This was 11 years ago, I was 25 and I highly doubt I can do anything about it, but I wanted to share my story because I would love for people to be aware how often this shit happens and learn from my mistakes.
I was a banker at Woodforest in a little Neighborhood Market right by my house. My bank manager was a charismatic guy who really gave me the creeps. He seemed so fake but the customers loved him to pieces, so whatever. We get a coworker who starts buddying up to him, and his creep-o-meter is off the charts, so I just stay professional and try to steer clear as much as I can in the tiny area we worked in.
For example, we often looked at various websites on our downtime when things were caught up, we were all on our desktops scrolling when this coworker announced that a woman was tortured and raped, snickered and said under his breath but I was near enough to hear “she was asking for it”. Cue the maxed out creep-O-meter. He said things like that and got these weird, sick looks on his face like he enjoyed suffering. He often acted like he was going to punch me, holding up his fist in the air over my head and said things like “if you mess this up, I’ll throat punch you.” He laughed every time I jumped or ducked. He always this out of earshot of management. I was a baby at 25, but another coworker who witnessed it happening was even more of one, as this was his first ever real job and he was like 18-19. So when shit hit the fan he was too scared to say he witnessed any of it.
So this was my work environment, but I was doing well at the bank and maybe had found my career, so I was trying to stick it out until I could get a promotion or find a better job once I had some tenure built up- I’d been there about a year total when the final shit went down. One evening we were counting down our tills- we had to do this each night, it was a process involving two people where the assignee to the toll counted their money and the second coworker watched and confirmed the count- I was counting my money with the creepy one, when suddenly he grabbed the scissors out of the bin, held the pointy end to my throat and said in a cold and chilling voice, “I will CUT you.” I froze. I had been wondering if he was a sociopath (or psychopath?) who would snap for some time… he put the scissors down after a few moments that felt like ages and laughed… I turned to see if the young coworker had seen it, and his back was turned.
Due to this guy being so buddy-buddy with the manager, I didn’t tell anyone and I went home hastily, scared of the world around me and what they could be capable of if this banker guy could do this. The walk in the parking lot to my car that night was brutal, I wondered if this was the night I would become a statistic? I called my girlfriend in hysterics on the drive home and she insisted we call the police, if anything, to have it time stamped on record. She knew about this creep and we were concerned of having backlash since I am openly gay and it’s a conservative area. I feel like it’s important to note I wasn’t a LOUD gay at work, I went to work, kept my head down and stayed professional because of the conservative nature of the location.
So, we call the police in my neighborhood and they come and tell me that was assault and offered to let me press charges. They urged me to report the incident to the higher ups at work, too. Thinking I’d do right by this company, I decided to report it to management before/instead of pressing charges.
So the next day or so, our regional manager (who seemed like a good dude) is coming by so I asked him to speak with him and reported the incident. He asked me to write it down and give it to HR for them to “investigate”, pointing out there are cameras everywhere, and they could act based on what they find. I knew without a doubt they would see what he did, so I was hopeful the whole thing would be over soon. As they investigated, I was transferred to an extremely fast-paced location an hour from home and asked to sign papers saying i would not repeat anything about the incident to anyone, and wouldn't pursue legal action. I was so naive. I thought they had my back because i was a top producer and beloved by many of our regulars. I just KNEW the video footage would show the truth and things would be made right….
They ended up giving him a promotion to Assistant Manager within a few months, and they asked me to stay permanently at the far away location. I was crushed, angry and so confused. How could this be okay? Why is he being rewarded for this behavior and i was getting punished? i ended up quitting, unaware of anything about unemployment, and faced years of the snowball of financial ruin and PTSD difficulties. This happened 11 years ago so I'm sure nothing could be done at this point.. i just want to share this with you and encourage anyone in this kind of situation to call the police IMMEDIATELY when something like this happens. Don't trust the company or anyone in it, they will spit you out like recycled cup, easily written off and replaced. and the little uncomfortable moments DO lead up to crossing the line eventually. Keep a timestamped log of every incident so when/if a big incident occurs you have some leg to stand on.
I felt silly being scared of scissors, i mean, it wasn't a knife and he wasn't robbing the bank. What do i say, i got held at scissor-point? sounded ridiculous to me, and with the false reassurances of the regional manager i thought i would be taken care of and the creep would be let go. go figure.
That was a rough one and i hope my suggestions help anyone else in a hostile work environment. Hell, maybe part of me is still pissed this happened and i hope it explodes here and woodforest national bank gets the recognition they deserve.