[Blarg]

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i just saw your post, Blarg, after I replied to Dom and Wookie. I will try to address it later as I can't at the moment. I certainly wish I had chopped this off at the knees before it got started. I tend to be very quiet and amiable at work, trying to go along with the joke, trying not to be a complainer.

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Keep in mind that not only is insisting on being treated with ordinary professionalism not complaining, but that you shouldn't even have to ask.

This is the tone you should keep things in as much as possible with the personnel department, too. You are not a complainer -- that thought shouldn't come up in your head or anyone else's at all. You're a professional trying to get your job done, and threats of violence and personal attacks are interfering with that. Being punched in the face or humiliated in public simply weren't part of the job description, and you'd like it noted before things get out of hand. And then to move on positively from that, holding no grudges. Maybe the guy has problems, whatever. It's not your concern and you don't care and will continue to work with him. It's not even personal; it's just a fact of life that you're not particularly a fan of being face-punched and need this nipped in the bud. A reasonable HR person will understand and be grateful you are not yet making mention of any lawsuit.

Document it, Katy. Verbal exchanges are far more deniable.

It will serve as an example to this guy, and others, that you are not to be trifled with. You want to get that "to be trifled with" out of your corporate community's mindset instantly, because it will disqualify you from ever being much more than a low-level manager at the very most. Your "friend" is capping your salary and career prospects for you pretty definitively, and you need to take action on it. This is a matter that extends well beyond the two of you.