Anxiety over incident at day centre

[Lencoboy]

On Thursday (2nd Feb) there was an incident at my day centre where I witnessed this one female staff member who has sometimes been known to have arsy school teacher-like tendencies verbally chastising another client over some (IMO) rather trivial matter. Apparently he was wearing his face mask a bit wonky (they have been optional since around last summer) and she shouted at him to take it off because he wasn't wearing it properly, and the client concerned growled loudly into her face, as he doesn't speak much, and she then confiscated his mask and gave him a further loud reprimand, telling him angrily that she would not tolerate that kind of behaviour and was threatening to phone his parents.

I felt this particular infraction was rather odd, especially as for the best part of the past 3 years we've been constantly told to wear masks while on the day centre premises and suddenly that client was being ordered to take his mask off simply because he was wearing it a bit strange, which must have been very confusing.

It also made me have flashbacks to my previous day centre some 15 years ago where I overheard one (male) staff member saying that clients growling loudly into staff members' faces constitutes assault and could warrant police intervention (part of the old 'zero tolerance' malarkey). During Thursday's incident at my current day centre I felt very tempted to shout and swear very loudly into that staff member's face but managed to stop myself from doing so because that generally isn't me.

Although nothing was mentioned of possible police intervention on the occasion of Thursday's incident (unlike at my previous day centre circa 2008 or so), I wonder what the police might have done if that staff member had reported that client to them for growling into her face. Does clients simply growling loudly into staff members' faces without getting physical actually constitute assault, or (mostly in the case of what they said at my previous day centre) is it simply over-reacting and laziness from the staff concerned?

I'm still seeing red today as I felt like the staff (both in 2008 and now) were bang out of order over something that IMO is hardly crime of the century and can't believe still happens to vulnerable adults in 2023.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I suspect it was an empty threat. It may constitute threatening behaviour but since there is no physical contact how can if be assault? Is calling someone a nob now a physical assault?

Sounds like the lady was heavy handed in dealing with the initial intervention over the wonky mask. She flipped a coin on whether it would de escalate or escalate. It caused the latter.

[Lencoboy]

I suspect it was an empty threat. It may constitute threatening behaviour but since there is no physical contact how can if be assault? Is calling someone a nob now a physical assault?

Sounds like the lady was heavy handed in dealing with the initial intervention over the wonky mask. She flipped a coin on whether it would de escalate or escalate. It caused the latter.

Although that particular staff member generally seems to get on well with me and in return I generally want to keep on the right side of her by not being a PITA, plus I don't really want to fall out with her (nor any other staff member there), it was more the triviality and arbitrary nature of the matter that I found jarring, just like being at school when certain pupils got it in the neck off certain power-mad teachers due to largely trivial things such as their tie being a thousandth of an inch off-camber, not quite walking a straight line or not addressing certain teachers as 'Sir', etc, which sometimes (especially before 1986) even warranted a good walloping from the headteacher and the pupils concerned often treated like they had seriously broken the law of the land! Never did them any harm? Over my dead body!

I'm sure I've heard/read that excessive and unreasonable authority can often exacerbate rebellion and unruly behaviours all the more. Plus I'm sure most coppers with a brain would no doubt tell staff members who literally did summon them to deal with difficult clients who weren't actually being physically violent nor destructive in any way but just getting a bit verbal and generally being a bit unco-operative would be told that they (the police) have got far more serious matters elsewhere to be dealing with than petty squabbles between staff members and clients at day centres.

While that particular staff member at my current day centre didn't mention anything about police intervention during Thursday's incident, it does still make me wonder as to whether or not they might have some 'secret' zero tolerance policies in place which the staff are hesitant in telling us clients about?

But like you said above, at my previous day centre back in the 2000s it was probably more of an empty threat, though it did seem at the time that quite a few people who worked in places like that often used to 'play the victim' and milk the situation to the max, plus also exaggerate the severity of the issue on occasions.