[On mobile, sorry for any issues]
I (nb, 19) work at a craft store chain and have multiple managers, rumor has it that one of these managers (i’ll call her L) has an abusive husband, and that’s one of the reasons she’ll come to work with a bad attitude (it’s also rumored she won’t leave him because despite the abuse, it’s cushy otherwise and they have a million dollar home plus decent amounts of money). But she’s been in the company for years, works really hard, and has been undermined by other coworkers in the past. I can understand her frustration about some things.
L is a complete control freak, if things aren’t done her way she gets really angry and she’s constantly muttering about how incompetent coworkers are under her breath or the ridiculous things customers do. I was closing with her the other night, and one of the other managers had left a bit of a mess in the back room, that she said she’d fix the next day when she returned (she said all this on her way out as she was a bit rushed, idk if this is relevant but she’s L’s superior). This made L furious, and she was raving about it for the entire night as she felt that she’d need to ‘fix’ what was left and also have to do her duties as manager, which she said can be really overwhelming.
L spent a decent amount of time for the shift grumbling and swearing to herself about our coworker and reorganizing the back room. When we are pretty dead, I came to the back to grab some boxes that I knew I had to open and put the product out on the floor. I had barely spent any time in the room before L was saying that ‘[I] need to leave the room right now or [she] would loose her temper and hit me’. And like… I don’t know what to think of this.
It scared me, I’ll be honest, but that also might just be past trauma coming back. But I know it definitely wasn’t her making a joke, though I can’t tell if it was a strongly worded but well-meaning warning to steer clear or a genuine threat. And L is known for lowkey being verbally abusive and not really liking people so I’m worried if I told someone they’d be like ‘oh, that’s just how L is’, or, if they did take what I said seriously, I’m worried about the consequences she’d face at home if she lost her job or something.
I don’t know what to do here, I guess I’m looking for advice?