Hi,
I had started this job on July 1st and it is a much smaller company. Majority of the people that build do not speak much english.
The past few months we had a good working relationship and had good banter. General masculine behavior.
The last week, we are exhibiting at a large tradeshow out of town and myself and one other are designated drivers for the week. Considering this is a new city to us and apple maps/google maps have been genuinely confusing providing the correct navigation here, the drive hasnt been the smoothest.
For the most part, I believe i am a good driver and drive relatively smooth. After work today, we were headed back to the hotels but the GPS kept redirecting and giving us new directions which confused many of us in the car and had me changing lanes frequently. One car sped up fast to overtake us and I was taking a sip out of my water bottle.
This person thought I accelerated and said "you dont have to race him. keep your acceleration down" I responded with "i wasnt accelerating? I dont have any intention of racing considering I am extremely exhausted for that."
He responded with: "Im 67 years old, im not a fucking idiot"
So I let it be, and continued to drive.
We got to the hotel and he proceeded to verbally attack me and kept saying how terrible my driving was. He then said that I will not drive him to the airport and all.
Considering it was the end of the night and we had not eaten yet, in the elevator I had said "whatever, your really sensitive."
Thats when it escalated and he looked me dead in the eyes and said "i will fucking drop you right here right now" as he walked towards me and pressed his chest against me as i was against the wall.
I had to deescalate and tilt my head over so that I do not aggravate it any further and said to "chill."
So he walked out and left.
We dont have HR and hes been with the company for 15 or so years. He is a key person to the company so clearly he has seniority here.
What should I do in this situation considering we are based in California but currently out of state?
I just asked the front desk if there is a possibility that I can have access to the camera footage in the elevator since I saw there was a camera there.
Moving forward, all I can do is stay cordial and let keep distance.