Warning Signs of WPV/SV that you Ignore – part 4
Written By Robert D. Sollars
Continual Excuses
Usually, when you think of continual excuses from someone, it’s usually from a toddler, child, or even teenagers and while those groups may be the most prevalent to give excuses for why something was or wasn’t done, it also goes for individuals who may be thinking about perpetrating an act of violence inside of their organization. Every time that someone is caught doing something they shouldn’t, they will probably deny it or at the very least make an excuse for why they were doing whatever.
Unfortunately, far too many times, parents, co-workers, supervisors, teachers, and everyone else just ignore the excuses as someone who has an issue they can’t solve…the warning signs you’re reading about. They can’t solve it, until of course, the individual explodes into violence and hurts someone, then they themselves deny and make excuses, generally.
These excuses come from both employees as well as supervisory/managerial staff. And in either event, it’s not good. It really doesn’t matter whether the excuse is “I forgot” or they’re off duty. If excuses are becoming common, then it is raising a problem that needs to be addressed.
An example of supervisory excuses is that a friend of mine was at work and waiting for her relief to show up and she had another friend of mine carpooling with her. The 2nd friend went outside to wait until the other was off duty. While the friend was sitting outside, the supervisor came by and told the 1st friend ‘Didn’t anyone tell you that your relief isn’t here and is running an hour late?’ It was said in a condescending manner to her.
After a few minutes, the supervisor walks out and see’s the 2nd friend sitting there. She tells the employee that she’s sorry about it and continues walking to her car. The 2nd employee and the supervisor live 2 blocks from each other and thought they were friends. The supervisor never offered a ride to the employee, even though she was riding alone. This is unforgivable to me.
The supervisor may have been off duty however, the duty to her employee remained, especially if they lived so close. Just because you are off duty, doesn’t mean you can ignore the employee or supervisor, and there was no prohibition on employees and supervisors riding together at their employment site. The supervisor’s excuse? I forgot and didn’t think about it.
These kinds of excuses will start employees beginning to be disgruntled and think about disparate treatment from their supervisors. Definitely, a red flag to watch for if it happens on a continual basis.
Concentration Problems
Again, a similarity between adults and teenagers and violence is the idea of concentration problems. It’s not just the normal lack of sleep, that millennials seem to have in abundance, but more of a lack of focus in what they are doing. These individuals could be walking into walls or doors more often, forgetting their assignments, how-to operate machinery, and any number of issues…on a regular continual basis. In any event, they are distracted, unfocused, and can’t seem to concentrate on anything of significance. It could be a romantic break-up that is causing it, family stress, or they could be contemplating another way out of an issue that has been bothering them for weeks, months, or even years…can we say homicide or suicide?
Cruelty to Animals
Think this is only for younger kids and teenagers? You need to think again about that assumption. Being cruel to small animals, no matter what they are, wild, which seem to be more forgivable to most people, or pets, is a sure sign that trouble, can we say violence of some sort, could be percolating in the back of their brains.
Jeffrey Dahmer was pulled over for a traffic stop one day. The cop didn’t think anything of a smell. Turns out that Dahmer had dozens of small furry bodies in his trunk that he was transporting back to his home to do whatever with them.
Many people who are bent on taking care of an issue at school or work will test themselves on small animals before turning their attention to the larger animal, namely humans as their prey. It’s a lot like rape in some respects…not the sex but the control it gives them over another living being.
Disciplinary issues
Do you have someone within your organization that is a definite disciplinary magnet? While this is not, like all these signs, a definitive sign that something may be wrong, it needs to be watched over. There are many reasons why people break the rules and attract trouble and discipline like shedding dog hair on your clothes or furniture.
They may not like following rules very well and do what they can on a continual basis to break them in any form they can. I’ve known a lot of people like this in my life, including myself, and none of us have ever done anything remotely violent.
They may be unconventional and want to do things their way, and if they do, they are usually the kind that get it done, albeit not the traditional way…Steve Jobs. On the other hand, they may be testing the limits of what they can get away with to see how far they can push people.
It is unfortunate, but the people who push the limits simply don’t like authority or rules, and it is virtually misunderstood as such by the ‘overseer’ of the department. Such as myself. After my amputation, I pushed myself harder than most people in my situation. It scared the holy living hell outa the therapists for a time, before they realized that I was making things better for myself by doing it that way, and I wasn’t unsafe.
There are other people who push harder and break the rules simply because they don’t like their managers, supervisors, or department, being bullied, their spouse is nagging them, the dog went on the floor or something similar, and therefore make ‘trouble’ for everyone else by breaking the rules in a detrimental way to soothe their existence.
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Copyright 2022 Robert D. Sollars
