Story Sent in by Nancy:
Scott and I met over a dating site. He wrote to me first, and back then, I was in the habit of writing back to more guys than I currently do, so I gave him a chance. He was really into me, so it seemed, and he was a pretty interesting guy himself. He was a tour guide at a local zoo.
When we met for dinner, he was actually kind of loud and obnoxious, and more into himself than his intro messages let on. We just went on the one date.
A little less than a year later, I was at the zoo with some friends, and over my shoulder, I heard a loud voice say, "And over here, we have the freckled witch!"
I turned around. It was Scott. He was dressed in a safari outfit and led a group of about a dozen tourists. He pointed at me and said, "The freckled witch, everyone."
They gave him confused looks. I pretty much wanted to die. He leaned close to me and said, "I haven't forgotten you. I haven't gone on a date since we went out, so whatever you did to curse me, you'd better un-curse me if you know what's good for you."
He then turned back to the tour group with a big smile and led them on. "This way, folks!"
I wanted to leave immediately, but one of the friends I was with convinced me to go to the main office and make a complaint. I really, really didn't want to escalate things with such an imbalanced guy, but my friend put it into perspective and said, "If you let him get away with it, how many other people will he humiliate?"
I complained to someone in the zoo's operations department, and then we all hurried out. I didn't feel like being there, anymore.
I've been there one time since, but before I went, I called the zoo to find out if Scott still worked there. They said that he didn't, and so I felt better about going. I have no idea if my complaint had anything to do with it, but it didn't really matter, I guess.
So, this witch puts a curse on him, and HE'S the bad guy? Shaking my head...
ReplyDeleteCouldn't come back with a witty comment so, let's get the scumbag fired. Not like he has bills to pay or anything. Breaking out the WMD because he made a weird creepy comment seems a little much.
ReplyDeleteThe Zoo Tour Guide Guild should have had his back!
DeleteIf he'd sent her a single weird creepy comment through email or text or some private avenue, I would agree, talking to his place of work would be inappropriate. However, he loudly announced to a tour group that a zoo attendee was a 'freckled witch'. The fact that his inappropriate behavior occurred not during a private moment but loudly in the performance of his duties means it's appropriate to talk to his supervisor.
DeleteI really doubt that it was her complaint that got him fired, unless it was the straw that broke the camel's back. The places I've worked, it is really pretty hard to get fired. One complaint from an ex-girlfriend definitely wouldn't do it.
Delete^ Well, you're a schoolteacher. Your coworkers are allowed to have sex with the students, and not get fired. Hooray for tenure!
DeleteIf I'm at the supermarket, and the cashier says "here's your change, idiot", I'm going to report them to their supervisor because that's the workplace chain of command. This guy was working. He brought his personal problems to work. I'm with Team OP on this one.
DeleteFFS, you can't possibly be that dense. When working with the public, you are expected to behave in a professional, respectful manner. If I called someone a bitch, or spat in their food, or even just yelled, "Hey, everyone look at how fat that guy is! Isn't he gross?" I would probably get fired. At the VERY least, I would get written up. And if someone complained, they would be well within their rights. This douchebag was ON THE JOB, in a very PUBLIC place, and decided to publicly pick on and humiliate a patron. It doesn't matter if he felt it was justified, or if it was just a weird, creepy comment, she was a paying customer at his place of work. He fully deserved to have a complaint lodged against him.
DeleteIf someone is in a service field, and thinks its acceptable to harass a customer, then its absolutely within the customers rights to lodge a complaint about them.
DeleteThis guy got what he asked for.
I'm not saying the guy didn't deserve the payback, but given the situation it seemed a little overblown. Calling her a "freckled witch" is on the same level as calling her a "big stupid head". It's just childish. If I'm in a service industry and I call someone I've never met before a name on the job, then yes, the chain of command is absolutely the way to go. But they knew each other. That makes the whole thing feel different. It gives it a "I'm gonna tell teacher on you for calling me a name" sort of feel. If she'd have come back with "You're a limp-dick petting zoo pedophile" I think that would have shut him up real nice and sufficiently embarrassed him into never talking to the OP again.
Delete"But they knew each other."
DeleteSo? They went on one bad date and didn't see or speak to each other for nearly a year. They *barely* knew each other. She paid to go to the zoo that day, and the experience she paid for was ruined by a verbally abusive employee. If the tourists in his group were offended or upset by his actions, they might have reported him as well. He was way the hell out of line, and if he couldn't understand that verbally attacking and threatening a virtual stranger because he was still nursing a grudge over a minor thing that happened nearly a year before was wrong, he shouldn't be allowed out of his home without supervision let alone in the workplace.
"If she'd have come back with "You're a limp-dick petting zoo pedophile" I think that would have shut him up real nice and sufficiently embarrassed him into never talking to the OP again."
Seriously? No, seriously? She should have escalated the situation even further by insulting an unbalanced and clearly aggressive individual who saw nothing wrong with verbally abusing and threatening her in front of witnesses? I don't know about you, but I'd rather be seen as a "tattle tale" than end up with a black eye or a clump of hair ripped out or a broken arm.
Seriously? Yes seriously. I think you and I have different ideas of what unstable people would do when put into these situations. A quick zinger to someone that calls you a freckled witch may inspire any number of reactions, including violent. But there were witnesses and her friend was there so most likely, he would have slunk off with his tail between his legs and forgotten about it after a week or so. Get a crazy person fired and you are all they have to think about. I'm thinking cyber-stalking, driving by your house, following you to work, you get the idea. He was out of line with the comment. No one disputes that. Should you try to get a crazy person fired? I think we can all agree that is a very dangerous situation. You think being a tattle tale would be the "safer" approach, but I really don't think you're giving the crazy people enough credit. You zing someone and it stings. You get them fired and you have seriously fucked with their life.
Delete"A quick zinger to someone that calls you a freckled witch may inspire any number of reactions, including violent."
DeleteNot everyone wants to bank on the situation not turning violent if they provoke someone. Not everyone is physically capable of defending themselves against someone who wants to hurt them. Those who are are welcome to take the chance, though.
"I think you and I have different ideas of what unstable people would do when put into these situations."
In my experience, they settle the dispute and soothe their egos with their fists. Though in the cases when I've encountered such people they were usually intoxicated as well, so I don't know first hand how willing someone like that would be to play the long game when it comes to holding a grudge while sober.
"Get a crazy person fired and you are all they have to think about. I'm thinking cyber-stalking, driving by your house, following you to work, you get the idea."
Where in the original post does it say she got him fired? She called the zoo to see if he still worked there and was told that he didn't. That's all. She didn't say how much time lapsed between this incident and her deciding to go back, so he could have quit or been fired for something else. And if he was the type to go after her because he thinks she got her fired, he'd be the type to go after her because she shattered his ego in front of others with her words. Or because she looked at him too long. He'd find a reason. I guess the OP can't win either way, but it still wouldn't be her fault if he got fired. It would be his fault for screwing up so badly his employer had no choice but to get rid of him. Going by this story, at least, she had no further contact with him, so maybe she got lucky and ended up with a very lazy and poorly-motivated stalker.
I think you're giving the crazy guy in this story too much credit. You're assuming his response will be to run away, but some people respond to "fight" instead of "flight." He's obviously not shy, since he's willing to humiliate and threaten a near-total stranger in public while he's working, so I think the odds are that he'd stand his ground and hurl more verbal abuse at her if she engaged him. What would she get out of that, other than extra humiliation?
DeleteHe deserved to be reported, at the very least because he probably made his entire tour group uncomfortable. And she didn't demand that he be fired, that was the zoo's decision and an indication that there were probably prior complaints against him already. Plus, for all we know, he may not have been fired over this incident, something else may have happened later on that was the final straw.
Yeah, we have no idea what actually happened here. Did he get fired because of the OP? Did he get fired at all? What would have happened if she had been verbally abusive back to him? No idea. It's all hypothetical. My only real point was and still is that if she did cost him his job and he realized it, that could have really dangerous implications depending on this guy's level of crazy.
DeleteAlso, the guy was a nut but part of me still thinks telling on him to his boss was a dick move. I guess I've always been a "handle your own problems" kind of guy for good or ill. That's the only thing that bother's me about the OP, and she even said she didn't want to do it. Her friend talked her into it. Was it an acceptable way to handle the problem and most likely the right thing to do? Yeah, probably. Was it what I would have done? Probably not.
Scott's comment was inappropriate for work not to mention lame but reporting him for calling you a witch, really? OP should have laughed it off, made a witty comment and enjoyed the rest of her day at the zoo with her friend. Why get upset over something so childish?
Delete"He leaned close to me and said, 'I haven't forgotten you. I haven't gone on a date since we went out, so whatever you did to curse me, you'd better un-curse me if you know what's good for you.'"
This leads me to believe that this guy is beyond unstable and fucking with his job (whether he was fired or not - reporting him would have affected him in some way) would escalate things to a new degree. He held a grudge for A YEAR because one date didn't go well, just imagine what grudge he's holding now. Just wait until you run into him again.
Ghost of Gene Rayburn covered it rather well. Whether you know someone or not (and this person wasn't a friend of the person they insulted) if you insult a paying customer when you are at work, you have to expect a complaint.
DeleteThanks Kitty Rose, I feel the exact same way. You summed it up nicely. :-)
DeleteFrankly, I don't understand people who insist that they should be able to insult, harass, threaten, or otherwise bully people and not get in trouble for it. When you do the wrong thing there's going to be consequences. Whining about what you think other people are allowed to get offended by is pathetic and arguing that they should have taken the action that would have caused *you* less trouble is just stupid.
DeleteIf Scott doesn't want to get in trouble for calling a customer a witch and then getting in her face and threatening her then he should stop doing that. The OP was under no obligation to worry about how Scott is going to pay his bills. It's Scott's job to worry about that. If he doesn't give a shit about keeping his job then why should she?
If the OP was in any real danger from this guy then that's all the more reason to report his behavior. If someone's really dangerous you need to document it.
I don't understand the people who say she shouldn't have reported him. He was doing his job poorly and representing his employer purely to the public -- and bringing personal spite to work. His boss absolutely should have been made aware of all that.
DeleteTeam OP.
ReplyDeleteDoes no one get the feeling that these stories are all fake?
ReplyDeleteAs fake as the name you are using on here, Tina! I know it's you!
DeleteImma gonna slap you next time I sees ya.
Ike Turner
Tina was never good at grammar....that's why I beat her
DeleteIke
All of these "stories" are written in the same format, there is NO curse words, NO sex stories.....its all crap.
ReplyDeleteThen stop reading them.
DeleteThey are all edited to be in the same format by person who runs the site. He wants them to be easy to read and understand.
DeleteAnd there are lots of sex stories... ask the trashslut.
Believe me. There are days that I WISH they were all fake. That would be most days, in fact.
DeleteI want more Jared J-Date stories! There are men to cuckold, and milkshakes to drink!
DeleteTeam OP. The guy was working and he behaved unprofessionally.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I think the OP went a little too far in reporting the guy. After all, he was doing his civic duty by pointing out a known witch to his tour group. That's the kind of information I expect when I visit the zoo.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the OP was truly mistaken as part of the exhibit? Perhaps she is quite fat and had not eaten for half an hour, so she was rummaging through the garbage looking for discarded pork cracklins while taking a dump on the ground?
ReplyDeleteI can understand such confusion.
Would be quite funny if she visited and someone from the same tour group turned up and pointed to the rest "hey... that's the freckled witch.. yeah..our earlier tour guide informed us.. seriously"
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked at how a few people here seem to honestly think that the OP going out of her way to instigate a fight would have been a GOOD thing... It boggles the mind.
ReplyDeleteShe did everything she should have done - she didn't retaliate by calling him names, lest the immediate situation become worse. She reported his entirely unstable and rude behavior to his employers, as she had every right to do. Why people are supporting the idiot who not only embarrassed her, but all but threatened her, I will never know.
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ReplyDeleteI'm shocked at how a few people here seem to honestly think that the OP going out of her way to instigate a fight would have been a GOOD thing... It boggles the mind.
ReplyDeleteShe did everything she should have done - she didn't retaliate by calling him names, lest the immediate situation become worse. She reported his entirely unstable and rude behavior to his employers, as she had every right to do. Why people are supporting the idiot who not only embarrassed her, but all but threatened her, I will never know.