To ask for stupid reasons you've been told off at work?

I got told off for not smiling enough.

She was bonkers. Wouldn't let me book any holiday during the 2 months before her sister was due to give birth, because she (my manager) would need time off for the birth. Rota'd me in to work Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year's Day over the festive period once and took all of those days off. Was extremely reluctant to let me nip out for an emergency docs appointment when I had a kidney infection. When I finally persuaded her to let me go, and I got antibiotics she said "they'll kick in instantly so don't try calling in sick tomorrow! Ha ha ha!"

She was truly horrid.

I think i know that school.

Exactly.

"Oh, have you dyed your hair?" is a completely normal question for so many people and for others it's not.

Doesn't make it 'odd' though 🤷‍♂️

Here they’d fine you. A stern warning letter sounds a better option!

Yes, one could do lots of things but that doesn't mean it's 'odd' not to, and to simply choose to ask if they've dyed their hair.

And now you've brought the words 'compelled to ask them' into it too, which also just a bit silly.

Different strokes and all that.

Surely it depends on context. It's not shameful or embarrassing to dye your hair - most women probably do at some point.

I recently changed my hair colour and was quite surprised nobody at work mentioned it 😄

I was pulled up by HR for allegedly leaving early when I was actually attending a meeting that ended up running over my working hours. Despite the evidence of the meeting happening and running over they wouldn’t believe and gave me a verbal.

Tbf it can be quite rude to ask if someone dyes their hair.

I've been told off because:
I used the "wrong" font on a spreadsheet that was purely for my own use.

For rounding my hours up/down to the nearest 5 minutes. It was ALWAYS in favour of my employer (if I finish at 1703, I'd put 1700). So I started finishing exactly on the dot and had no flexibility.

A senior manager used NHS resources to print 5000 letters for her golf club. This tied up the photo copier for the full day and used up an ink cartridge which meant people couldnt do their job for several days. I raised it with an SLT member I thought was friendly and got told to mind my own business.

Talking too much. Bare in mind that I've been described as "a mouse". I mentioned it to a couple of people who found it hysterical and were convinced it was a case of mistaken identity.

I worked in retail, our uniform was a flimsy polyester blouse, short skirt and jacket. It was November, the shop doors had to be permanently open in case customers thought we were closed. Inevitably I got a chest infection, was off ill, not long, as I managed to combine it with my non-working days ( I was part time). I still sounded hoarse/ lost my voice etc.

When I went back I was taken into the office to explain why I was off, ( I'd phoned in every day I was off, as was expected) with the manager saying she would contact my gp to confirm i was genuinely ill. Yeah, good luck with that!! All for 1p over the minimum wage.

I was out of there as soon as I found another job.

This is genuinely bizarre to me. The fact that you think it might be dyed does not mean you are compelled to ask them. You could:

• Not say anything.
• Just tell them you thought their hair looked nice.

Looking at the current vote, 60% think OP was being unreasonable. The fact that 40% of you think this is normal conversation is very surprising.

Made to stand in front of the whole management team (probably 8 people) to be told my month end stats were 'all fucking wrong'.

Left them to rant and attempt to humiliate me until I finally got to quietly explain when month end is on a Saturday we have to make manual changes to account for the weekend being non working days.

Basically they were all being thick idiots.

One of them did come and whisper an apology in my ear later that day which I refused to accept unless they stood back and said it in the loud voice they were using to humiliate me earlier so everyone who heard the first time could hear the apology, obviously they refused.

(If you work in a Council, bullying is just part of the culture).

For breaking an industrial machine that had just electrocuted me. (I didn’t wilfully damage the machine. It broke when the fault occurred that caused it to zap me.)

I kicked myself after. I actually, actually sat and explained how there was a queue and I couldn’t separate what I wanted. I’m usually very outspoken, but I was put on the spot and so shocked. In hindsight, I’d have laughed, said we’re not seriously having this conversation are we, and walked out of her office.

For having 600 emails in my inbox. The day after I came back from a weeks leave.
Apparently I should have cleared them all in the 7.5 hours I was at work the day before.
I did say I had gone through them all and actioned any that needed input. Those remaining were ones that I had just been CC'd in and needed to save elsewhere.

I worked for one of the Royal Colleges a couple of decades ago and it was public-facing with union members (face to face visitors as well as phone calls).

I was constantly getting told off (I was very young) but I once got shouted at for laughing politely at a caller's (crap) joke. Apparently I had a "very hollow and fake laugh when talking to the customer".

So sorry. I should have done my best Jimmy Carr impression. Next time I'll put myself through comedy school before working for that Royal College.

I got publicly screamed at for putting to much topping on a McFlurry he then snatched it out my hand and showed me the right way, I would be embarrased to give my 3 year old that little. It was a minuscule amount. Like a dolop of Icecream, and a teaspoon of crushed smarties. My bad didn’t realise it came directly from his wages

Making wisecracks during weekly staff meetings - I was 'banned' from speaking at the next two. (It was a very informal workplace, and this was all done in a friendly and light-hearted manner 😀)

Just last week, I sent out the PowerPoint to all of the attendees who had attended a meeting that had happened on my day off. Nobody took any minutes in the call. Someone who is slightly more senior than me sent me a screenshot of a comment someone made about forgetting to take the minutes, and told me off for not emailing out the minutes. IT WAS LITERALLY THE ONLY SENTENCE IN HER SCREENSHOT. She sent me the screenshot of the comment that no minutes were taken, whilst simultaneously telling me off for not sending out the minutes. I had no idea what she wanted from me, so I emailed back that I would be happy to email the minutes to everyone, if she could please signpost me to the file where the minutes were stored. She replied back that the screenshot she shared said that minutes weren’t taken. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Now that is something that deserves to be complained about!

ETA that I mean the British jobs for British people comment, not the fully justified imbecile comment!

I responded to a comment that quoted me. Would you prefer I not respond? Or are you protesting that my response is repetitive? Should I use different words, so things are more entertaining for you?

As you’ve observed, comments state personal opinions, including the one to me claiming it isn’t rude and I was exaggerating. Are you going to respond to each of them and tell them their opinions aren’t factual? Or just the ones you disagree with?

What exactly does a British job for British people mean? What an imbecile 😂

Worked in a large hospital once and did a course for this and a course for that and one questionnaire we were given at the end of an equality and diversity course , asked if you were giving a pen to a Muslim patient would you give it in your left or right hand. I put left hand as l am left handed, so knew l would use this hand.
Apparently, l was told, some cultures find offering with left hand offensive so this was the 'wrong' answer. I refused to put the 'correct' answer and said l found it quite offensive as a left handed person tbh.
I did say that if l were in their country or in a mosque for example, then l would of course abide by their rules, as in covering my head if required, offering anything with my right hand (if ld known it was a thing at the time).
I was made to take the test three times by my horrible boss at the time, she kept failing me. It went to HR in the end and l was exonorated and it was dropped. Not sure if they still use that question as it was decades ago now.

25+ years ago I used to do regular relief shifts at a small care home for people with learning disabilities - basically a house with eight residents. It was our job as staff to do everything needed - personal care, household tasks like cooking, washing and ironing, etc.

I got told off one evening for sitting speaking to a resident who wanted a chat about something. Even though all the household jobs on the rota had been done, this wasn't acceptable, apparently. I should have "used my initiative" and looked for a job to do. Non-task-related interaction with residents was obviously not considered a valid use of time.

I once asked a colleague if she wanted a cup of tea and she said she just wanted hiot water with a splash of milk. I exclained in surprise 'Is that it?' because I'd never heard of that before. She went to HR.

I also had my line manager screaming in my face 2 weeks after i joined because I am not from the UK and it should be 'British jobs for british people'.

She did everything she could to sabotage me- like going into the system and changing my time sheets and deleting my files. i lasted 4 years before telling my work place I was sacking them for incompetence because they refused to deal with her.