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How many of you have been to a ton of workshops on "self-defense" and then later found out that everything you learned was crap?
Well, I got sent to a front desk security workshop, and it was even worse than I expected!
It started out okay, being told that every workplace needs to establish a workplace violence policy and a domestic violence policy (since 75% of domestic violence victims are targetted in the workplace) and telling us to contact our local police department to come up with a plan for our workplace (something everybody there could have done for free). Then they went over some pretty eye-opening statistics (the #1 cause of death at the workplace for women is HOMICIDE--it's the #2 cause of death for men at the workplace, right after transportation accidents), there are 16 million people harassed every year at the workplace, 6 million are threatened, 2 million are attacked and 1,000 are murdered... Pretty hairy numbers, from a good source (the US Dept. of Labor, 2003). They went over which professions are more prone to violence, causes of workplace violence proliferation, some ideas of response teams that could form at workplaces to address it (because we all know that such things get implemented right away without any red tape or countless meetings or anything
) and of course some other (often ineffective) policies like log-in sheets.
Since we know from their statistics that workplace violence has happened and could happen again, you would THINK they'd go over some ways to deal with it. And they did, in a section called "Cooling the Hot Head." These are their suggestions for dealing with angry people, remembering it is your space, not their space:
1. stand up for yourself (stand, make eye contact, straighten spine)
2. be courteous initially (pleasant greeting and voice, give them time to vent)
3. interrupt them if necessary (call them by name, use the broken record technique, drop something--great idea, ey? that's what I would do if i felt threatened )
4. try calming them (get them to sit, offer to help them, offer an alternative)
5. terminate the conversation (be friendly but give your bottom line, reiterate what you can do, thank them for bringing the matter to your attention)
I may be biased, but there is not a single woman I know who doesn't know each and every one of these techniques. Since the women in this workshop included people working in security, in government offices, in the mental health profession, someone who's workplace had been set on fire, and people dealing with other such issues, one would think they would go over what to do when things get out of hand. And they did.
1.visualize calm
2. straighten your back
3. inhale and exhale deeply
Yes, these things help people in life threatening situations every time. Then they talked about how panic was a controllable response, and you could do things like rearrange your desk, vent to a coworker, listen to music or write in your journal. HELLO?!?!
Then we broke up into groups and did some scenario training. One scenario involved a description of a man who was terminated for illegal drug use, and came into the office, pounding on the desk and demanding to see a director. When told he is out for the day, this man kicked over a potted tree and starts screaming about how the company ruined his life. There were other guests in the lobby, and we were asked what we would do. The response was to acknowledge him by name, take him to another location (yes, that's a great idea, I want to be alone in a secondary location with a crazy guy on drugs who just kicked over a plant), try to calm him down by making eye contact, surfacing the tension, using empathy and sympathy, etc. HELLO, you're going to put yourself in a dangerous situation. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I said something, and the teacher agreed with me and said people would need to go to their company's security plan of action, or get a supervisor. Well, if people had trained supervisors and if everyone's company had a solid security plan of action, would they be sending them to this workshop?
But the last straw was the appendix section on how to respond to assault. They didn't even go over this in class, which honestly just astounds me. I'm not sure if it's because of liability concerns, or what, but you'd THINK assault would be covered in a workshop about SAFETY. But like I said, it was covered in the workbook, and this is what they wrote.
Responding to an Assault: Remember, the goal is to get away!
Blending. This is a concept from a martial art called aikido. Personal Demonstration. Place the index finger of one hand inside the fist of another hand. Hold the index finger tightly to prevent the finger from being pulled out of the fist. Resisting with your "fisted-hand," try to pull out your index finger. It is impossible. Now, quickly thrust the index finger int he direction it is being pulled by the fist. Then, quickly pull the index finger in the opposing direction. The index finger will be free.
IS THERE ANYBODY THAT CAN SEE ANY POSSIBLE USE FOR THIS IN AN ACTUAL ASSAULT SITUATION!?!?!?
Next was negotiation, yet another item that I'll argue that RECEPTIONISTS ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO.
"Use your intuition. If possible, open a dialogue between yourself and the assailant. Your goal here is to minimize the attack. Guidelines: use the calmest voice you can. Talk softly and slowly. Redirect their aggression toward something else. Hint: If they are attacking you because of who you work for, tell them how "very angry" you are with your company also. Express your understanding of how they feel. Lying. Tell them anything that might evoke their sympathy."
And finally, although the teacher let us know twice that she will not be handing out guns and knives and that we will not be getting in camo and crawling (which is fine, that's what I'm doing this weekend, lol) there is a section here on "Responding to Assault."
"Fighting:
The decision to fight is a very personal decision. Fighting does increase your risk of physical harm. A suggestion is: No material object is worth dying for, but if you believe your life is about to end, FIGHT!
General Guidelines
1. It is your right to live and to be happy. No one has the right to harm you.
2. There are no rules.
3. This is not a game.
4. You must do whatever it takes to save your life.
5. You can have no unfair advantage.
6. Your main weapons in combat are sincerity, determination and the will to survive.
The Principles of Fighting When Attacked:
1. Imagine your attacker's chest is a small door.
2. Now release every ounce of energy you have concentrated inside of you and DRIVE YOUR ENTIRE BODY THROUGH THAT DOOR.
3. Do not stop until you are on the other side!
4. Rip, tear, claw, bite, hit and kick your way through that door.
5. Keep fighting until your attacker is either immobile or has fled. Do not leave the scene until you are sure they will not pursue further.
6. Then RUN. Do not stop until you have reached help!
Refuse to be denied! Fact: A 4'11' woman, who believes her life or that of her loved one is about to end, can effectively defend herself against any size assailant. She has more to lose.
You CAN take preventive and escape steps!!!"
I don't think I even need to nitpick all the little things that are wrong with these neatly written statements, except to say that they will get people hurt and they are crap. RANT RANT RANT RANT RANT!
Thanks for reading.
Well, I got sent to a front desk security workshop, and it was even worse than I expected!
It started out okay, being told that every workplace needs to establish a workplace violence policy and a domestic violence policy (since 75% of domestic violence victims are targetted in the workplace) and telling us to contact our local police department to come up with a plan for our workplace (something everybody there could have done for free). Then they went over some pretty eye-opening statistics (the #1 cause of death at the workplace for women is HOMICIDE--it's the #2 cause of death for men at the workplace, right after transportation accidents), there are 16 million people harassed every year at the workplace, 6 million are threatened, 2 million are attacked and 1,000 are murdered... Pretty hairy numbers, from a good source (the US Dept. of Labor, 2003). They went over which professions are more prone to violence, causes of workplace violence proliferation, some ideas of response teams that could form at workplaces to address it (because we all know that such things get implemented right away without any red tape or countless meetings or anything
) and of course some other (often ineffective) policies like log-in sheets. Since we know from their statistics that workplace violence has happened and could happen again, you would THINK they'd go over some ways to deal with it. And they did, in a section called "Cooling the Hot Head." These are their suggestions for dealing with angry people, remembering it is your space, not their space:
1. stand up for yourself (stand, make eye contact, straighten spine)
2. be courteous initially (pleasant greeting and voice, give them time to vent)
3. interrupt them if necessary (call them by name, use the broken record technique, drop something--great idea, ey? that's what I would do if i felt threatened
)4. try calming them (get them to sit, offer to help them, offer an alternative)
5. terminate the conversation (be friendly but give your bottom line, reiterate what you can do, thank them for bringing the matter to your attention)
I may be biased, but there is not a single woman I know who doesn't know each and every one of these techniques. Since the women in this workshop included people working in security, in government offices, in the mental health profession, someone who's workplace had been set on fire, and people dealing with other such issues, one would think they would go over what to do when things get out of hand. And they did.
1.visualize calm
2. straighten your back
3. inhale and exhale deeply
Yes, these things help people in life threatening situations every time.
Then they talked about how panic was a controllable response, and you could do things like rearrange your desk, vent to a coworker, listen to music or write in your journal. HELLO?!?!Then we broke up into groups and did some scenario training. One scenario involved a description of a man who was terminated for illegal drug use, and came into the office, pounding on the desk and demanding to see a director. When told he is out for the day, this man kicked over a potted tree and starts screaming about how the company ruined his life. There were other guests in the lobby, and we were asked what we would do. The response was to acknowledge him by name, take him to another location (yes, that's a great idea, I want to be alone in a secondary location with a crazy guy on drugs who just kicked over a plant), try to calm him down by making eye contact, surfacing the tension, using empathy and sympathy, etc. HELLO, you're going to put yourself in a dangerous situation. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I said something, and the teacher agreed with me and said people would need to go to their company's security plan of action, or get a supervisor. Well, if people had trained supervisors and if everyone's company had a solid security plan of action, would they be sending them to this workshop?
But the last straw was the appendix section on how to respond to assault. They didn't even go over this in class, which honestly just astounds me. I'm not sure if it's because of liability concerns, or what, but you'd THINK assault would be covered in a workshop about SAFETY. But like I said, it was covered in the workbook, and this is what they wrote.
Responding to an Assault: Remember, the goal is to get away!
Blending. This is a concept from a martial art called aikido. Personal Demonstration. Place the index finger of one hand inside the fist of another hand. Hold the index finger tightly to prevent the finger from being pulled out of the fist. Resisting with your "fisted-hand," try to pull out your index finger. It is impossible. Now, quickly thrust the index finger int he direction it is being pulled by the fist. Then, quickly pull the index finger in the opposing direction. The index finger will be free.
IS THERE ANYBODY THAT CAN SEE ANY POSSIBLE USE FOR THIS IN AN ACTUAL ASSAULT SITUATION!?!?!?
Next was negotiation, yet another item that I'll argue that RECEPTIONISTS ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO.
"Use your intuition. If possible, open a dialogue between yourself and the assailant. Your goal here is to minimize the attack. Guidelines: use the calmest voice you can. Talk softly and slowly. Redirect their aggression toward something else. Hint: If they are attacking you because of who you work for, tell them how "very angry" you are with your company also. Express your understanding of how they feel. Lying. Tell them anything that might evoke their sympathy."
And finally, although the teacher let us know twice that she will not be handing out guns and knives and that we will not be getting in camo and crawling (which is fine, that's what I'm doing this weekend, lol) there is a section here on "Responding to Assault."
"Fighting:
The decision to fight is a very personal decision. Fighting does increase your risk of physical harm. A suggestion is: No material object is worth dying for, but if you believe your life is about to end, FIGHT!
General Guidelines
1. It is your right to live and to be happy. No one has the right to harm you.
2. There are no rules.
3. This is not a game.
4. You must do whatever it takes to save your life.
5. You can have no unfair advantage.
6. Your main weapons in combat are sincerity, determination and the will to survive.
The Principles of Fighting When Attacked:
1. Imagine your attacker's chest is a small door.
2. Now release every ounce of energy you have concentrated inside of you and DRIVE YOUR ENTIRE BODY THROUGH THAT DOOR.
3. Do not stop until you are on the other side!
4. Rip, tear, claw, bite, hit and kick your way through that door.
5. Keep fighting until your attacker is either immobile or has fled. Do not leave the scene until you are sure they will not pursue further.
6. Then RUN. Do not stop until you have reached help!
Refuse to be denied! Fact: A 4'11' woman, who believes her life or that of her loved one is about to end, can effectively defend herself against any size assailant. She has more to lose.
You CAN take preventive and escape steps!!!"
I don't think I even need to nitpick all the little things that are wrong with these neatly written statements, except to say that they will get people hurt and they are crap. RANT RANT RANT RANT RANT!
Thanks for reading.
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