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[honeybun]

My daughter had a nasty incident at work this morning. She works at a convenience store in our next local town.
She had a bit of a run in with a man who was very abusive. F words and C words used is bad enough but she said as he was standing at the till he was fiddling with his T shirt and it became obvious he was showing her he had a knife in a sheath strapped to his belt. She has served him before and he is always loud and abusive but this is a step way too far. He has drink and drug problems it would seem which makes him unpredictable.

She told her supervisor who called the manager at home. Her reaction was not to call the police as she did not want the shop involved.

I want something done about it but have had to promise not to interfere as my daughter does not want to end up in court which i can understand as this man lives very close to where she works.
She has promised to speak to the manager and tell her that she will never serve this man again, ever, and that he should be barred.

Horrible thing to happen and she is very shaken up by the whole incident.


Honeyb
x

[Linsey44]

Anonoymous call to crime stoppers. This man must be stopped.  Sorry for short reply but at airport.

X

[babyjane]

Oh dear, sorry to hear about this. I do hope your daughter's manager will be supportive of her. These convenience stores aren't noted for their high wages and the assistants aren't paid enough to deal with this sort of thing. I used to work in a sub post office and at least we had a glass screen. Our local convenience store is open until 11 and there is always just one young assistant on the till quite late in the evening and I always think they are very vulnerable.

[honeybun]

She is 19 and at uni BJ. Contacted for five hours a week but picks up a bit of overtime here and there. She does one late shift every three weeks which finishes at 10 pm. There are always three staff on but apart from one boy they are all female.

The manager is someone I know quite well and that's how my daughter got an interview in the first place. I'm surprised and let down by her attitude but there is not much I can really do 


Honeyb
x

[babyjane]

I do hope she will be all right honeybun

[honeybun]

She is young and they are resilient. Her boyfriend has said he will meet her from work after each late shift just to see her into her car until she feels better about things.

Funny old world really. I knew she would have to deal with drunks but this was at 10am 


Honeyb
x

[babyjane]

It's good that her boyfriend is attentive and caring, that must reassure you

[Taz2]

I think that the manager should be sacked to be honest. To have such a scant regard for the safety of her staff let alone other customers of the store is really shocking.

Taz x

[Dancinggirl]

Hi honeybun
I have done a great deal of retail work and for 3 years managed a gift shop part time - I was usually on my own in the shop.  There were some challenging situations and a couple of times I witnessed shop lifting  - usually drug addicts so they weren't good at hiding what they were doing.  The couple who owned the shop always acted as if it was my fault and said I should have confronted the shoplifters. I had always called the police when this happened and they would firmly tell me not to confront them or indeed challenge any difficult customers.
There was a clothes boutique across the road run by a single girl and one time she rang me in distress as she had a man in the shop picking things up and throwing them around. I called the police,  locked up my shop and went over the road to her and just stood next to her and repeatedly asked him to leave in a calm way - it was terrifying for her but he left before the police came. I don't think he was actually dangerous but was mentally disturbed.
I do hope the manager finds a way to deal with incident.  I really think the police should be informed as he could be a danger to others and other retailers in the area need to be aware.  The manager has a duty of care for her staff and her other customers.
I hope your daughter isn't to distressed by the event - so nasty.   DG x

[Limpy]

Honeyb - Could you ring the manager, informally, and say that whilst you understand her not wanting to get the police involved, what is she going to do to protect the all the shop staff, not just your daughter, from this horrible man? 

Perhaps suggest if she doesn't get her a--- into gear you or your daughter will have to contact the local police or local papers. You could send a copy of your post that starts this thread, that seems to describe the situation.

We've got a 111 number here to contact police in a non 999 emergency fashion. Is there anything like that by you?

[groundhog]

I really think the manager is completely put of order here.  So a man with known drug and alcohol issues is verbally abusive to someone plus seems to be carrying a knife is allowed to act like this???  Most definately a police matter - the manager surely has a duty of care to his staff and member of the public in the shop.  Disgraceful attitude.
But what you do is another thing when your daughter has asked you not to get involved. Ask her to re consider - the police need to be made aware of the incident at least,  so they can keep a eye on him. 
Poor girl must have been shaken up xx

[oldsheep]

The manager is out of order here. I'll bet this man is known to the police already. I hope your daughter is all right.

[honeybun]

I agree with everyone. That's why I'm angry. The manager should do something about this to protect her staff.
I can only think she is scared because she has barred other rowdy or abusive customers before.

It's a shop in a housing estate. The town is a seaside one but like everywhere we have our areas that are not so good and this is where the shop is.
Before the job was offered to my daughter the manager phoned me and asked if she would be able to cope with late night drunks. I said she wouldn't have a problem as she is able to look out for herself. I never dreamed that she would be faced with this.

I don't want to make things difficult for my daughter as she relies on this little job for extra money to run her car and jobs in our area are hard to come by.

She is working again tomorrow so I will wait and see what happens. None of the staff were happy but my daughter was the one "shown" the knife.


Honeyb
x

[Joyce]

Oh heck HB, how distressing.

Manager, needs sacking! Is there CCTV in the shop at all? Manager clearly doesn't like confrontation, but if something was to happen to any of her staff........

Supervisor should have phoned police first, then manager.  Police should be made aware at least.

I know that horrid feeling. Our daughter used to work late shifts in video shop. At end of night money had to be counted then put in a safe under the floor. Daughter was nearly always on her owm , finishing at 10pm. We collected her every time she worked. She never encountered anything like that though, thankfully.

[CLKD]

Sorry this has happened.  The Manager has a legal 'duty of care' towards her Staff.  Maybe ring her and ask whether she knows this man? is she emotionally involved for some reason i.e. been in school together, he lives close by etc..  I would also ring the Police as he may be 'known': perhaps he has a Social Worker who could step in.  I think this situation is bigger than your daughter if that makes sense …… the Manager should call a staff meeting maybe in a cafe close by and discuss how everyone feels about what happened and what protocol should be in future.

Tell your daughter that perhaps she could say if shown the weapon 'sorry you need to carry a knife, no where seems safe these days' ……… certainly though the Police should be told.  Also the MD of the Company if it is Franchised or a 'national' concerned as there will be guidelines for Staff !