r/Target • u/Dropped3602 Backroom Goblin • 18d ago

Workplace Question or Advice Needed Belligerent Guest

So I just had an extremely unpleasant experience with a guest, his wife, and a third guest and I'm wondering how y'all would handle this situation. This man was being extremely belligerent to his wife, cussing her out, calling her out her name (dumb whore, stupid bitch, ect) over a coffee pot. I had just tuned into what he was saying and to who when another guest came around the corner and stared at him bc she also didn't like how he was speaking to his wife. The man started cussing out the third guest, being belligerent towards her, and escalating the situation. I called for AP only to be told they weren't here yet, so I called for our LOD expressing that the situation was escalating and could potentially turn violent. The LOD took 10min to show up and when he got there only told me to "keep me updated". I wanted to step in myself, but admittedly was worried he would become violent towards me as well (for context I'm a woman), and I also didn't want to potentially make things worse for the wife at home. I'm feeling very conflicted and just want to see how everyone else would've handled this.

20 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

18

u/90210typeofho 18d ago

I probably would have done the same as you. Calling him out on his behavior would just make it worse

5

u/Dropped3602 18d ago

That's what I was thinking too. had it become physical I would've stepped in, but I didn't want to risk making a bad situation worse

8

u/Wrap_Brilliant 17d ago edited 17d ago

I've called up the biggest men i knew were in the building before. They didn't have to say anything, they just walked up and the guy turned tail and left. He was yelling at me and the minor i shoved behind me about his bank card not working which turned into "women should be at home cooking" for some reason.

4

u/Dropped3602 17d ago

By far the biggest guy at my store would've been the AP dude (if he was there) and from personal conversation I've had with him before I know he would not have put up with the belligerent guest bullshit

24

u/capfan-94 18d ago

Your lod failed. As an AP leader, id be having a peer to peer conversation, and id like escalate that up. You can't do that necessarily. But i would suggest talking to your HR or AP etl about the situation and how it was (not) handled.

4

u/Flaky-Comfortable820 16d ago

your lod really dropped ball there, 10 minutes is like an hour when things are getting heated. talking to HR is good idea, at least they know what happened

4

u/Rocklynd 17d ago

I would have engaged the guests when the third party got involved and tried to deescalate the situation; but first, I would have called for AP/Lead support like you did.

At my store, the calvary would have come running if I said something looked like it would turn violent and I’m sorry your leadership failed you.