"You'd want to make sure your house is in order" -revenue worker to me

wotswattage

First off, I'm not 100% sure where to put this thread but seeing as it concerns a person who works for the Revenue Commission I thought this may be the best place for it. I have no problem with a mod moving it. Bear with me

Tonight during my security shift at a bar a man who was leaving the bar started a conversation with me. I think a quick dialogue and an overview of the situation is the best way to explain where I'm coming from.

The man: "Are you 'MY SURNAME'?? I think I know your brother?" He obviously knew my surname beforehand.
Me: "Yes I am indeed"
The man: "Whats your first name??"
Me: "MY NAME" I gave him my name and he asked me to spell it. This always happens its a very unusual name..
He suddenly began smiling and his demeanor changed he now spoke in a sneery manner
The man: "You assaulted my brother here 3 weeks ago. Well now I know your name and I work in Revenue just so you know. You'd want to make very sure your house is in order my friend that's all I'll say..."
Me: "I'm not 100% sure what you mean"
The man: "I'll be checking up on you and we'll be prosecuting you for that assault. "
Me: "First of all I don't know who you are talking about but you shouldn't be making threats or accusations about me in my workplace."

He then repeated what he said a few times and walked off.

(The assault he was talking about involved his brother punching another member of staff and being removed from the premises during which time this man said the assault took place. I was working that night but in a completely different part of the bar and didn't deal with the man at all until much later on. The cameras will show me standing in one spot outside the bar the whole time. The assault part is largely irrelevant in terms of my issue but may give readers here an overview and a motive for the man to say what he did)


Now I'm not looking for legal advice, but if I want to make a complaint about this man how do I go about doing so?
Is this a garda matter?
Is it within the remit of the revenue ombudsman?
Is it simply a case of looking to speak to a senior person/manager in the revenue offices and letting them deal with it?
This is why I put the post here. To ask who should I go to?

I hope what he said was just an empty threat and an I have nothing at all to fear from revenue looking at my 'house' as he put it, or investigations etc. The alleged assault is a load of rubbish. The finding my name out is largely irrelevant too as every licensed security worker is on a public register.

But what he said to me was out of order and surely an abuse of his position. I am quite upset at the sneaky manner in which he approached me to get my name but much more so about what he said about an investigation just because he thinks I did something to his brother.

What do people think I should do next?

daveohdave

If you just want it to go away, and you know his name, telling someone in HR in the Revenue will probably get him a verbal warning and that'll be an end to it. If you actually want him dealt with properly, you'd need to do it from outside the Revenue. Civil service organisations aren't good at internal discipline, jobs for life is still very much the norm there.

Zambia

You should ensure the CCTV from the night is saved. Take notes of what happened on the night.

In relation to revenue well make sure your house is in order.

wotswattage

Zambia wrote: »

You should ensure the CCTV from the night is saved. Take notes of what happened on the night.

In relation to revenue well make sure your house is in order.

I filed my report detailing what happened and the cctv will be kept. It always is once a report is put in.

My house is in order I guess, I just don't know what exactly this guy plans on doing. For all I know he could be the janitor in the revenue office but right now I don't know what his position is or what his intentions are...

daveohdave to be honest I'd be happy if someone more senior than him explained that he can't go around taking vendettas against people. I think (hope) that management would take a dim view of that sort of behavior and discipline him as they see fit.

Thespoofer

What he wants to happen is now happening to you, you're worrying, paranoid etc.

If you're house is in order and you were not involved in the dispute with his brother then try and forget about him and not leave it get to you too much.

Thespoofer

What he wants to happen is now happening to you, you're worrying, paranoid etc.

If you're house is in order and you were not involved in the dispute with his brother then try and forget about him and not leave it get to you too much.

wotswattage

Forgetting about it is one solution and as I have nothing to fear from either matter I could indeed just forget about it. Maybe the best course of action is inaction.

But what's bugging me is that this guy can go around and remarks like that to me and there be no consequences for him.

NipNip

Some people may disagree, but I absolutely abhorr this attitude. It is present in another state organisation and is the reason an ombudsman is required there. It is abuse of power plain and simple. If I were you , I would certainly pursue this. Whether your 'house is in order' or not, is not a matter to be dealt with on the basis of whether you threw someone's brother out of a bar or not. To me it is vindictive, unprofessional, unethical and bordering on illegal (threatening behaviour). Is there an ombudsman in Revenue? If so, you will probably have to go through a due process - usually a complaint directly to Revenue and if that is unsatisfactory, an ombudsman is usually the next step. It's a balls though, as you're probably afraid now that this one time, 20 years ago, you underpaid tax or something and you'll get a massive bill from Revenue.

I have found Revenue generally lovely to deal with despite the nature of their job, so if this sort of attitude is present, you're actually doing them a service by stamping out this crap.

Take one for the team!

NipNip

Btw - here's a link to their complaints procedure. There is an ombudsman.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/custservice/how-complain-revenue.html

NipNip

Edited to add link to their customer charter, which this individual is clearly in breach of.

http://www.revenue.ie/en/about/custservice/customer-charter.html

locha

It's also a criminal offence to impersonate a revenue official. So either way what this guy did can land him in trouble. I would act on it ASAP.. Idiots like this shouldn't get away with going around making threats.

namenotavailablE

If I remember correctly, I think that that there were cases previously where Revenue staff accessed certain records without valid cause (in the case of 'celebrities' / Lotto winners etc). I think that there are disciplinary procedures which might be worth finding out more about as part of the complaint. It's an abuse of power/position- he might as well be asking you for cash to 'go away'.
I'd be very much at one with NipNip in terms of how to handle this- the attitude the alleged revenue official is displaying is absolutely wrong and shouldn't be tolerated/ ignored.

wotswattage

Thanks well at least I know what my options are now. I'll give everything a read over and see what suits best.

All i want is to make sure this is dealt with properly. I'm sure anyone in a senior position to this guy would have no tolerance for this kind of behaviour so I think first of all I'll look at a complaint internally and if I'm satisfied (and shown evidence) that it has been dealt with properly leave it at that. Failing that the ombudsman.

allthedoyles

There are some arrogant employees in Revenue , and it has even been seen before in these forums .

Some people just love been up on the proverbial high horse and remaining there at all costs .

Follow up on your complaint and seek professional advice if necessary .

An appointment at your local constituency office might help too .

Phil_Lives

Revenue Officials can't abuse the data stored on their systems to pursue personal vendettas. Make a complaint to the data protection officer in Revenue Commissioners and they'll investigate before it gets escalated by you to the Data Protection Commissioner.
If he is staff then he really needs to be corrected because that is not what your personal data is collected for.

Obvious retort at the time would have been "Of course my books are in order, I'm a PRSI employee".

mickdw

Id be pretty sure he is not a revenue official. He deserves to lose his job on the spot if he is.
Do you know his name or details about him? See if you can find out if he is actually a revenue official by asking around. If so, make trouble for him. They have to personally sign into each file they view so if for example he is a revenue employee and he happened to have accessed your information, he would be in serious sh1t.
If he is not a revenue official, just laugh it off tbh as he is obviously a gobsh1te

barneystinson

allthedoyles wrote: »

There are some arrogant employees in Revenue , and it has even been seen before in these forums .

Some people just love been up on the proverbial high horse and remaining there at all costs .

Follow up on your complaint and seek professional advice if necessary .

An appointment at your local constituency office might help too .

There's a complaints procedure in place, going running to the constituency office has no part in this unless the OP is unsatisfied with the outcome there.

Mr. Incognito

I'm locking this.

Contact the guards or revenue if you have a grievance, or both. This isn't the appropriate forum.