verbal abuse at work

santana75

Hi
Just need to know what my options are in terms of cutomers being verbally abusive to you in the workplace.

I work in a shop on a part-time basis and a couple of weeks ago this guy came in(he was with a group of his friends) and straight off the bat, for no reason whatsoever, he was rude to me when I was attempting to serve him. I stood up for myself and refused him service at which point he got more abusive. He came back in a week later this time by himself and was quiet, not a peep out of him. So I decided to let sleeping dogs lie and serve him without bringing up what had happened the previous week. But then he came in the night after this with the group of friends and was rude and abusive again.
I told him I wouldnt serve him again and ive asked others who work with me not to serve him. When he comes in again I wont serve him which will lead to a confrontation and I know he'll become abusive again. At this point I'll ask him to leave the premesis but I know he'll refuse so my question is:

Can I call the Gardai over somebody being verbally abusive?

Can I call the gardai and ask them to remove him from
the premesis?

And can I bar him for good after this?

I hope this doesnt viloate the posting charter, if it does I apologise.

JuliusCaesar

AFAIK, and I'm not a legal person: you can allow or bar people from your shop so long as it isn't on grounds of gender/religion/age etc.

Have you spoken with the shop owner/manager?

Google Dignity At Work - policies cover more than bullying - most Trade Unions will have info on this. Are you a member of a union?

McCrack

Sound advice from JuliusCaesar there.

Just to add. The criminal law (and consequently the Garda) can only become involved if the behaviour of this person becomes threatening.

Simply calling a person names or swearing at a person is not a criminal offence unless they feel threatened physically (which is an assault) or a breach of the peace is occasioned.

Shamrock883

I know in the UK, people being rude or abusive can be arrested under section 5 of the public order act. I'm not too sure of the law in Ireland however.

jazzy_jeff

Surely he could be done for Threatening behaviour under S. 6 of the Criminal Law (Public Order) Act 1994, which makes it offence to engage in threatening, insulting or abusive behaviour in a public place.

On the facts he would appear to know that he is being abusive seeing as though he came in without his friends and didn't say a word, and especially with the warning that was given to him already. If he was to engage in abusive behaviour again and you reasonably believe that this could result in a confrontation then this could provide the necessary intent to provoke a breach of the peace which is required to secure a conviction.

Caveat - lowly fe1 student - so if someone else could confirm/deny this that would be great.

Jo King

Isn't a shop a private place?

Shamrock883

Jo King wrote: »

Isn't a shop a private place?

Technically you're not trespassing or breaking any laws when entering a shop (unless you want to rob the place :P ) so i would presume a shop is more a public place than a private place.

Now if there was an apartment/living quarters above the shop, they'd be "out of bounds" if you will...