How To Deal With Lack Of Respect

Advice on how to deal with lack of respect assumes the other person is a colleague. A great deal of it comes from customers, clients, patients and members of the public, and the usual advice does not apply.

You cannot have a quiet word with a client about their behaviour, and you cannot raise it with their manager. Staff in retail, hospitality, health and care absorb it instead, often for years.

What works is not a script. It is permission, given in advance and in specific terms. You may end an interaction that becomes abusive. You may hand over to a colleague without explaining yourself. You may decline to continue by phone and put it in writing instead.

Permission only works if a manager visibly backs the first person who uses it. If that decision is second-guessed once, nobody uses it again.

Safe Work Australia covers occupational violence and aggression. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s occupational violence and aggression training and respect at work training.