To report my colleague for hitting me

[QueenyLaverne]

Colleague (quite substantial guy) who's job is to bring supplies up to our floor, brought some stuff up. He came to find me, I was on break, to tell me and did so in a very sarcastic way. Not unusual, he is a sarky bastard and we don't like him much, but hey ho we tolerate him and are nice to him. I jokingly pulled him up on it and said something like, 'oh, who do you think your talking to!' 'Laugh laugh' he said something else and I was holding a newspaper which I pretended to hit him with, it tapped him with as we were having banter.
He then comes at me and walloped me on my arm, it really hurt, my arm was still hurting at the end of my shift and I felt really quite tearful, not from the pain, (although it did really hurt) but more because I felt really violated.
Can you tell me if I'm being overly sensitive or if this is unacceptable behaviour and should be reported?
AIBU?

If there is cctv it will show the op hitting the colleague first, the colleague digging her in the arm and then the op turning around to chat to her colleague. Not the force of either the dig to the arm or the tap with the paper.
I maintain that it is highly unlikely that you would be punched so hard in the arm that it immediately brought tears to your eyes and was still hurting hours later without leaving so much as a mark.

Before I go to bed PigletJohn don't talk bollocks I have commented on the actions of Y - (or the OP) - I have used the words inappropriate, unprofessional, passive aggressive.

Now see if you can tell me what you think of Y's attacker.

I'll read it in the morning.

And 'tapping' someone is also hitting them.

Yep. It really is depressing. My teen sons understand the concept of not using excessive force on people who are weaker than them unless they really need to.

Tapping someone on the arm with some paper does not give them the right to thump you, especially not if they are a man twice your size!!!
You shouldnt have tapped him on the arm with the newspaper but it doesnt make what he did okay.
So sick of people on here trying to make all physical violence equal. Its really not. People dont have a right to hit people back it depends on the circumstance and does anyone really think this man was frightened?
I know we werent there so cant know for sure but from the OPs description it seems like an action out of aggression not a knee jerk fear response. A man should not be hitting a woman half his size under any circumstances other than that his safety is genuinely being threatened.

Fuck me sideways I have lost so much respect for a lot of previously liked posters.

A tap is a tap.

A wallop is a totally different fucking thing.

Shit this threads been disappointing.

Again, I ask (because it is highly relevant) what did your colleague who witnessed this exchange make of it???

OP, please do not listen to these deeply irresponsible idiots.

And please anyone else reading this thread who had been slapped or punched by their coworkers or partners, do not let apologists like these ^ influence your decisions.

A hard punch is not a normal reaction to a situation like that, and if you think it is, you are probably going to have problems in future social interactions, you absolute shitting maniacs.

If I slap my husband can he punch me in the face then? according to some people if you hit first you can't moan if you get hit harder back.

And I'm guessing if the other guy got his chance to speak he would say the op walloped him with the paper and he tapped her on the arm.

no, a tap from a newspaper is not 'hitting'

It certainly isn't on a par with hitting someone so hard they cry and it still hurts hours later.

FFS.

You could hit someone fairly hard with a paper rolled up btw.

A wallop and a punch aren't the same thing - well not to me anyway.

A wallop can be a hard hit with an open hand. Or you could wallop someone with a rolled up magazine for example.

Either way, I don't even know why people are bringing male/female into this.

Unless people are suggesting it would be different if this colleague was a 'substantial' woman, who responded by hitting the OP back too hard?

absolute shitting maniacs

Well, Socratic argument right there...

Bumsex you are desperate to excuse actual violence. Why?
Ugh it's gross.

What Gold said.

Somebody tapped me on the shoulder the other day to alert me to fact fact that a checkout had become available at M&S - so I knocked the bastard out. But it's fine, I expect I won't be charged for assault, because they started it, the bitch.

WHERE HAS THE PUNCHING COME FROM!??!?

The OP has not said she was punched at all. Why is everyone using this word? It is escalating the action which might not have even happened.

Imagine if it had happened to your daughter.

Wallop and punch may be the same thing. Round where I live they are

IF the op did lightly, accidentally tap her colleague with the paper as she says and he turned around and full force punched her then she should go to the police never mind complaining at work.
I just don't think that is what has happened from what she's written.

*A wallop and a punch aren't the same thing - well not to me anyway.

A wallop can be a hard hit with an open hand. Or you could wallop someone with a rolled up magazine for example.*
yy

Report hom if you want, however the degree of force used in both instances would be irrelevant (unless there are injuries), both hitting with the newspaper and the hitting on the arm would imho constitute a common assault. If you boil this down to the level of two children this is a case of He hit me, well she hit me first, well she hit harder.

The fact that one assault was committed by a male will make absolutely no difference, there are equal rights in the workplace, making the fact that it is male on female or female on male irrelevant.

I would tread very carefully, you instigated the assault, yes he may be bigger and stronger on you but could he say that he hit you back in self defence, using no more force than he thought necessary to stop you assaulting him again and then as a btw saying that he wants you disciplined for the initial assault