Workplace rules: funny office stories about office rules
"I used to work at a place in which my boss implemented a no more than two glasses a day water policy."
While company rules and regulations are integral to many businesses, they sometimes cause power-hungry people to become consumed with a sense of power.
But then you find that some colleagues behave worse than children, and the only way to create order is to set out rules and regulations. One person shared a ridiculous story about rules in the workplace.
Some of these rules, shared by Reddit users, sound completely outrageous.
One user shared how their bathroon breaks were timed and deducted from their lunch breaks.
They said, "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, 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."
The next one was just as infringing and sounded worse than military training.
"You had to stand in a specific area while eating so they could see you on the camera. Don't talk to customers longer than three minutes unless you're making a big sale, and keep it short. Answer the phone within two rings, and keep the conversation to less than 30 seconds. You can't talk to your coworkers outside of work, and you can't talk to your coworkers while at work, even if there is not a single customer in the store."
Another person shared that they were not allowed to drink water from a bottle at work. "I was once told I wasn’t allowed to drink out of a water bottle while working without a doctor's note saying that I needed to. I was a minimum wage cashier at a grocery store. It was a pretty funny doctor's appointment that followed."
This might've been because they suspected people were consuming liquids other than water.
Regardless of these atrocious, power-hungry rules in the workplace, some rules help employees and favour some common courtesy.
For instance, keeping the toilet clean after use or removing old food from the office kitchen are both acceptable.
While you might be a rebel and avoid getting involved in the office politics, you might want to remember that rules exist to create order, and as much as some of the stories we've heard about are infringing, not all rules are bad.
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