This is cautionary and, I hope, darkly humorous tale involving facebook. It may even come in useful to you should you ever receive a death threat from a work colleague on that popular social tool. It is also entirely true.
On a night out with colleagues from a previous job I was involved in a short and harmless verbal altercation with an individual for whom my intense dislike was mutual. It was of the kind that we in England call "handbags at ten paces". We'd all had a bit to drink and I found it quite embarrassing as it had been witnessed by about a dozen of my colleagues in a crowded pub (including some members of human resources).
I came into work the next day and imagine my surprise when I was told that the individual in question had posted a status update on his site stating that he was "going to kill" me. This is a straight quote of what was written and not an interpretation. In fact I have edited out the more extreme insulting part of the text. Having left facebook months previously I found this a little hard to believe but I was left in little doubt by the hordes of 20 something girls in our office excitedly sharing it with each other on their iphones (it was clearly exciting news) and by reports from more friendly work colleagues.
I confronted the individual a couple of days later in the kitchen (silly I know) and asked him if he was going to do this again. He blurted something incomprehensible out and I rather childishly told him to stop crying like a baby whilst mockingly rubbing my eyes. Imagine my even greater surprise, then, when I was summoned to an office by my line manager to be told this person had made a complaint of harassment against me and that I was to face her and a member of HR for a disciplinary hearing in a couple of days.
I was understandably quite upset and very confused at this turn of events. Why would someone who had made a death threat to a work colleague wish to drag it into the light by involving HR? Did he think he was immune from sanction as the threat had not occurred at work? Or did he simply think I would not bring it up? I hadn't planned to but now I was intent on destroying this logically-challenged facebook gladiator.
A friend who was on facebook printed the threat as a screenshot for me to take into the meeting. Before the meeting, however, I really felt the need to make my adversary fear for his job. By this point my rage at the injustice of my position had reached alarming levels and I will admit I was not thinking straight. I therefore anonymously sent him my printed copy of his threat to his email from a printer. Handwritten underneath were the words "you really should have deleted this". I actually thought that on receiving this he would pull out of his harassment charge and thus look rather stupid. Clearly I did not have this guy's psychology figured out as much as I thought.
The meeting went well. I told them exactly what happened and it became clear that he had exaggerated our meeting in the kitchen to the extent that he had told them he felt under threat. As I had one arm in plaster at the time and I was in a work environment I'm not sure what he thought I was going to do - sneeze on him perhaps? All the time I had the copy of his threat in my pocket ready to produce near the end of the meeting. Imagine my utmost, incredulous, earth-shattering surprise, then, when my line manager overturned a piece of paper that had been lying on the desk throughout the meeting to produce the very printed threat I had emailed! There then followed a barrage of questions about how it could be construed as threatening all of which I agreed with. I left the meeting genuinely not sure if I was going to be suspended or lose my job.
What happened? I received a written warning from HR and my line manager for my conduct and the individual in question was demoted. This must constitute the first time in employment history that a charge of harassment has been made against someone who has received a death threat at work via facebook; and then that same death threat used as evidence against the receiver of the threat in the ensuing investigation. If you ever encounter someone like my nemesis at your place of employment, my advice is to treat him or her like you would the new Chevy Chase comeback vehicle - and leave well alone.