[LJSDesigns]

I had an employee who suffered from mental illness stop coming to work suddenly. When I inquired why he wasn't showing up, he told me that his dogs were telling him to kill me, so to keep from killing me he stopped coming in. He didn't want to kill me, but apparently the dogs were pretty insistent and he was not sure he could hold out if he was near me.

When I told HR about it, they told me there was little they could do to protect me if he actually planned to kill me, which was mind blowing. I told my office mate that if we saw him coming, we were in an office up over the production floor and could see a lot, she was to go down the back stairs and run like hell. Once she was gone, I could try to get away, but I didn't want us together and her getting hurt because of me.

The police went to his home to talk to him about the threats and found it in deplorable condition. Apparently he had been talking dogs off the street, from backyards, etc. for a while and keeping them trapped in the house. Many of them were sick and eventually had to be put down. The house itself was so bad, full of feces and urine, that the city had to condemn as a health hazard and demolish it. They said there was no other option, that is how bad it was.

It was all over the news for a few days and I couldn't even look at it because it made me ill and it made me feel guilty. What could I have possibly done to this man to center in his violent delusions? Apparently, he did not like being told what to do by a woman. It reminded him of his mother and he did not have a good relationship with his mother.

My employee was hospitalized for a complete mental collapse and spent over a year in inpatient therapy. I worked third shift and in the beginning of his hospitalization he would call me at working crying because by telling the police what was going on, I had killed all his dogs. He said that is why they wanted him to kill me, so that I wouldn't get them all killed. It was scary and sad. I honestly felt as bad for him as I did terrified of him. There was no doubt he was sick, but scary sick.

When he was better he wanted to return to work and my employer asked me if I would be okay with it and I said I wouldn't be. I was mind blown that they even asked the question. They said they had to have a formal objection from me for the union, like I was the only person who wasn't safe. People who snap and kill at work usually kill more than just their "target," so no one was safe. I felt terrible that I had to be the one to say no and prevent him from getting his job back, but what else could I do.

In the end he moved to Florida to live with his mother so that she could make sure he stayed on his meds. I haven't heard anything more about him since then, but that is one situation that I will never forget.