Safety in the wsorkplace

Safety from Violence in the Workplace – and School Room

It is important to note that in all of these cases, it is the loner, the misfit, the person who is uncomfortable in their own skin that erupts into violence.

Until we recognize this fact, and take action to help these people, not tease them, all the bars, and locked doors and police-presence won’t stop the violence.

Do you remember ESL?  That was a situation in which Richard Wade Farley (probably “on the spectrum”) was ridiculed and teased and exploded with violence.  The back-story was his unrequited crush on a lovely co-employee named (if I recall correctly) Laura Black.   Since he was never able to get her to go out with him – and her complaints to her employers were pretty much ignored, he went to some of the male co-workers asking for advice.  They told him that women liked “strong men.”  So he dressed up like Rambo, guns and all and as he entered ESL intending to show off to her, some people laughed at him and he exploded.  (This is information I gained from talking with several people who knew the situation.)

Think about all the kids that thought they were showing off or getting even by coming to school and shooting people.  What did they all have in common?  Yes, they were socially awkward and felt like outsiders – or people unfairly victimized by “the system”

I just spent the better part of the last three days working with a board of directors persuading them to put the needs of the people before money.  Finally, they did and the expected outcome of what might have been an awful situation is much better.  It has become a win-win for all concerned.

Treating people with courtesy and kindness will go far further to ensure safety in the workplace and school-room than all the locked doors, etc. 

By that I don’t mean that we should not hold people accountable, or make business decisions rather than emotional ones.  It’s how we do it, that matters.