The workplace can be a fraught environment. After all, you’re bringing together dozens or even hundreds of people, folks with no shared history , and asking them to make nice for eight hours a day.
Issues will inevitably arise. Disputes will break out. New rules will have to be instituted. On the topic of new rules, Redditors weighed in on rules that were invented because of dumb co-workers.
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Netflix and nap (at work).
“Netflix is blocked at work. One secretary used to watch Netflix at her desk and nap when there were no calls.
I don’t need to watch Netflix at work, but I usually use fast.com to check internet speeds. Every time I check the internet speed, which isn’t that often, I forget and then curse that secretary.”
When rules come with a side order of harassment.
“One manager was obsessed with this girl who was 30 years younger than him (50-20) and her commute was two hours long. She sometimes forgot to change them out and he must have got sick of her turning him down than he mandated a no sneaker clause.”
I need the backstory.
“‘You are welcome to wear comfortable clothing during the overnight shift. However you must wear pants at all time. No pajamas or underwear .’
It predates all of us. The guess is someone did an overnight, took off their pants to relax and someone went in crisis.”
This one actually makes sense.
“When I worked retail we had rolls of the RF tag stickers they put on everything that set off alarms unless they’re deactivated. It was a fun game to get them stuck to people’s backs or sleeves where they couldn’t see them. The front end manager eventually had to put a stop to it because he was tired of getting called over to the exit to deal with it daily.”
– u/bg-j38
Seems reasonable enough.
“Used to work as a server in an assisted living facility. After a server flipped out during breakfast one day, there was a sign put up in the kitchen that said “DO NOT THREATEN RESIDENTS” That [server] still works there.”
They have this same rule in prisons.
“No hands in your pockets. We were rewaxing the floor and I slipped on a cord, and couldn’t catch myself because my hands were in my pockets smashed my knee on the tile floor. The whole school district got that rule. (~40 schools).”
You can take my phone out of my cold, dead hands.
“I was serving in the Army when a soldier made a video on TikTok of himself dancing and playing with a gun and the video went viral. They took the mobiles after that from everyone and I stayed for couple of weeks not even able to reach my family.”
Well, those endless training programs are pretty fun, after all.
“One person complained that he wasn’t ‘trained properly.’
We all now have to do this massively long training workbook during our shift, along with morning weekly quizzes we have to do with training questions. Everyone. I’m pretty sure no other company does this. It’s been weeks and I’m still not finished with it.”
When you get one perk and it disappears.
“I was hoping for employee’s discount at a Japanese grocery store. However, someone from the past has abused the employee discount in order to give low prices to their friends. Management found out, and they effectively just took the employment discount away.”
Martin, you’re a creep.
“No skirts, shorts or skorts, at all.
I used to work in a bar and the dress code was simple, just wear black. Didn’t matter what is was, as long as it was plain black. In the summer the girls used to wear skirts or shorts so that they’re not uncomfortable while working and everyone was fine with it.
A new guy joined in July of 2021, and it was very hot so people had skirts on. He kept on taking pictures under the girls skirts and of their thighs. He was caught many times but instead of him being fired, they just banned skirts
Thanks a lot Martin.”
– u/Wryxon
A highly unusual problem to have.
“If you derail a train you have to get drug tested.
In my time at that company members of my team caused 3 derailments.
After the second one, the employee’s official statement was “oops, no further comment.” It was operator error and the guy owned up to it.
After the third one, the guy driving hops out and screams ‘OOPSIE.’ He was being a real prick about the problem he just caused. So we ended up violating rewriting the drug testing policy to drug test the guy, and sure enough he failed. So then he was gone.”
Can kind of see why this one didn’t last.
“We used to get a free beer after our shifts at a pizza restaurant I worked at, until the manager’s little brother got in a car accident after work (he ran a red light or something). That was fun while it lasted.”
No podcasts for you.
“We used to be able to pop in an ear bud at work with the offset being that we couldn’t spend more than a few seconds here or there to switch podcasts or something. Naturally, some people took a mile and spent minutes on their phones. Since everyone was afraid of confronting these people, phones and earbuds were banned in work spaces altogether.”
– u/DYGTD
When you can’t be trusted to wash your hands.
“Well, I went to the doctor’s office the other day. At the bathroom there was a sign. It said ‘Due to misuse of hand soap, you will have to request soap from front desk.’ I’m weirded out. What the hell are they doing with the soap?! At the doctor’s office?? I was just too afraid to ask.”
Nothing like asking permission to delete a desktop icon.
“Had one person download a free student version of software that they used instead of the one the company paid for. Almost cost the company a decent amount of money. Now everything is locked down on everyone’s computer to the point that I can’t delete desktop icons without having an admin.”
You’ll want some popcorn for that HR meeting.
“No popcorn.
I work at a financial company and not once, but twice, someone burned microwave popcorn during end of day processing and caused the building evac.
Every once in a while a new person is cooking some up and I just imagine the talking to they’re about to get.”
Is ‘juicy’ a bad word now?
“We used to have casual Friday and people could wear jeans. One day a girl came in wearing sweatpants that had “Juicy” printed across the butt.
The CEO happened to be visiting our location that day and he saw her. Casual Friday was immediately abolished and it took years for them to forget Juicy Girl and reinstate it. But in the intervening years, they would have fundraisers where you could buy tickets for days that you could wear jeans.”
The great soda heist.
“A video game company I worked for provided free snacks and sodas. One Friday HR had just done a shopping run and was bringing in a truck load of junk food. One employee was caught sneaking a case of soda out of the parking lot. He wasn’t fired or disciplined, it was just made public why the perk was ended. He quit shortly afterward and attempted to sue for a hostile work environment. That went nowhere.”
At least they weren’t creepy clowns.
“Only one personal item in your office.
This was a financial institution so customers came into our offices. This was put in place because of one lady who had her office packed with trinkets including a handful of dolls.
Yes, creepy dolls. Come and get your auto loan also don’t worry we have some dolls here to witness your transaction.”
There’s no thief worse than an office thief.
“Can’t keep personal items at our desks. People lost a lot of personal items over the Covid work from home period. Only when we returned to the office, it was at that time did things start going missing. There’s either one or a few thieves among us. So to cut it down, they say only keep the stuff at your desk that you’re willing to lose.”
