To feel shaken by this incident and want to leave work?

[Cynthiaramsey]

It’s been non stop raining where I live for days. I don’t drive so on my dinner I walk to a local Sainsbury’s. Today I waited for the rain to stop and then went out, so I didn’t have an umbrella and I don’t have a coat because even though it’s wet, it’s still warm.

I was walking to Sainsbury’s and the road was clear, then I suddenly heard a car speed up. I didn’t have time to wonder what was going on because before I knew it, they drove speeding into a puddle on the side and splashed me. It was a massive puddle so the water has drenched me! It stopped me in my tracks because it was freezing and all my hair and face were wet. As the van drove off, the guy in the passenger seat wound his window down laughing and shouted “slag!” At me. I feel really upset. I know nothing awful happened in the grand scheme of things but it’s just knowing that they sped up to do that on purpose and then laughed about it and called me a name. I am back in work now but my hair is wet and my clothes are so wet they are stuck to me on one side. I feel freezing cold and want to go home so that I can get changed and then just work my last few hours at home.

Would I be unreasonable to ask? Am I being dramatic? I told my boss what happened because I walked back through the door all wet and he was just saying that they’re idiots etc but hasn’t offered to let me go home to change into something dry. So I feel like he would say no. I just feel a bit sad and miserable now.

Firstly what immature idiots there are, you think that when people turn 18 they click into sensible humans, sadly not. Sadly people like this are around.
next time be firm to your boss, explain what happened and say “clearly I need to go home and change”. I have learnt not to ask but to politely inform on such occasions.

Exactly this. I just read lots of the posts and I’m so sad how often this happens to women.
It’s a shit state of affairs 😔

OP- i have a late stage illness and it’s scary as H and if that had happened to he not only would i be in floods of tears and in no fit state to work but psyically it’d just about finish me off!
Now i am sure you are not in terminal illness like myself (well i hope not!!) but even without having that .. the filthy cold water isn’t good for your health

you need to say to your boss (i appreciate the time may have gone by now as im typing this late as only just seen this post ) but i hope you told the boss that you’ve got women’s things going on or just be outright and say your bleeding and that they’re verbal attack has triggered you and that the cold filthy water has actually got inside all of your clothes including underwear and totally unsanitary for you

I hate these ‘men’ for doing this and i wish bad things happened to people like them

That's awful. It's an assault, really, a d an abusive one. I'm not surprised you're upset.

I hope you are ok now ♥️.

I hope the bastards try that shit with the wrong person and get a brick through their van window.

you have absolutely no need to feel embarrassed. If it had happened to me I would’ve felt exactly the same and very upset. I’m glad you were able to go home and I hope you’re feeling better now. Those men should be ashamed of themselves

Bless you! This is actually an offence now but without the reg you might not be able to report it. I think you should have definitely left work. Hope you’re ok!

What is it with (some) men and vehicles? Being encased in metal suddenly gives them an overwhelming sense of bravado and invulnerability - rather like a suit of armour, I suppose but with a powerful engine.

I've lost track of the times some dick has cut across me at a roundabout and when I've hooted at them, they've slowed down in front of me, even stopping, which is obviously designed to intimidate me - ooooh, suppose the big, brave man gets out of their car to confront me?

Except they don't as soon as they realise that my car is wired up with cameras like the BBC covering the Grand National. They're identifiable, they can be held accountable, they can be traced. And this is the thing - they're brave when they think they can get away with it. They are pathetic, nasty, little men who add nothing good to the world and won't grieve the world by leaving it.

I don't blame you for feeling shocked and distressed. Anyone would - it was a horrible experience and you've been left with both mental and physical discomfort and the inconvenience of needing to leave work to dry off. It's unfair. Personally, I'd be seething and wanting revenge but then I have to remind myself that all that does is upset me even further.

Not, mind you, if you manage to get some CCTV (or the police can) or recognise the company's logo you shouldn't report it! There's such a thing as being too philosophical.

yes, if you can remember what time it was, the police might be able to find camera footage of the van, even if further along the road, soon before or soon after the incident, to hopefully be able to identify which company the van is registered to and hopefully the driver.
it is illegal to purposely drive through a puddle to splash pedestrians.
someone did that to me while I was pregnant too, they sped off so fast before I could get their plate number, also coz it's difficult to think of that at the time when still in shock from what happened 😅

Men don’t think, don’t ask,tell him due to the incident you r going home to change and get dry. The van guys are moronic twats I wish u had got their number or name on van because their act was criminal and they could have been done for verbal abuse too. It was not your fault don’t let them spoil your day karma will take care of them take care of yourself!

Total arsewipes, hopefully some driver has got it recorded on dash cam & uploaded to YouTube. I remember a bmw driver got pulled over by the police because they did the very same thing to an older chap.

It happened 2 days ago.
She went home the day it happened and probably the next day and today as well.

Reading this has just made me remember a nasty thing that happened to me the other week. I was walking down the pavement of my street approaching my house and a man was walking in the opposite direction. He eyeballed me with a fixed and what I can only describe as a creepy grin on his face. Then as I was getting my keys out to open my door he started making wanking gestures from his groin. What the actual fuck is that about other than trying to cause upset and distress? . I did feel a bit shaken as he obviously had seen where I lived and I am a survivor of a serious sexual assault which was perpetrated by someone who followed me when I was walking home from work. It makes me so angry that we just cannot live our lives in peace

Aw, that's awful. Some men are total idiots. Probably been drinking or drugs involved. Glad your boss let you go home, that's kind. Just forget about it and don't let them bring you down. Probably don't have a brain cell between them

It is an offence.
Hideous behaviour.
It happened to me once, water went right over my head and I reported it to the police who followed it up.

@Cynthiaramsey i am very angry on your behalf and would have totally asked my boss to go home.

I don’t know if anyone else mentioned this, but sometimes the shops have CCTV cameras that can film outside. You can explain the situation and ask them for the footage of the time the incident happened. They can definitely give you the footage of that moment, just bring a stick with you. With this you can report to the police or call the vans company.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I often drive along a section of main road which holds water in heavy rain and I always take care to move out or creep through the puddle to avoid splashing anyone. I would also recommend keeping an eye out for puddles if you are walking and checking it's clear before you walk past them - I do that too because sadly there are loads of idiot drivers out there.

So sorry this happened to you. It's horrible.
It has happened to me too, waiting at a bus stop. Drenched from head to toe, going to work. Deliberate.
There are some nasty people out there. Glad you're at home safe & dry now.

There are some absolute scumbags around. My partner was cycling down a quiet country lane once and two men in a white van drove past and threw something over him from a bottle and drove off laughing. I've also had someone deliberately drive into a puddle to soak me (honestly, can you just imagine being the sort of person to do that?) Also seen two men in a white van shouting something horrible to a woman jogging past. Also once got a man getting really aggressive towards me as he said he'd stood to the side to let me jog past and I hadn't said thankyou (I did say thankyou - he just had earphones in) Just some of the many examples of violence/misogyny against women.

It is actually illegal to splash someone with water when driving. You should see if you can report them

Total assholes. U poor thing.

Ive stopped "asking for permission" with my work. Sometimes at work you HAVE to leave or WON'T be in...
Tell your boss you have to go home and change and you'll make the time up or lwop

Lolwut? When I read the question, I assumed you totaled your car and somehow escaped near physically unscathed.
But no. You got splashed. By a car driving through a big puddle. Then they said something mean to you. And this has rendered you incapable of working? You were "traumatized"? By a puddle?
I really can't believe how fragile people have become over the past decade or two. It's absolutely ridiculous. You should seek professional help if that's all it takes to make you feel undone.

@jsterr1 you sound nice. Assume you're one of the dudes who does this sort of thing for kicks.

Nope. I just don't think it's some day ruining event that merits taking the day off work. Go home, get changed into dry clothes, go back to work and carry on as if nothing of note has happened. Because it hasn't. She got splashed. OOOOOOO THE HORROR!!!

It's illegal to drive through puddles and deliberately drench people,it's in the highway code if you want to look at it,but the chances of the driver and passenger getting caught is minimal unless you got the reg plate,as for your boss he probably just didn't think you should have just asked him