Four Canberra frontline workers share why compassion is important this Christmas
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Christmas is a time of joy. But for many locals, it’s also a time of great stress.
From trying to find the perfect present to organising catchups with relatives, emotions are heightened, work deadlines are looming, and financial pressures are taking their toll.
It’s no wonder that as the Christmas countdown ticks away, people quickly find themselves one mistimed bon-bon pop away from a full-on breakdown.
But as many of us begin to wind down for the holidays, those working at the frontline are facing the toughest time of the year. And while workplace violence and aggression aren’t new topics, ensuring workplaces are safe for everyone should be a priority during the silly season.
Here, four ACT Public Servants share their stories of workplace violence and aggression, giving us a timely reminder that this Christmas, you need to have a little compassion.
Because violence and abuse are never ‘part of the job’.
Katrina (Bus Driver)
“I want to go home to my kids without being assaulted. So, if you’re going to get on the bus, please just take a seat and be nice.”
“… there’s always going to be people who give you a hard time. If you are in a customer-facing role, you’ve just got to learn some techniques on how to deal with it. But we’ve got things in place. There’s always someone not far away who can help,”
Read more about Katrina’s story here.
CJ (Nurse)
“It happens every day. Some members of the public might think violence is typically perpetrated by people who are intoxicated, or it is related to mental health. But the truth is, what we see is that perpetrators of occupational violence and unacceptable behaviours can be anyone,” she says.
“I always try to do my best to deliver quality care in an imperfect system, but sometimes, I just felt like it’s not enough,”
“Say you look after five people, and four people you had positive interactions with, and they were thankful. But then all it takes is that one person to make an awful comment. For some reason, it’s always the negative comment that would stick with me.”
Read more of CJ’s story here.
Connor (Emergency Communications Officer with the ACT Ambulance Service)
“It’s tough. It’s not the standard that you want to listen to. It’s not nice being yelled and screamed at,” he says.
“[For the caller], it’s the worst point in their life at that time, hence why they call an ambulance, but at the same time, I don’t deserve to cop that…They don’t understand that we might have just got off a CPR call, or we might have just dealt with a child having a seizure or febrile convulsions, and we’ve just hung up that phone.’
“We’re humans on the other side of the phone.”
Read more of Connor’s story here.
Louise (Senior Director Tenant Experience at Housing ACT)
“When there’s financial hardships or homelessness, sometimes clients can take those frustrations out on our staff. So that’s really hard when people are turning up, day after day, to do a job and they’re being abused. The staff have done nothing to deserve those levels of anger or frustrations or threats,” she says.
“We would love nothing more than to house everyone straight away and not have waitlists, but unfortunately there is a supply and demand issue. And that can be terribly frustrating when you’re talking to and listening to members of the community who really are in dire straits. There are so many things that can be a pressure point in not having housing, so we certainly understand that.”
“We don’t want to stop people raising concerns or telling us what they think. But it’s about doing it in a way that’s not aggressive or violent towards us. You can express your dissatisfaction, but use the mechanisms available to you, like lodge a complaint.”
Read more about Louise’s story here.
