I wish I could tell where I work but I cannot for obvious reasons. I will only go as far as say that the neighborhood is not the best in Miami, the clientele is not the most upstanding and the company itself is stuck in 1950s security concepts.

The last months have been somewhat tense. Rumors of a buyout affected both busy working bees and clients, a co-worker was not all there but since he had a disability, nobody wanted to touch that potential Federal lawsuit. There was also tension between clients and management about new fees and procedures that resulted in more than one shouting match and ball-busting activities that continue as we speak plus the usual thievery from the less-than-neighborly neighbors.

The shouting match is the first I wan to bring to the table. I was not present at the incident, but as I was informed, a client had some disparaging words projected against a fellow co-worker and the gentleman apparently responded in kind plus added a few choice words of his own. Things got so bad that management was called to the scene and the initial offender was sent on his way. Later that week I was told that a new procedure was to be implemented if a similar case happened again and that was to call for immediate back-up and overwhelm the offender with “presence,” the more the merrier. Foolish me who thought that the proper use of Customer Service techniques and other tools to initiate a de-escalation would be the proper answer in the litigious XXI Century! And of course the fact that if the affected party feels threatened by a sudden influx of bodies with aggressive stances leading to an obvious disparity of forces, such party may think the use of deadly force might be necessary. It goes without saying that if the call for “Somebody is calling me bad names, I need back up” call comes over the radio, I will take a long frigging tome to arrive to the scene and will only do so after locating my fat persona behind hard cover. I am not getting paid to be a bully or a receptacle for projectiles.

The second incident was related to the above-mentioned Co-Worker that was not all there. As with any other human group, people with disabilities have their fair share of jackasses. Some of them make it a point to be enhanced jackasses when they use their disability as a tool to obtain special privileges, bypass rules and regulations and just be jackasses. Long story short, Co-Worker was initially miffed that certain duties were not assigned to him even though his disability not only precluded him from dong them but they could be downright dangerous. His douchbaggery soon had the rest of the team members literally hating his guts and avoiding him like the plague since he was also of very quick temper sporting a huge chip on his shoulder and that led to a couple of incidents with that could have ended exchanging blows or worse. Apparently the “pressure” of not being treated as a the badass he saw himself as was so bad, he suddenly quit one night before mid-shift.

I heard about the quitting some 30 minutes after it happened from other co-workers. What worried me was the comments Co-Worker said as he was leaving: “You are all against me, this is a fucking conspiracy” and “You all are gonna pay for this shit.”  Needless to say I decided to increase not only my awareness during the reminder of the shift, but also increased my ability to respond to any possible situation with the proper tools for the job (And the answer to your question is no, they are not allowed by the company and yes, it is legal.) Neither my fellow coworkers nor management were worried about the threats and pretty much did not give a second though at the probability that former Co-Worker could come back to assess revenge for the perceived mistreatment. Unfortunately I am not surprised since this workplace is not fond on spending time or money on preparedness or even have a basic Emergency response procedures….. and don’t even peek inside the First Aid kit or you will cry.

After such a long introduction my questions are: Do you have your own safety procedures at work beside the ones implemented by the company? Are you flexible/cunning enough to carry them out without management realizing it in case they contravene policy? Do you have your own personal (as in carrying with you) First Aid kit? Do you happen to know the average response time for police and rescue from 911 call to arrival at your location? And most importantly, do you have the training to achieve a basic response that will give you a fighting chance to survive the incident at hand?

Asses the risks and prepare for them. Your first responsibility is to yourself and your family.