General public and the rise in aggressive behaviour towards people just doing a job - DH job as an example

[Picklemeyellow]

My dh has been working in the same job for over 30 years.

He is a road engineer and although he very much enjoys the job and has a great relationship with his colleagues he is finding the general public to be a complete pain in the arse.

He says the aggression towards them is becoming an almost daily occurrence. This never happened years ago and he says he has seen this steadily rising over the last 5+ years or so.

It is becoming such a problem that the company he works for is offering the employees who work on the road, the use of body cameras. They also attend regular safety training and learn how to diffuse confrontational situations.

Road closures appear to cause the biggest rise in aggression. These closures are planned in advanced and in most cases the local residents will have been notified via letter etc. It goes without saying these closures are done so to protect the public from harm, there could be exposed electrical cables and large holes left in the road etc.

However, there are always the few who will truly believe they are above the rules and regulations and feel they should be ‘let through just this once’ and when these people realise the rules can not be bent just for them they often go ballistic - shouting and swearing is the most common (they are often being called Fucking Cunts and Arseholes).

One guy went crazy, ran back to his car, produced his lunch box and proceeded to hurl his sandwich, sausage rolls and chocolate bar at them (what a knob!).

Another work colleague once had a bottle of urine thrown at him!

The best one was a woman who announced that she was going to drive through the road closure regardless of the fact DH had told her there was a massive hole in the road further down and she would absolutely not be able to get through. She totally ignored him, drove past him whilst swearing and muttering. She arrived at said hole and realising DH was in fact correct and she would not be able to get through she proceeded to drive up the adjacent grass embankment, failing to see the ditch on the other side, she drove straight down into the ditch ending up with her car on its side - what an absolute idiot.

They are the lighthearted stories though, what happens when it turns violent?

I just don’t understand why people are like this now. We hear constant stories of supermarket workers being verbally abused to the point they are also being offered body cameras.

People are just doing a job, trying to earn a living, they do not deserve to be abused whilst doing so.

I am 50 years old and worked many years in customer service but never have I recalled supermarket staff being abused at the rate they are now and I dare say the same goes for many areas of the public facing workforce.

What is happening to society, I personally find it concerning?

Despite working in retail, and most definitely NOT defending rudeness or worse (see earlier post), I had an experience in a shop at the weekend that has got me thinking.

I went into a shop, got my shopping and went to the self service checkout to pay. After spending 2 mins queueing, I was already walking briskly towards the available kiosk when I was told abruptly to “go there!” By a staff member pointing her finger.

Then after scanning two items, a third item didn’t scan, so I waited for assistance. A different staff member came and sorted it, telling me there are two things on the item that the system interprets as a barcode, so it got confused.

Then I went to scan my loyalty card and it didn’t scan despite my repeated attempts. The transaction then timed out and I had to wait for help again. The wait was longer this time, and I realised during the wait that I would need to buy a bag. So I picked one up, knowing I would have to wait to scan it when the transaction had been reinstated. The first staff member came over, and exclaimed “madam you have to pay for that!” As if I’d been running out the shop with the bag stuffed under my jumper, rather than stood still, waiting patiently. I stated that I knew this, I was just unable to scan it.

She unlocked the transaction, and I asked if she could help me scan my loyalty card. She said “you just do this” - then spent about 30 seconds trying and eventually succeeding to scan it herself.

I finally paid then asked the same staff member how to get the security tag removed from one of the items. She said “do you have a receipt?”, then “go there, no need to queue” and pointed to the side of a manned till that had a big queue. I waited ant the side there, and the two people in the queue closest to me tutted at me for “pushing in”. The item and receipt was then taken out my hand without a word by the woman behind the till during another customers transaction - this customer looked and me and frowned, and I didn’t know what to do so said nothing. The item was then returned to me and I could leave.

I felt quite stressed during and after this palaver, despite working in retail and being a placid person. I think for some people this makes them angry and short tempered, and they don’t necessarily recognise that the staff are under huge pressure due to the way places are intentionally understaffed these days.

All of this wouldn’t have happened in the past. I would have been served by a human, my items and loyalty card would have gone through seamlessly, and the security tag removed. I would have been able to add a bag to the transaction before paying, and at no point would I have had to defend myself against implied accusations of theft.

1 haven't read the thread so I don't know if this has been said already, but...

in most cases the local residents will have been notified via letter etc

At least where I am, this never seems to happen. There is always huge disruption along main roads in my town and no one is ever notified, you just rock up one day along your normal route to find signage up.

I don't agree with the workmen getting abuse at all, it's not their fault. But it is infuriating to not find out until you've already commit to a particular route.

This is such a good post. I totally agree. I’m in rural Essex, and the traffic, endless house building, and sheer number of people, is ruining my life. The traffic is so bad round here that I can only go out at certain times of day. I wouldn’t dream of driving to my local Tesco at midday on a Saturday, for example. For a start, that would mean turning right at the end of my road, which is too stressful. Also, I’m constantly woken up by the screeching and exploding of boy racer engines.

Quick snapshot of modern Britain. During the Spring, I went for a walk with a friend. To begin with, we couldn’t get parked near the woods because the car park was full. People were parking on the grass verges instead, which had caused an argument with a resident, who was in the street yelling at a dog walker for blocking him in. We finally got into the woods, but when we stopped to listen to a bird singing, it was drowned out by the screeching of distant car engines. Then we emerged out of the woods to find that the meadow I used to play in as a child (I hadn’t been to these woods for a few years) was now a giant housing estate. On the way home we got stuck in traffic again, and at a junction someone bibbed and yelled because I didn’t move fast enough. By the time I got home, I felt more stressed and miserable than I do at work.

If I was young, and had no ties, I would leave the U.K. I don’t know where I’d go, but it would be somewhere quiet - somewhere with space and light, where you can enjoy nature in peace. There are just too many people squeezed onto this little island, it’s as simple as that.

I agree and the way the signage is done is also never clear. So you'll come across a sign that says 'Road Closed Ahead', but it might not be the main road that's closed, it might be a side road, in which case you can still use the main road. The only way to find out is often to just head down the road and see which one is closed. I do wish that the signage allowed workers to state exactly WHICH road is closed, to save people wasting their time finding out.

Yes me too.

I often do my errands at 'unsociable hours' to avoid the crowds.

One guy went crazy, ran back to his car, produced his lunch box and proceeded to hurl his sandwich, sausage rolls and chocolate bar at them

The literal manifestation of 'throwing your toys out of the pram'. Unbelievable!