Struck at work yesterday

[PaulHollywoodsleftbollockhair]

I volunteer at a charity shop for a day a week. Get on great with everyone and work non-stop. Recently a woman joined from another charity shop whereby it was clear she had left under a cloud.

She has quite an abrasive personality but I do my best to just get along.

Yesterday I was sorting through stock and tagging stuff when I needed use of one of the guns. I said ‘I just need to use this a sec’, reached for the gun and she slapped me hard on the back of the hand. She then smirked instead of being apologetic. MY responses was one of shock and I told her what on earth did she think she was doing, that it was unacceptable.

Obviously there was a bit of an atmosphere after this- I just got on with my tasks without engaging. About an hour later she asked me was anything wrong as she would hate to create upset. I calmly told her again that she had struck me for no reason and that yes I was offended.

She said sorry at this point. I feel really angry today. The shop manager was present and said nothing as this woman is a personal friend of hers.

Should I just let it be or am I minimising the behaviour? It wasn’t a a playful tap but a stinger and done intentionally with force. However I don’t want to overreact.

Thanks.

You are not BU.

How dare she strike you (I'm assuming this was hard enough to be uncomfortable, not just a misjudged playful slap).! That is an assault, and I would tell her that if it, or any other physical mistreatment happens again you will contact the police.

I've helped out at charity ships before - and having a friend of the manager working there never works well. In my experience they invariably get into huddles in corners and talk about other volunteers, and some regular customers, and seem to spend more time doing that than actually managing the shop.

Agree that this does sound as if it needs to be taken further.

No one should be hitting anyone. That's is abuse. I'd definitely be reporting it.
Am I the only one wondering why there are guns.

The charity will have a member of staff whose remit is to organise and manage all the retail shops, they wil be the line manager for the shop managers. That is the person you should contact, and cc in the personnel department of the charity as well.

Am I the only one wondering why there are guns

Pricing guns - nothing sinister!!!

Yes, you need to make this formal. I had a paid job in a charity years back and one of the Committee was always in the office. It was clear he thought he should have a paid role and regularly humiliated the staff. One time he asked me to count some small change in front of him and because of his scrutiny I kept making a mistake and got flustered. He walked over to me and punched me hard on the arm, giving me a dead arm. He acted like it was a joke.

He was horrible, just horrible and I left shortly afterwards because he controlled the committee of rather weak individuals. They later actually paid a firm to see what was going wrong in the company - dont know why, all the staff had been telling them for years - and you guessed it, it all led back to him.

Volunteers who give up their time and work hard like you need to be valued. You will find out now if they really do value you. Personal Friendships with staff and committee/management never work out as someone else has said. I suggest you look elsewhere, perhaps for paid work.

I agree, formal complaint. Bollocks to the friendship between her and the manager. The manager needs to act like a professional.

i would ask for the incident to be formally recorded in case anything ever happens again. Are you OK working with this woman still or do you not want to work with her - could you ask for her to be moved to another day if you aren't comfortable ? (I'm presuming most people work the odd day in week not five days)

Absolutely, put it in writing. And copy it to head office.

I agree with this. If the manager didn’t step in it’s likely your complaint would be swept under the carpet. The charity needs to know about this as volunteers are a valuable commodity to them and they won’t want to keep losing them.

Definitely formal complaint.

Who hits anyone like that? Something not quite right with her. Watch how you go OP [

This is why charity shops are a hive of weirdo little Hitlers. Sorry but they are.
Volunteers are treated like shit and made to have 'disciplinary' meetings if they don't meet targets.
WTAF? They are VOLUNTEERS!

As other PP have said this needs to be a formal complaint so that it can be investigated.

Sometimes charity volunteers are people serving community sentences - not necessarily in this case - but it is important to report so that all details an be checked, especially given that there may have been previous history.

Volunteers are treated like shit and made to have 'disciplinary' meetings if they don't meet targets.

It's not about "hitting targets", it's about not hitting your fellow volunteers....

I volunteer in one of the national charity shop chains. Yes there are shop targets. We all know what the shop targets are. We're all interested in knowing how we're doing against target. But it's also very clear that it's the job of the paid manager to achieve those targets. Of course volunteers aren't disciplined for a shop not achieving targets, that's just nonsense. Volunteers should be (and are, in my experience) pulled up for doing things they shouldn't be doing. And if they choose to leave, fine.

Poisnous. You're having a laugh.
It's so unbelievable. It's almost laughable.
WTF would go to a meetingto be told off like a naughty school girl/boy when theyre working for free. The CFs. Do these people not get credit for giving up their time.

..it was clear that she left under a cloud

Was it another branch of the same charity? I wonder why she left.....possibly because of her horrible actions or abrasive personality? It matters not one jot that she is mates with the manager, def lodge a formal complaint and request that your paths do not cross.

Hitting people at work then digging around and asking for a reaction sounds like someone with APD? I'd ask for different shifts and be looking elsewhere to volunteer. The managers response tells you that she isn't being monitored or supported to change her behaviour.

Not joking Aww. My brother worked in a charity shop for years but the manager would always pick on him and say that he wasn't working fast enough. They could have just asked him to leave rather than make him go through the disciplinary meeting.

Oh I'd have just walked out after the first whiff of any of that power tripping shit.
It might be one thing putting up with it when you're get a substantal wage.

I'm also wondering why they have guns

Pricing guns. Nothing sinister.

Depends if it was a "disciplinary" or a "let's see what we can do so that you can make more of a contribution", doesn't it?

But it's still ridiculous to take the experience (second hand as the poster wasn't there) of one person in one charity shop and extrapolate that to "they're all mini-Hitlers anyway".

People getting off their butts for no pay is more than contributing.
The managers should be on the hands and knees to them.
After all volunteers are the back bone of any charity organisation. The shops ect could not open without them.

The managers should be on the hands and knees to them.

Only up until a point surely. If a volunteer does no work/is rude to customers/hits other employees(!) then they should be spoken to.

I would bypass the manager and contact the area manager. The (shop) manager was present so she has already had her opportunity to deal with it.

I suspect the volunteer was moved out of the other shop because of similar. She will likely be asked to leave the charity completely, which is right. It would be gross misconduct in a normal job and should be treated the same. Next time it could be someone else so just saying you won't work with her isn't enough (if you feel able).

You should probably look at other ways to volunteer - if her friend is sacked the shop manager is likely to make things unpleasant for you.

I don't expect anyone to be on their hands and knees to me for volunteering.

We all have our own reasons for volunteering our time, some people do it to get them out of the house, kids do it to get work experience or for their DofE, others passionately believe in the aims of the charity - dozens of reasons.

I wouldn't expect a gushing expression of gratitude every time I work my shift - although the manager always thanks us. Head office are constantly banging on about how they couldn't do it without volunteers, and we get a contribution each towards a christmas meal.

But on the other hand, charities shouldn't be expected to put up with people who do no work or who are disruptive or abusive just because they're volunteers.

Hi everyone. I popped in and changed my day , making it clear the reason being this woman. I asked the manager to have a chat about why it was unacceptable to strike people at work and she said ‘ok’.

The shop manager went onto say the area manager is popping in next week and anyone who has concerns can pop in for a chat. However, I would not have got that message had I not gone in today.

There is another couple of issues that the store manager insists are fine but from my reading of employment/ health and safety regs - which someone kindly signposted me to on here- are off. So I will raise them and hopefully it will help all the other lovely volunteers I work with.

Thank-you everyone who has taken the time to comment- it has been really helpful.