back from warehouse inventory, therefore I do not know what is going on at all times up front”
At this point, Ted has walked behind me to file paperwork, and he hits me on the back of the head.
“Why?”
“Why what?” – Ted
“Where did that come from?”
“Oh it's from a tv show….” – Ted
Right after my brain processed that I was intentionally stuck by Ted, I hit the record button on my iPhone for audio and this was the conversation:
“Like, why?”
laughs – Ted
“Like why? Why did you do that?”
“Caaaauuse you were being standoffish and so I gave you a little wap” – Ted
“What do you mean I'm being standoffish?”
“Nothing. I inaudible nothing. Let it go girl. Just inaudible let it go” – Ted
(I'll throw in that I live in a state where you are allowed to audio record someone if you are part of the conversation, you do not need to inform them of said recording.)
The phone rang, I immediately answered it and Jim walked through the office door because he heard commotion. It took me a few moments to get off the phone and Jim had asked me if I was ok, to which I responded no and that I would discuss it with him when Ted left the building for another delivery. I explained to Jim what happened and he was irritated that he “missed it” and wanted to know what I wanted him to do about it. I wasn't sure what I expected him to do, but I did tell him that he NEEDS to talk to Ted about his behavior because this is ridiculous. I knew he was going to speak with Ben about it regardless. When Ben returned from his run, he had asked me many questions including “So he tapped you?” “Oh so he nudged you?” – completely dismissing the fact that he did indeed, hit me, and started to write something down. The day ended and nothing else was said about it. When I got home, my father suggested I ask Ben for a copy of the report, who he sent it to, to make sure HR gets a copy and to not disclose that I have the audio recording. My father was also curious if any other instance has been recorded, both with my previous manager and with Jim – as this has been a consistent issue and now it's escalated to where Ted thinks he can hit me. Today I did ask for a copy of the report “What report?” was Jim's response and “What report?” was also Ben's response when I inquired. Ben decided to leave while making a phone call and after awhile he came back inside and told me that his “report” from yesterday was completely illegal and that I need to take the follow steps :
Write down my statement, with the date of writing and the date of the actual incident. Sign it and email a specific individual, who I'm assuming is HR? with the statement from my own personal email. He stressed that I do not do this with any company email.
I don't really understand what the personal email thing is about and I'm definitely not going to disclose the audio recording to anybody else.
I'm so baffled by yesterday that I guess I'm looking for any and all advice. I will be writing a statement, I'm just not sure if I want to consult a lawyer first or what route to go with. My father said even though work is pretty much unbearable at this point, to not quit (sucks for me since I've been looking for a way out for weeks and yesterday I almost walked out)
TLDR : My one coworker has serious medical issues and I am afraid for his safety. My other coworker hit me on the head on purpose and now I'm afraid for my safety. What's your advice in how to deal with these situations Reddit?