What's the strangest thing you have been told off for at work?

[NoEffingWay]

I once got told off for leaving on time, I had done my contracted hours, all of my work was done but apparently leaving on time was frowned upon .

The same job told me off when I left 'for only working my 4 weeks notice'. I think they genuinely expected me to stay even after leaving .

@Tiredf that sounds like somewhere where I worked. Extreme micromanagement and every tiny thing took mega seriously. I had a bollocking for capitalising husband in a report. I should have known it was not capitalised and this was proof of my lack of attention to detail.

Scottish at a guess?

Yes, born in Scotland and raised at home until mid teens however moved to England mid teens and been living in the north east for over 20 + years, tbf I do have a strong accent, however I’ve tamed it over the years.

I was told off in a meeting for not knowing about a policy I had no input into and have never heard of and another team had written. When I asked if my line manager who was doing the telling off knew of it she said no. I should have known apparently.

I was also told off for not copying her into all my emails. I was then told off for copying her into them all.

I was told off for using words she didnt like and for wearing my coat when it was so cold my teeth were chattering.

Despite evidence of my exceeding my performance according to her I was not doing well.

Every single little thing until I was a shell of my former self.

I used to work in a nursery. Ofsted came in and we got marked down because a member of staff made a comment to a child that was deemed inappropriate ( it was nothing very bad, they pick apart everything you do and say) and 2 people got disciplined for it ( me and another member of staff) even though it was only of us and the ofsted inspector had given a physical description of the woman that said it and it was the opposite to me. Tall, blonde, glasses, I'm small, dark haired and no glasses. Not only that, I wasn't working in the room that the comment was said. There was an investigation and I had a disciplinary that went on my permanent record. Why they couldn't just ask the ofsted inspector to confirm it wasn't me, I don't know. But I ended up punished for something that wasn't me and everyone knew wasn't me. Brainless.

I was told off for not printing every single email with clients and filling it. I already saved them in the server. Not even important emails, but emails arranging meetings had to be printed off. Fucking crazy, but I did it.
This wasn't in the 1990s but a few years ago.

For following some (numbered) instructions on a procedure, in the same order they were written in.

Apparently I should have known the order they were in was wrong and acted accordingly.
I left that job not long after. It was for an organisation that aren't very popular at the moment.

And another time, a baby was going home with her mum and was gesturing to give me a kiss. I turned my head and she gave me a kiss on the cheek. Next thing, the manager called a room meeting. Kissing was not allowed and it was sexual abuse.
This was a fair few years ago and I can get you have to be very careful, but I was made to feel that even though I'd worked there years and was known and trusted, I was suddenly a child abuser because a baby kissed me on the cheek.

Is there a secret school of crap management these people go to ? I was once told by an otherwise intelligent and kind nurse manager not to agree to more than 50 % of leave requests as it would make me look weak and undermine my authority ....

@number87inthequeue

I was once shouted at in the middle of the office by my boss for not being able to arrange a conference call with a colleague in another country that afternoon. Despite explaining that I had not been able to get hold of anyone at all in the office and finding out that it was actually a national holiday in that country. So the equivalent of not being able to get hold of someone in our office on Xmas day. Apparently I should have tracked someone down who could give me his home phone number. Who exactly I have no idea, and I can't imagine he would have agreed to the conference call.

The issue she wanted to discuss was not massively urgent and the person she wanted me to contact we very senior. I have a suspicion that if I had called him at home he would not have been impressed and she would have blamed me.

Are you a PA? Because I am and this sounds similar to crap I deal with. One example being sending an email at 9am to arrange a call that day with someone in California (8 hours behind uk time) and my boss getting angry when I didn't get an instant response lol

@julieca

I was told off for not printing every single email with clients and filling it. I already saved them in the server. Not even important emails, but emails arranging meetings had to be printed off. Fucking crazy, but I did it. This wasn't in the 1990s but a few years ago.

I have just recently start in a new company that insisted on printing EVERY SINGLE TINY THING!

Omg I put up with it for two months. The printing, the hole punching, the filing, swapping folders etc etc.

I put a new system in place of printing NOTHING and using the files saved on the server once I sent an email to the Finance director listing out the cost of each printed sheet taking into account paper, ink and my hourly rate and multiplying it by the amount of crap they wanted printing. Also petrol money expenses of transporting the file between different people as we are all still home based.

There are loads but one that sticks out was it was the day before I was due to have a week of annual leave, my boss told me off for it because he wasn't convenient for her for me to be off that week, even though she had approved it...

I hadn’t addressed racism during my lesson.

No child had made an accusation of racism, the observer had not seen or heard any racism, no parent had complained. And my lesson was on the force = mass x acceleration.

Nope, apparently I should find a way to jemmy race into all my lessons.

@cricketmum84 I had to do because the CEO struggled with the server, being able to access files, and seemed to think that paper files were more secure. A total bloody waste of time. But I hated that job, so just thought oh well if you want to pay me £35k to spend half an hour every day printing off and filing emails, go ahead. Totally crazy.
Most places I have worked are like your new system where they discourage printing. Where I am now they let you organise your own files how you want, as long as you save everything key in the server. Much more sensible.
The reality is nobody ever looked at those printed emails as there were so many of them, it would have been a nightmare to find an important one. We just all did the sensible thing of a search in our emails if we ever had to find one that didn't seem important enough to file on the server at the time.

@julieca yup similar salary and they wanted me to spend hours printing shit that didn't need to be printed!!!

I got so much pushback from the FD who audits my work once it's ready to go. But then I sent the calm and considered email with the true cost per sheet and the environmental impact during a time when many companies are trying to reduce their carbon footprint... it worked 😂 and I never have to sit and print every sodding email ever ever again 😂

When I treid to explain to my boss that I would be a bit late in the next day due to attending my grandmothers funeral, he made a snippy remark "How many grandmothers is this you've buried?" I was so disgusted I walked out of the office.

I left him a note further explaining that I had decided to come into work rather than applying for unpaid leave as it was holiday season and we were short staffed. I emphasized that I had been deeply upset by his tasteless remark.

Next day when I arrived 30 minutes late (dressed in black) I put my head in the office "Just to let you know Im back from my grandmothers funeral". I waited for him to apologize for his callous remark of the day before. All he did was to tell me off for being 30 minutes late and remind me I had to make up the time.

The following day I called in sick and told a bigger boss what had occurred. I said I was too deeply upset by my managers attitude to come in for the rest of the week. I also told him I wanted a transfer on personal grounds and was considering raising a grievance vis the union. The big boss granted me 2 days paid leave on the spot. I later learned from his secretary that the big boss gave my boss a hell of a bollocking for his "callous and unprofessional attitude to a colleague as a difficult time".

After this incident I did not speak to my boss again except on strictly professional matters and then only in a clipped business like tone. I resisted any attempt on his part to make social chat. I was transferred 2 months later.

At new job: told to put all the empty bottles in the large, bottle recycling bin. Put them all in, each day.

Told off because I should have known that every empty bottle should have had its metal cap removed. Must remember to remove metal caps. Did remember and removed them all, each day.

Following week, told off for removing metal caps. Line manager has decided it takes too much time so we are not to remove them any more. I should known, apparently. Stopped removing them.

Following week, told off by recycling chappie because metal caps are to be removed and I should defy my line manager and do it. But line manager says I must not do it and to do so will be counted as defiance....

Yes, it's a small thing but this is only one example of what is happening over dozens of ridiculous examples every sodding day, every sodding week.....
It gets tedious keeping up with it all.

I had an arrangement with my manager where if I had a seizure (I have epilepsy) I could just let them know I wouldn’t be in work and it wouldn’t be recorded as sickness. Anyway, I phoned up and said ‘I won’t be in as I’ve had a seizure’

Next thing, I was back and I was hauled into the office for being rude. Apparently I shouldn’t have TOLD them I wasn’t coming in I should have ASKED if it was ok to not come in.

I was so confused when our agreement had been that I just tell them. I mean, was there a chance they were going to say ‘no, you have to come in’ if I asked to stay off following a seizure 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, the news about the pandemic came out about three days later so it was all fuss about nothing really I guess.

Oooh another one. At my end of year review line manager announced she was giving me a 'seriously below expectations' on the report because I hadn't met my targets for the year.

Because I'd been seconded to a completely different team, doing a totally different job for six months. Apparently, I should have made sure I'd done a year's work in the six months before I went over. Despite it being allocated daily.

I went to Head of Section about that. She told boss not to be so bloody ridiculous and stop picking on me because she couldn't find anything else wrong with my work. I applied for a transfer to a different department not long after.

For sneezing too loudly (I'm not kidding), I have hayfever too.

For arguing the fact that a half day finishes at 12:00pm rather than 12:30pm (half way through the lunch break). Apparently I was supposed to work until 12:30pm, even though I wasn't paid during my lunch break! I then got into trouble for daring to bring this up with the next boss up.

For going around the local town/shops before and after work after my husband had dropped me off/before he picked me up. Apparently I was expected to work early and leave late purely because he was giving me a lift.

Is anyone else reading this thread and wondering how so many lunatics end up in management positions?

Smiling. It was a crappy saturday job in Argos over Christmas when I was about 16 and I was on the desk where customers go to collect their goods. I was doing a perfectly good job in pretty horrific conditions but apparently I was smiling too much Silly me, wanting to be nice to customers after they'd queued for a catalogue, queued to pay and then queued again to watch their stuff being hurled down a chute.

I get told off/pulled up regularly for not being 2, 3 or 4 people. Apparently I need to be doing more than one job's worth at a time and if I slip up in one I'm a terrible person.

Organising a cinema trip, after work, at our own cost, to see a film which was directly related to the work we do. I kid you not, the boss didn't want us to have too much fun.

I handed in my notice, giving 5 weeks notice instead of the required four. My line manager told me I couldn’t possibly leave for three months as they had to replace me. I told him that if I’d been on an academic contract (I worked at a Uni) instead of an admin one, I would have been required to give 3 months. As it was, I was leaving in 5 weeks. And I did.

I got told off for making a colleague cry. To be fair - she did cry, but all I had done was to be a little (really truly just a little) short in response to a question. This was an entitled princess of a colleague who spoke to me like shit on a regular basis and had caused me to go and weep in the stationery cupboard on more than one occasion. She was teary eyed at her desk, nicely in public so everyone could see - not having enough self respect to go and wipe her eyes in private. I didn't like her, can you tell?