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>I had places where I would go onsite to resolve an emergency. I never caused the outage, I was there to help. I would still get death threats from clients. "Th

>I had places where I would go onsite to resolve an emergency. I never caused the outage, I was there to help. I would still get death threats from clients. "The accounting files are the server, if you lost them I'm going to go to your office and kill everyone." Isn't that a criminal offence?

mfoy_ 8y ago
Yes, but filing a police report against a client isn't good for business.
- detaro 8y ago
  If good IT work is in high demand as claimed, that shouldn't be a problem. And "we make sure customers don't abuse our staff" should be the baseline of "how do I keep any good employees I might have", not a luxury.
  - mfoy_ 8y ago
    There's a perception among management that they need to remain competitive. The IT service truly isn't a oligopoly like telcos are. My company hasn't increased rates in over 4 years out of fear that we would lose business even though we have more business than we have the resources to handle.
  - sleepysysadmin 8y ago
    If anything my ex-employer would be pissed that they skipped the line on being abusive to me. I ended up getting fired within 18 hours after reporting harassment.
    - da_chicken 8y ago
      I mean, now you've got a strong case for wrongful termination and a report of retaliatory termination to your state's DoL.
- da_chicken 8y ago
  In most situations, the client is the business and the offender an employee.
ethbro 8y ago
(IanaL) Generally speaking, in the US, no. Specifically speaking, if it's done in person, state law holds. In Virginia v Black (2003), the Supreme Court found [1] that states may ban speech which represents a "true threat" (i.e. one whose intent it to cause another party to fear for their lives). But there's generally a high bar and more aimed at allowing regulation of cross burning and neo Nazis than an angry co-worker. If it's done via the Internet, federal §875 [2] governs. Because of some strange wording and first ammendment concerns, the Supreme Court has held that the intent to actually commit a crime must be present in order for the words to be illegal. [1] https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/537/465.html https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/537/465.html [2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875
ovi256 8y ago
Yeah, I can't see how a professional services company overlooks this casually, unless they're really hurting for new work. Can you imagine a client treating their tax lawyers or accountants like this ? But then, if the service company needs the new business that bad, that's hard to square with "there are not enough IT people".
- barkingcat 8y ago
  "If you don't hide these piles of cash that I got from drug trades, then I'll send someone over and cut off your hand" not an uncommon thing in the tax business.
- sleepysysadmin 8y ago
  I report it, they told me "She wasnt serious"
  - tonyedgecombe 8y ago
    If it was me I'd report it to the police before management.
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      People get worked up and over-react over dumb shit. It happens. Making a big deal out of it does not do anything to improve the situation. I'm not wasting everyone's time by calling the cops unless the threat is at least remotely credible. I know that in this day and age of shunning responsibility being the person willing to define "remotely credible" is not going to be popular but whatever. Calling the cops when some stressed out person goes a little too far isn't smart and doesn't improve safety. It's just ass covering that lets you pat yourself on the back for "doing something". If you really want to address the situation your best bet is probably to chew out whoever did it later after they have cooled off. As ethbro pointed out[1], criminal statutes have been interpreted such that a non-credible thread does not usually fall within them. Cops generally don't like it when you call them for non-criminal things. Honestly you're probably best off asking whoever got threatened what they want to do rather than optimizing for corporate ass covering. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19359233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19359233
ratling 8y ago
It's certainly an, "Okay, in that case I'm leaving," offense. If your manager gets pissed off about that leave. IT can pay well but not that well.
sleepysysadmin 8y ago
>Isn't that a criminal offence? Think how it plays out. "Accountant said she'd kill me." "I did not." Ends with nothing happening.
- richardhod 8y ago
  That's why your pocket phone is on record
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    Legality varies by state.

mfoy_ 8y ago

Yes, but filing a police report against a client isn't good for business.

detaro 8y ago
If good IT work is in high demand as claimed, that shouldn't be a problem. And "we make sure customers don't abuse our staff" should be the baseline of "how do I keep any good employees I might have", not a luxury.
- mfoy_ 8y ago
  There's a perception among management that they need to remain competitive. The IT service truly isn't a oligopoly like telcos are. My company hasn't increased rates in over 4 years out of fear that we would lose business even though we have more business than we have the resources to handle.
- sleepysysadmin 8y ago
  If anything my ex-employer would be pissed that they skipped the line on being abusive to me. I ended up getting fired within 18 hours after reporting harassment.
  - da_chicken 8y ago
    I mean, now you've got a strong case for wrongful termination and a report of retaliatory termination to your state's DoL.
da_chicken 8y ago
In most situations, the client is the business and the offender an employee.

ethbro 8y ago

(IanaL) Generally speaking, in the US, no. Specifically speaking, if it's done in person, state law holds. In Virginia v Black (2003), the Supreme Court found [1] that states may ban speech which represents a "true threat" (i.e. one whose intent it to cause another party to fear for their lives). But there's generally a high bar and more aimed at allowing regulation of cross burning and neo Nazis than an angry co-worker. If it's done via the Internet, federal §875 [2] governs. Because of some strange wording and first ammendment concerns, the Supreme Court has held that the intent to actually commit a crime must be present in order for the words to be illegal. [1] https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/537/465.html https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/537/465.html [2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/875

ovi256 8y ago

Yeah, I can't see how a professional services company overlooks this casually, unless they're really hurting for new work. Can you imagine a client treating their tax lawyers or accountants like this ? But then, if the service company needs the new business that bad, that's hard to square with "there are not enough IT people".

barkingcat 8y ago
"If you don't hide these piles of cash that I got from drug trades, then I'll send someone over and cut off your hand" not an uncommon thing in the tax business.
sleepysysadmin 8y ago
I report it, they told me "She wasnt serious"
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago
  If it was me I'd report it to the police before management.
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    People get worked up and over-react over dumb shit. It happens. Making a big deal out of it does not do anything to improve the situation. I'm not wasting everyone's time by calling the cops unless the threat is at least remotely credible. I know that in this day and age of shunning responsibility being the person willing to define "remotely credible" is not going to be popular but whatever. Calling the cops when some stressed out person goes a little too far isn't smart and doesn't improve safety. It's just ass covering that lets you pat yourself on the back for "doing something". If you really want to address the situation your best bet is probably to chew out whoever did it later after they have cooled off. As ethbro pointed out[1], criminal statutes have been interpreted such that a non-credible thread does not usually fall within them. Cops generally don't like it when you call them for non-criminal things. Honestly you're probably best off asking whoever got threatened what they want to do rather than optimizing for corporate ass covering. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19359233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19359233

ratling 8y ago

It's certainly an, "Okay, in that case I'm leaving," offense. If your manager gets pissed off about that leave. IT can pay well but not that well.

sleepysysadmin 8y ago

>Isn't that a criminal offence? Think how it plays out. "Accountant said she'd kill me." "I did not." Ends with nothing happening.

richardhod 8y ago
That's why your pocket phone is on record
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  Legality varies by state.