Dealing with Difficult Situations and Setting Boundaries How to stay safe on the job

Overview Know Your Rights Dealing with Difficult Situations Setting Boundaries Communicating Issues Scenarios

Know Your Rights All UBC students, staff, and faculty are entitled to a safe, respectful workplace. This means a work environment free of harassment, bullying, and workplace violence. It is your responsibility to know your rights and to stay safe and it is your supervisors’ responsibility to ensure you are safe.

Dealing With Difficult Situations In a busy, high-stress university environment, conflicts will arise. A difficult situation might be caused by many things, including: Anger at a situation Stress because of a deadline Misunderstanding Expectations of service or help Conflicts with a co-worker

De-escalate, Address the Problem, not the Person When faced with an angry or frustrated patron, it can be easy to get flustered or want to react. Having a plan of how to handle situations before they happen can help mitigate this. Remain calm Avoid staring or raising your voice Focus on positive solutions (example: “That sounds really frustrating, I’m going to try and find you a solution.”) Remain polite and respectful so that if you do need to remove yourself from the situation, you are not inadvertently escalating the situation

Setting Boundaries You are not expected to tolerate rude or disrespectful behavior. Know what your boundaries are and have some “lines” or ideas of how to deal with situations before they occur. Know that you are not the CLC police. Unless someone is in danger or causing undue disruption, follow up with staff. Educate and inform vs enforce Notify patrons of policies politely but if you’re unsure, check in with staff first Think: does this need to be addressed right now? If Security instructs you to do anything, check in with CLC Staff first. Unless it is vital to your own personal safety, do not take directions from Security without checking in with us.

Communicating Issues Nick, Alex, Julie, and Andrea are all here to support you. Report any issues or concerns immediately or as soon as possible. Include the date, time, and the exact nature of the incident with as much detail as possible. Notify Campus Security (2-2222) right away if you are feeling threatened or unsafe in any way. They are trained experts and here to assist you. Note that you may need to ask Circulation to call Campus Security for you. If you’re having issues with a colleague, address the behavior, not the person (example: “Nick is a terrible CLCA” isn’t constructive, ”I’ve noticed that Nick is quite often running late to his shifts and it’s starting to affect me being able to leave on time” is.

Scenario 1 You’re helping a patron at a computer in the Heritage Core and they are becoming very frustrated. You sense that their frustration may be with the technology and not with you but they are becoming increasingly difficult to help. They keep interrupting you as you try to explain the issue and then they say “can you go find someone who actually knows what they’re doing?!”

Scenario 2 A patron comes to the desk and asks to borrow the DSLR. They don’t have a UBC Card and become very loud and aggressive when you explain to them that they are unable to borrow equipment without a UBC Card.

Scenario 3 You’re helping a patron at the desk. They are claiming they brought back a piece of equipment on time, yet they have a fine on their account. While you are explaining to them the fine appeal process, they use a derogatory term towards you.