Dumb Workplace Rules From Around the World
Rules are made to be broken, especially when the rules are absolutely nonsensical. Here are some real life workplace rules that never made any sense, as told by the workers who endured them.
Only Swear at Customers
At my old job, HR held a meeting to tell us that there was too much swearing on the sales floor. Someone raised their hand and pointed out that swearing is very common in our industry and that is the way that our customers speak.
HR later sent out a memo explaining that swearing should be limited to conversations with clients. It was amazing.
Story credit: Reddit / redemption_songs
Traffic Violation
If you are stuck in traffic on the way to work, you must email the CEO. Phone calls and texts are not permitted, only email.
Story credit: Reddit / gshell
Hydrated
I used to work at a place in which my boss implemented a no more than 2 glasses a day water policy. I ignored this rule and complained directly to our CEO and the matter ended later that day.
What was weird though was the majority of people actually followed the rule and some even shopped me up to HR about ‘breaking the rules’.
I left not long after that because not only was my boss a jerk, but if my colleagues were going to HR over me drinking water, then I obviously couldn’t trust them.
Story credit: Reddit / X0AN
Clock Watching
Had a workplace time our bathroom breaks and deduct them from our allotted 15 minute breaks or lunch. We had to go see the office manager to get a key to open the restroom.
As soon as we left his office he would start a timer… when you got back he would stop the timer and tell you how much time you needed to deduct from your lunch or next break. They watched our breaks like a hawk.
Also, if you made a mistake they would stand over you and time you while you fixed it and deduct that from your lunch or breaks.
You couldn’t bring anything “that smells” for lunch and they had no way of heating anything up. I worked out my contract and split.
Story credit: Reddit / jamaidens