Page 8 | What's the strangest thing you have been told off for at work?

NoEffingWay · 2021-10-07T17:08:18+00:00

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].

HappyTimeTunnelDinosaur · 08/10/2021 06:37

Not getting drunk at a work meal. Seriously. I was given a disciplinary by my boss, luckily HR saw things more sensibly in the end, after a long and terrifying meeting to discuss my future with them. I was 24 and at a meeting with 6 or 7 middle aged managers who drank too much and became rude and bolshy to the staff. Personally I was embarrassed about their behaviour, but apparently it was seen as not joining in as a team. Now I am older I would deal with it better and would probably leave the restaurant. I left the company several months later thankfully.

Camblewick · 08/10/2021 06:41

I was told off for refusing to apologise to a 10 year old who told me to fuck off. Apparently, it would have set a good example. The reason he told me to fuck off was that I had asked him to tie his shoelace so that he didn't fall over. I most definitely did not apologise and told them they could take a grievance against me if they wished. They didn't of course.

redfernstation · 08/10/2021 06:45

wearing trousers. it was 1985 my second ever day at work in an office

RantyAunty · 08/10/2021 06:50

It was late at night and just a team of 5 of us were deploying new software.

We were waiting on another team in a different city to complete something so someone put on some music and we were dancing around the office.

The next day we got told off by the engineering manager for having fun when we were supposed to be working.

Flufferty · 08/10/2021 06:50

I was interviewing with a senior manager and was told that my pen didn't look expensive enough and wouldn't convey a good impression to the candidates. I pointed out that the pen was one supplied by the company.

DoesHePlayTheFiddle · 08/10/2021 06:57

I got told off for my clothes being 'too fashionable', when i started teaching! I was a mother, mid-thirties, and wearing an olive green trouser suit with a waistcoat and shirt. Perfectly respectable. I later discovered that my line manager, who told me off, was a) a bitch, and b) never spent more than a few pounds on any outfit.

spinachandchickpea · 08/10/2021 06:58

Taking a laptop into a meeting. The middle-aged men I worked with (only men, lots of them) were still using pen and paper for this meeting, no-one had broken the weird protocol. I did the same as this seemed to be the done thing, until I realised it was ridiculous so took my laptop. Apparently I should have told everyone why I had brought a laptop. I was tempted to say because pen and paper became obsolete 20 years ago. This was 2018. I kept taking the laptop in.

DoesHePlayTheFiddle · 08/10/2021 07:13

And long ago, in the Isle of Man, told off for working too quickly as 'it shows the rest of us up'.

It was a summer job, temporary. The particular task involved taking computer print outs, printed in duplicate in long batches, and separating them into two piles. So we received one pile and had to split them into two. The established method was for one team member to stand up with arms raised, allowing the printed run to cascade to the floor, while a colleague gently pulled the top copy from the duplicate, and repeated, until the whole run was separated. I spotted that if I put the batch on my desk in front of me and separated the first document, I could then turn the 'pages'' one to the left, one to the right and end up with two neat, separated batches in a few minutes, without needing the help of a colleague. It was only slightly more interesting to do than to read about.

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend · 08/10/2021 07:45

SLT meeting in board room, every time I spoke I had to repeat myself as colleague couldn’t understand what I was saying... after several interruptions and general colleague frustration, I asked if she wanted to move closer as everyone could understand, except her.

She loudly proclaimed that I needed to speak English on me stating I actually spoke English just with an accent she proclaimed again that I needed to adapt to the local dialect.

On me asking if she choose to be white, she asked if I was stupid, I advised I had no more choice in my heritage as she did with the colour of her skin, she was extremely upset as how dare I be racist towards her and that she’s immediately going to HR

ScreamingMeMe · 08/10/2021 08:02

Not persuading a customer to continue with his complaint.

It was my manager who was dealing with it,with some input from her manager. I took a phone call from the customer when they were both unavailable.

Senior Manager was furious with me because he'd spent a lot of time on the phone to the customer.

Short of asking the customer "are you sure?" "Would you like Manager/Senior Manager to call you back?" and passing on the message, to both managers, I'm not sure what else was expected from me. I'd had no involvement in the complaint so knew nothing about it, was literally just taking a phone call.

Senior Manager was a right git who managed to upset a lot of people.

ScreamingMeMe · 08/10/2021 08:07

Another manager who was a petty control freak.

I was in an admin role, and one of my jobs was sending off meeting papers to the attendees. I did this job in our little conference room so I had a big table to use.

So I'd put the agenda, minutes and papers into separate piles and take an agenda, minutes,paper 1 etc from each pile to make up a pack.

Oh no, that method wasn't good enough for my manager. I was told I had to go round and put, e.g. 25 agendas face down on the table separately then go round and put 25 minutes on top, then the next paper and the next.

Wtaf . But she was most displeased with the way I was doing it. (Even though it was a lot bloody quicker!)

MrsLargeEmbodied · 08/10/2021 08:19

someone asked me to do a particular job, which i did, my co worker told me i shouldnt have reacted to her so quickly! should have kept her waiting.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 08/10/2021 08:21

also another place, taking all the work, as another worker who did personal banking etc, during her work hours, and wanted to work extra in the evening doing the work, which i was also paid to do, in the day time!

Oldraver · 08/10/2021 08:22

My wee smelling too strong

I was pulled by an office worker and told there was a strong smell of 'wee-wee' coming from my cubicle

I reassured her I didn't piss on the floor, but due to some medical stuff I did have strong smelling urine

I was perplexed

MattHancocksSexTape · 08/10/2021 08:28

@HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend

SLT meeting in board room, every time I spoke I had to repeat myself as colleague couldn’t understand what I was saying... after several interruptions and general colleague frustration, I asked if she wanted to move closer as everyone could understand, except her.

She loudly proclaimed that I needed to speak English on me stating I actually spoke English just with an accent she proclaimed again that I needed to adapt to the local dialect.

On me asking if she choose to be white, she asked if I was stupid, I advised I had no more choice in my heritage as she did with the colour of her skin, she was extremely upset as how dare I be racist towards her and that she’s immediately going to HR

Scottish at a guess?

Waxlyrically · 08/10/2021 08:32

I got hauled over the coals for an email I’d sent that had the wrong tone…except I hadn’t sent it at all it was written by someone with the same first name as me. When I pointed this out I was given a lecture about never sending an Email like it instead. No apology & the real “culprit” was never reprimanded!

GertrudeCB · 08/10/2021 08:43

I was threatened with a disciplinary and financial penalty for " loosing" a valuable piece of equipment.
Except - the equipment was exactly where it should be, with the department whose cost centre it was allocated to with all the paperwork completed and validated.
Luckily for me my batshit manager ( who was convinced I was after her job so pulled these stunts every time I was on A/L ) was so unliked by the other departments manager that he bcc'd me into an email trail showing that she KNEW the equipment wasn't missing.
She was a nightmare to work for, I noped out of there not long after.

Nel246 · 08/10/2021 08:49

For calling a person by their name instead of sergeant. I got a bollocking infront of my entire class of colleagues. Utterly humiliating.

JasonMomoasgirlfriend · 08/10/2021 08:59

@Oldraver

My wee smelling too strong

I was pulled by an office worker and told there was a strong smell of 'wee-wee' coming from my cubicle

I reassured her I didn't piss on the floor, but due to some medical stuff I did have strong smelling urine

I was perplexed

Really? Because I don't think it's appropriate to be smelling of urine in a workplace.

OldTinHat · 08/10/2021 09:05

I was made redundant sacked because I complained to the boss that their best buddy who they'd hired was sexually harassing me. I asked for a reference as part of my 'redundancy' package and they referred to my excellent time keeping in it - basically I worked the hours I was contracted to and left on the dot of 5pm. They were crooks and tax dodgers and I'm still tempted to shop them.

arcof · 08/10/2021 09:07

Not smiling at all the men in the office as I walked past their desks to get to the toilet during my work day.

Mumoblue · 08/10/2021 09:12

When I was a waitress there are two incidents that stand out.

One was when we were chronically understaffed so I was pressured to work twelve days in a row, and on the 11th day of work my boss pulled me in to her office for “not looking happy enough”.

The second was when I got called in for a talking-to. She sat there smugly and asked who was responsible for doing X the day before. I told her it was Steven (team member just above me). She stammered that no, it was actually me, Steven wasn’t in yesterday. I told her to check again. She did. Then she got a bit red, and said she was going to count it as a disciplinary for me anyway because despite Steven being responsible, apparently I was responsible for making sure he did his job.

That boss hated me, could you guess?

2Two · 08/10/2021 09:17

Using a blue biro instead of a black for my own rough notes.

Chikapu · 08/10/2021 09:27

Thought of another. I worked at BHS one year as a Christmas temp, I was given the job of marking down candles for the January sale. There were hundreds of the bloody things and I was bollocked for not putting the new prices on straight enough (sticky price labels from a gun),I was made to remove them all and do it again.

oiwiththepoodlesalready83 · 08/10/2021 09:28

In got told off for not being as happy/enthusiastic as one of my coworkers when we hit our weekly target. The co worker in question would clap and say things like “well done ladies, we smashed it!” Me on the other hand, I’d smile (as I was happy) chat a bit about it and go on with the rest of my day. Apparently that wasn’t good enough, I needed to react more like my coworker