I had a coworker that repeatedly got in other coworkers' faces, constantly caused problems, was overall hostile and made our work lives hell. We filed complaint after complaint about him, (including him smoking weed on the job. Don't get me wrong, I don't care about weed, but I view it the same as drinking on the job.) At one point, we were told to get over it and act as adults as it was just a personality clash. Like, no, this dude is quite literally being aggressive and being a problem. Nothing ever happened. Our complaints fell on deaf ears.
Anyways. We got into an argument, I said screw it, not worth my time. Than he starts hurling insults at me. I snap at him, he than clears 10 feet of a distance and gets right up in my face. So, I push him with one hand to get him away from me. He than literally thanked me and touted happily how he was going to get me fired and PRANCED away.
So yeah. I get put on suspension for a week and a half for “investigation.” I had one call with HR to give my side of the story. I had a witness as well, and had mentioned another coworker saw his attitude before and was a character witness. They fired the both of us. I was told I violated the anti-discrimination and harassment policy. When I asked for an explanation, the HR lady said “I'm not getting into it with you.” And than when I said I deserve to have an explanation she goes “I don't have to explain anything to you.”
So the take-away that my coworkers now have is that the company doesn't care about your safety, but will punish you when you take measures to protect yourself. I was amazed that we were both fired honestly. Like, how the hell do you manage to admit that the dude was in the wrong, but than also tell me I can't get someone out of my personal space?