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Original poster

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

444 replies

NoEffingWay · 07/10/2021 18:08

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 Hmm.

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 Grin.

OP posts:
JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon · 09/10/2021 00:19

I was once told off at school for being articulate.

Overtired201984 · 09/10/2021 00:53

Loving these posts , can’t belive how much crap people have had at work , honestly people are insane .

I was always told at one job I didn’t integrate enough with the office (I was a head down get on with it type of person ) mainly because I had chronic anxiety - but when I was seen talking to my one close mates I worked with that was inappropriate (they didn’t like the young ones being friends )

She was a bitch of a manger to me , weird tho as I got on great with her at first she just tuned on me after I had a week off sick after a MC .

Toomuchtrouble4me · 09/10/2021 01:03

Snogging a fireman in the basement.
Fair play.

Toomuchtrouble4me · 09/10/2021 01:11

[quote IncyWincyGrownUp]**@bloodywhitecat* and @Heartofglass12345*, thank you both for your care and compassion. I’ve not lost a child, but I’ve lost my mum, and knowing that people care until the very last is a comfort.[/quote]
Yes, I didn’t know this, never really thought about it, it’s lovely.

VanGoghsDog · 09/10/2021 01:25

I got told off for "using long words that noone understands". I asked for an example.

The example was "placate". Not long. Two syllables. Not my fault people have poor vocabulary!

VanGoghsDog · 09/10/2021 01:29

Oh, in my current job, which I started a year ago, in a pandemic, have still not met colleagues, we have to ask for feedback for our reviews. The vast majority was really positive, but one colleague said I had "tried too hard to fit in". I mean, what the fuck does that mean?
Also, give me a break, every interaction is virtual!

In one job one guy (another one where we had to ask colleagues for feedback) said he appreciated my straightforward way of speaking and dealing with things, then in the next line said something like I was sometimes a bit blunt. I was like, er, well, what do you actually want from me then?

Maskless · 09/10/2021 02:21

I received a letter telling me my tights were too thick. I was working outdoors in the winter and had bought those thick woolly ones. The uniform code specified "up to 70 denier".

starfishmummy · 09/10/2021 02:54

Throwing away a small amount of coffee.

Staff breaks were at set times and the coffee would be made in a pot with another pot for hot milk. The coffee was just regular instant coffee.

One lunchtime when I was new I was helping make the drinks and thinking the coffee pot had just been left from morning break, I tipped out the inch or so of cold coffee. Apparently if any was left, we were supposed to tip it into a pan and boil it before returning to the pot with more coffee and boiling water. Same with the milk, complete with skin. Ugh!

And we were not allowed to choose our drink of preference. It was coffee in the morning and at lunchtime, with tea in the afternoon.

Stitchybitch79 · 09/10/2021 06:17

@VanGoghsDog

I got told off for "using long words that noone understands". I asked for an example. The example was "placate". Not long. Two syllables. Not my fault people have poor vocabulary!
I've had that too!
Travelledtheworld · 09/10/2021 06:23

For "looking sleepy" in a meeting and for a minor spelling mistake.
The boss was an absolute bitch who systematically bullied her team members, but was very clever and knew how to cover her tracks and justify every move by quoting corporate policy.

FrangipaniBlue · 09/10/2021 07:02

I once had a partner in the firm I worked for go to HR and told them they must instruct me to dye my hair a more "normal colour" and that I should me made to wear thick tights or trousers and long sleeve shirts in all weather to hide my tattoos.

She wasn't my boss and had nothing to do with me or my service line, she was just based in the same office and the reason she went to HR was because she'd approached my partner first and he'd refused her request.

HR laughed at her.

longwayoff · 09/10/2021 07:05

Long words. Teacher at nephew's parents night "young x has a very large vocabulary for an 8 year old", sister preens and agrees, 'yes, well he reads a lot'. "Can you get him to rein it in a bit?"

FrangipaniBlue · 09/10/2021 07:06

I've also been told off for:

Taking notes in meetings because it makes me look like I'm not listening, no, what will make me look like I'm not listening is when I have to come to you tomorrow to ask you to repeat what you said today because I'm new and still trying to keep up with wtf is going on!

Not making a more senior colleague (not even my boss) cups of tea and coffee despite the fact at the time I didn't drink them and never set foot in the kitchen.

Not making teas and coffee for the whole office as often as other people do. Erm, that would be because I only drink one a day when I first arrive while the rest of you drink them on the hour every bloody hour!

Cactusandmarshmallows · 09/10/2021 07:13

For not taking notes in a meeting - told “you didn’t take down I word!”

But - I did. I showed my notes to the person who then got cross and called me sneaky and said I must have written them later because I didn’t write them in the meeting as she was watching.

It was so weird

Bleachmycloths · 09/10/2021 07:24

@Lizzie523

I was once accused of sighing over the phone. The incident became known as sigh-gate as I was forced to apologise to the sigh-ee in person and everything. It was my first graduate job and I left after a year.
Actually, I’d hate if someone sighed at me down the phone. Sighing suggests exasperation and would make me feel I was regarded as a nuisance.
Bleachmycloths · 09/10/2021 07:38

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

When I was a third year student nurse, I got told off for knitting in the canteen during my (unpaid) lunch break, by the cow who was the Theatres Manager. According to her, knitting in uniform was unprofessional, and would give the wrong impression to any members of the public who saw me.
Absolutely nothing wrong with knitting in your own time; but if you were doing this where members of the public could see you it would give the impression that you had time to relax and knit. If you were in a staff canteen, I don’t see the problem.
TwinMama6 · 09/10/2021 08:14

Sorry for your loss 💐😢

Suipigz · 09/10/2021 08:33

Following procedure, being ‘too good’, being too welcoming to visitors

Malin52 · 09/10/2021 08:42

During university I worked weekends at a chain of women's clothes shops. We had to buy and wear stuff from that seasons array of polyester while at work.
I bought a nice colourful dress suit and the matching trousers which I thought was fitting and also I didn't have the money for that kind of outfit so if I was going to spend it I might as well spend it on something I could wear again after University.
I got pulled aside and told off for buying things that were 'too smart for a Saturday girl'.

FreeBritnee · 09/10/2021 08:44

For not talking enough 😬

TheWeeDonkeys · 09/10/2021 08:49

Got asked to do a bit of analysis for a manager and email it over, I did.
He then printed it off and I got the blame that he hadn't set the print settings right.

Biffatcrafts · 09/10/2021 09:00

I once got pretty sharply told off by the MD of the company for dying my hair a particular shade of auburn/red. Apparently it was "his wife's shade" (I'd never even seen or met her!)

They divorced shortly after this happened and according to the office gossip she took him for a fortune ... so probably he didn't want anything around that reminded him of her.Grin

Squeakycatflap · 09/10/2021 09:01

I was warned about the OCD rage-filled woman in the lab that I joined. I witnessed her fly off the handle a few times when her self imposed ‘routines’ weren’t followed by the rest of the busy lab.

I was weighing some ingredients one morning and she approached me to tell me to turn off the weighing scales between uses (a few minutes at a time). I pointed out they turned themselves off anyway after a set time so, no, I wouldn’t be doing that. She marched off and the ensuing screaming fit in the adjoining lab full of technicians was quite spectacular to listen to.

blessedbethechocolate · 09/10/2021 09:15

I've thought of some more.

As a teenager I was working part time in the mail room with the most sexist man I'd ever met. He would constantly give me lectures about how I wasn't feminine enough and how I'd never get a husband blah blah blah. He also told me how women were weak compared to men and they shouldn't do manual jobs but every day made me carry all the bags of post to the reception area. One day I snapped and told him I wouldn't carry them and that he could do it himself. He screeched at me "do not bring your woman's monthly problems to work" and stormed off to our boss to tell her about my disrespect. The boss was crap and told me that I should do what I was told and did I need some painkillers. With that I just walked out. Now I'm older I wish I had said more but I was painfully shy back then.

SixTwirlingTutus · 09/10/2021 09:18

I swear I have no idea why workplaces tolerate this shit. I have a theory that in every part of life everyone tiptoes around the most difficult person in the room.

You see it on MN where people fall in with the batshit / pushy / overbearing plans of others. I saw it in my marriage where BIL is unpredictable and volatile so everyone else would have family phone calls wondering about to handle his potential reactions to whatever (incouding the order of service at MIL's funeral). I see it at work.

I have a line manager who is quite frankl;y off her fucking head. The staff have a private watsapp group where we warn each other about her moods and what she is doing that day. Our Directors know this but do not pull her into line despite the fact that;

a- people have left because of her
b- we are a law firm specialising in emplyment law

Fucking nuts.