Rant: fuck my stupid job

[Crazy Lee]

I work for a company that has contracts with local and national newspaper companies and delivers said newspapers to different businesses, aka a delivery/courier company of sorts.

When my department moved and merged with another department I had the joy of working under this hunched over, 4 foot tall, wrinkly guy who's probably 80 or so and frail as shit, but looks like he may have congealed back during the Cretaceous period. He's also a bully and an asshole of the worst kind.

He has this tendency to get angry at me for no reason whatsoever. Imagine the stereotype of the most cranky, ornery old man you can imagine and you'd see his picture. I ask him a question. "It's goddamn over there. Open your goddamn fucking eyes." I'm looking for something. "What the hell are you goddamn looking for you punk ass?" Goddamn seems to be his favorite word. I don't know why I invited the hatred from him. Maybe he hates nerds, maybe he was a jock in the 1850s. I think he feels that I'm lazy and stupid since most of his anger seems to stem from me wandering around looking for stuff because I don't want to ask him lest I invoke his irrational rage.

I've also had him throw newspapers at me (every time missed because he's so old it would be comical if it wasn't irritating). I've had him throw small boxes at me, also missing. He once tried to toss a newspaper bundle at me but it was too heavy.

I've gotten to the point where I've decided not to just ignore him but to confront him and tell him (or more like yell at him) that I understand him but don't appreciate him being an asshole. Many times he's told me he's going to kick my ass, or put his foot up my ass, in where I respond with "is that a threat? Are you threatening me? Do I have to call the cops?" One time he threatened to call the cops on ME because we were arguing. Just the other night he sounded like he was threatening to shoot me with a shotgun which set off another argument.

And the worst part of it is, my company refuses to do anything about him. People have told me he was WORSE in the past, and god knows how stupid a company is that keeps an asshole like this employed for decades who used to be worse than this. People have told me to ignore him. They make excuses for him "He's old, he doesn't know better." Then he should be in a nursing home if he doesn't know better. "He's old." He's still an adult, act like it. "That's the way they did things in his day." Check the calendar, it's 2015, he needs to act appropriately. They just make excuses rather than actually DEALING with him. And he doesn't even do much, he spends most of the time just sitting on his ass.

Instead, they yell at me. When I fight against him, they tell me to shut the fuck up. They tell me to get the fuck out of the building. They make excuses for him being an asshole, loud and hateful, but not me when I react to it. Really. It feels like half the staff are against me at this place, where I have enemies all around. Fine. Fuck them all. I'm getting pretty close to taking up the chain of command, to the heads of the company, but considering it's a small private business (less than 50 people), they might just fire me to shut me up or something.

I don't go to work to be bullied by some old ass prick that no one wants to do anything about. I need another job. But I don't want to go back into retail if that's the only job I can find, and work 10 hours where I can't pay my bills. At least this job is regular and full time. I'm just waiting for that moment that he actually makes good on his promise in putting his foot up my ass so I can have him arrested and put a restraining order on him. And then look into suing my employers for a violent work environment. Considering though that enough people at that place dislike/hate me, they might lie to the police/courts and I might not have a case.

[Kinare]

Yikes. I would never be able to work in that sort of environment, especially since you said the higher ups refuse to reprimand him, except for the very top that you haven't tried yet. Maybe he's just been there so long they don't want to fire him because only he knows certain things? Maybe they're just as scared of him? Maybe he's related to the right people?

If he's always been that cranky then I doubt it's just because he's old (especially if he used to be worse) and you're right, in no way is that acceptable behavior. However, I do agree with your co-workers saying you should not engage him. If it can be twisted in any way into you agitating an old man then you could be the one in trouble, not him unfortunately, especially if he does have a mental condition or something that makes him act like that, which is always easy to argue for old folks.

An employee of any company has the right to a safe work environment, so if you can gather proof (maybe record him being a dick) or witnesses, as well as back up your claims that your complaints were ignored by managers (perhaps get the denied request in writing if you can), then it sounds like you have a pretty solid case to get them into big trouble for defending him. Verbal abuse is just as shitty as physical abuse, so even if he doesn't physically hurt you it's not something you should be expected to tolerate.

If all else fails, you might just have to settle for another job you might not like as much until a different one comes along. 3;

[Rassah]

Are you looking to do something about that situation, or are you just here to vent?

[Crunchy]

That was one hell of a ride, that sounds like shit dude. I don't understand how you managed to tolerate that guys outbursts when they first started happening, I would have been enraged, there are some standards to uphold in a work environment. Does he actively act in this way towards other employees? Is it just you? 

[Sidewalk Surfboard]

Sounds like this old guy has Curley syndrome:
He's short, so he acts tough to guys bigger than him because he's jealous.

[Zaraphayx]

Sounds like this old guy has Curley syndrome:
He's short, so he acts tough to guys bigger than him because he's jealous.

Manlets, when will they learn?

[Azure]

record his behavior, and be sure to get multiple examples. then zap em all at once

alternative option pay me and ill dangle the old midget fella off a rooftop till his tiny spirit breaks