STUPID WORK RULES

(May, 2024) Reddit asked, “What’s the most ridiculous rule you’ve had to follow at a job?” Some of the responses:
– “I worked for a periodontist who made everyone clock out to sing happy birthday.”
– “We were not allowed to take notes on yellow legal pads. Only spiral-bound notebooks were allowed.”
– “I was told I wasn’t allowed to drink out of a water bottle while working – minimum wage at a grocery store – without a doctor’s note saying that I needed to.”
– “No talking during lunch breaks.”
– “Bank of Nova Scotia executives signed with different color pens. They once tracked down and reprimanded some clerk who had used a color reserved for an executive.”
– “I worked at a place where the color of your tie was mandated. I could only have black, dark gray, or navy blue. Red ties were only for management. Yellow and blue ties for middle management.”
– “I mowed grass for the city, at noon we’d stop working and take lunch in whatever park we were at. People called the city to complain that we were slacking so they changed the rules. At noon we had to pack up and drive across town to have lunch at the city warehouse. Instead of a 30 minute break we spent 20 minutes packing up and driving, then a 30 minute break, and then 20 minutes driving back and unpacking.”
“We had a rule where no one could adjust their own office chairs. If you needed it higher, lower, or tilted differently, you had to submit a maintenance request.”
– “I was responsible for ordering catering. The first time, I got sandwiches and green salad. I got chewed out by one of the VPs, telling me eating greens in front of clients made us look weak and I was only to order macaroni and potato salads.”
– “I was told that being any later than 30 minutes early was considered late, and I would be fired if it happened more than once. It was a minimum wage job, I quit the next day.”
– “I worked at the county fair one summer, selling kettle corn. If you had the closing shift, you weren’t allowed to leave until the Ferris wheel lights turned off. Sometimes they wouldn’t get turned off for over an hour after the fair was closed, and you didn’t get paid for that extra time. On the plus side, I got to eat a ton of free kettle corn.”
* PHONE TOPIC: What stupid rule do you have at work?