"Crazy Person (use his real name), it's obvious that we have problems interacting on a personal level, however this is a professional environment, and it would be in both of our best interests to treat it as such. I'm more than happy to discuss work related maters with you, and from now on I would prefer if we limited our interaction to professional matters only."
Email that to him, CC HR and document any times that he is aggressive, note what was said, when, where, and who else was present.
If you do all that you'll have a pretty rock solid case to protect yourself should it come to some sort of confrontation.
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Originally Posted by AcGold
Thank you all for the levity I had a good laugh. Thank you Shantz this is exactly what I will do, I do not want to quit it's so good (first real career software job yay!)
Be very careful how you word any such email. It would be best to word it in a manner that only projects your feelings on the matter, for example "l am very uncomfortable with some of the ways you interact with me, I'm sending you this letter to politely make you aware of my discomfort with our interactions. (Give examples, but do not accuse him of anything) I'm aware it's possible that you may not realize how some of your actions towards me are impacting me, so now that you are aware I respectfully ask that you please stop these behaviours when interacting with me."
If you start accusing him of things and have no proof, or witness who is willing to give you a signed statement, you run the risk of him running to hr and saying you're harassing him and making unfounded accusations, which is a common tactic for abusers to use in these situations. Do not act bothered by his actions, act indifferent, it will be extremely infuriating for a textbook workplace bully and he will either move on to a new victim or he will snap and give hr a blatant reason to deal with him.
Also make sure to not say or imply things like "stay away from me" as that can also be twisted.
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You are way too nice, and unfortunately, guys like this take advantage. Look at how you can protect yourself professionally, and if safety is a real concern, then you have to remove yourself from the situation.
This. If you let yourself be taken advantage of professionally, people will use that against you personally as well.
Stop doing favors for these kinds of people. Don't get sucked in by their pleading, whining or bitching. If it is work related, do what you can, but don't go out of your way.
Some people simply want everything that comes their way and will ruin lives to get it.
Location: In my office, at the Ministry of Awesome!
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by starseed
To avoid getting stabbed by the crazy coworker, maybe try to tie HR's hands: Talk to your doctor and tell him that the psychological stress is manifesting itself in intolerable physical symptoms... headaches, nausea. Tell your doctor of your company's failure to address the issue, and ask for a note to give to your company to ask to be separated from the source of the stress. If the company refuses to accommodate - discrimination based on disability - damages, lost wages, etc. You can support your case by demonstrating that you did approach the company to get the situation resolved - you did give them a chance to address the issue, but they failed to do so.
*For the record, I hate when employees do #### like this when they are trying to game the system, but it is an effective avenue to force action.
So...fraud?
Somehow I don't think that's the best course to get this resolved.
__________________
THE SHANTZ WILL RISE AGAIN. <-----Check the Badge bitches. You want some Awesome, you come to me!
Yeah, and stop getting pushed around. Unless the guy has some type of supervision responsibilities over you, I'd just tell him to get bent and go on your day. And document, especially the fact that you've told your manager everything you've said here. Then if he does get all stabby on you, you'll have some recourse.
But you can't live life afraid some dude is going to go nuts on you. CYA and get on with your life.
<-----Check the Badge bitches. You want some Awesome, you come to me!
