Last Night

Dear Gary,

I want to make you aware of an incident that occurred with John on 5.4.06 at 8:05 PM.

He verbally assaulted me, openly on the sales floor and then proceeded to threaten me with loss of employment in front of several customers and Michael. At 8:05 P, Jon approached me and told me: "Get To The Register!" in an angry and intimidating tone. Ursula witnessed this exchange. I was at the time clearing the desk of magazines that Ursula had just brought over - I took a minute to walk w/Ursula to the magazine racks and helped her see that putting up the magazines up was not so difficult* (*She thought it was really hard, I took this as a teachable moment.)

Prior to this I had been shelving and I was specifically paged by Jon to main information. He used my first name. I proceeded to help the three Latino customers who had multiple requests for books on black magic. I also took them to the section and found several titles they were looking for-Necrinomicon, Book of Witchcraft.

I was approached by Jon and told to go to the registers. I told him I would be there shortly. It was my understanding that was not Jon's place; neither was it necessary to be belligerent on the sales floor. I proceeded to finish shelving the magazines. I repeat the incident in writing.. I was startled by his angry demeanor and intimidating tone. I went to info, collected my belongings, Jon said "You'd Better Get To Register's!" I asked him to please return two items that I was going to put on hold and that is when Jon threatened me by saying: "I am calling HR on you and all you do is chat...Running Your Mouth!!"

Normally Jon is very polite & professional and a bit of a kidder-
Jon was not kidding and proceeded to go on a verbal Rant* (*Which I tried to ignore , but did not). I asked Jon not to speak to me in that manner - Jon's voice was raised and I heard Michael ask us to stop and I stopped and went to the register at 8:10 p. I apologized to Michael for defending myself from Jon's verbal abuse.

History
Prior to this incident I had observed Jon to be belligerent towards Nekeye and Phil and on a rare occasion he would do some passive/aggressive pages to main information-
Specifically when I was shelving. This has been observed by Sharon, Jon will page me to info when I am with a customer or shelving near info in full view.

I do not work well with hostile or abusive people. I deem Jon to be such. Therefore, I would like to tender my request not to work with Jon- He is belligerent and has some anger management issues based on my 12 years of counseling and four years in HR. It is a liability to have on the floor a person who verbally abuses fellow employees and acts emotionally belligerent. I am neither encouraging nor making a specific recommendation, just trying to make you aware how I felt and how uncomfortable Jon makes me feel. He has abused his tenure/expertise.

I want to praise Michael for remaining calm and professional, however his response was deferential.


( I am at work from 7:45A until 5P, with lunch 12;30-1:30P)

My Concerns:
-Jon's attitude and threatening demeanor.
-I do not desire to work any shifts with Jon until he seeks counseling.

-Jon not being flexible w/duties I have had to wait 15-20 minutes occasionally to shift change from reg to info because someone is getting a smoothie (Jon), forgot their location, Border's is a relaxed work environment were peers should be respectful.

-Using first names and paging to specific sites, what is the policy about that...??

-Jon acting in a supervisor's role and feeling OK to play schoolyard bully policing fellow employees. Reprimanding, me info rant of Ursula was unnecessary or there was no need to threaten me with HR action in front of Michael..

-Jon often grabs people's holds without checking the filled out card/dates and pertinent info per your policy established earlier this year. I have witnessed how Jon will take hold's off before their time off the employee shelf. Retail is detail. He pays little to no attention to the writing on these holds.

This is upsetting. He then proceeds to stack all returns on the desk, and the leaves the register to collect magazines, stacks them up further as if to fill the info desk for me ...I consider this strange since I have not observed him to do this with other employees. I understand we can not change people's behaviors but these are observable actions that should require some coaching.

Finally & in retrospective,
I am responsible for my actions. I did not need to respond to Jon. I did feel personally attacked and I have learned through cross-cultural counseling training and personal experiences that in the case of Jon; it is not desired to back down, this is perceived as weakness. I did not back down and held my grown. In hindsight, I do believe that I reacted in the moment and I should have just taken my frustrations and concerns to Michael. This did not occur and I am embarrassed by my actions. I feel as if I played into emotions rather than rationality.