Member-only story
“There’s Going to be Blood and Guts Everywhere!”
The Day I Was Threatened Over the Phone At Work — And Didn’t Know What to Do About It!
The year was 1995. I was a low-level project manager at a national trade association headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. It was my first truly professional job out of college. I was young, new in my career, and insecure. And I was making my share of rookie mistakes.
On this particular day, I came back to my office after meeting with my boss. It was a Friday and I was getting ready to head home, but I saw the light blinking on my voicemail. I pressed the button to listen, and…
Oh my!
What I heard was one of our most cantankerous association members screaming over the phone, cursing, calling me names, and threatening me. And when I say he threatened me, I’m not referring to professional threats. It wasn’t like, “I’m very disappointed and I’m going to report you to your boss.” No. Nothing like that. Instead, it was along the lines of…
“I’m going to come down there and come tearing through that office and there’s going to be blood and guts everywhere!”
This was just one line from his rant, but it’s about verbatim. Something like that tends to stick with you.
