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Strangest thing you have ever got into trouble for at work?

264 replies

NoEffingWay · 21/05/2022 21:04

Not 'looking like I was listening in a meeting'- I was actually listening and was able to recite information but apparently that wasn't good enough!

For 'not having a degree'- I was a Saturday girl in a shop, I was 16 at the time. Confused

For 'being tired'-I had a baby at home and was getting up at 4am to look after them so wasn't feeling well rested but was expected to pretend I was energetic Grin.

OP posts:
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Isaidnoalready · 21/05/2022 21:09

Fixing an error i wasn't supposed too I discovered it by accident saved them a few thousand and nearly got disciplinary for poking my nose in where it didn't belong thank goodness it was a temporary contract

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DressingGownofDoom · 21/05/2022 21:14

I got complained about for entering the building and going directly into my own office rather than going to the managers office to say good morning first Confused

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Mogloveseggs · 21/05/2022 21:15

Putting ham on a sandwich the wrong way 😂

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gingerninja99 · 21/05/2022 21:16

Saying I'd rather stay on the phone lines taking calls than go to an all office meeting! We needed 4 people to keep answering calls

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mrsfollowill · 21/05/2022 21:17

A customer told me off for smiling too much once- I looked too happy apparently Confused

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TheLittleCabbages · 21/05/2022 21:18

I got disciplined for raising a legitimate health and safety concern. To say I'm still upset and angry about it would be an understatement.

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TravellingSpoon · 21/05/2022 21:19

For looking 'too sad' after returning to work after a miscarriage. In fact I got a written warning for it. This obviously cheered up my mood no end.

Abouta month after this, the MT had a meeting where it was announced that they wouldn't be needing my job role any more, except noone told me nor did they say in the meeting not to tell me, so at least people came to say they were sorry to see me go before I even knew I was going. They did me a favour but it was a horrible place to work.

Ialso got in trouble at the same place for refusing to take part in a cleaning rota that only included the three women in the office.

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Pyri · 21/05/2022 21:19

A really horrible woman told me off when I was quite new in a job for putting the presentation covers the wrong way up in the printer which she said ruined the printer etc etc. I was absolutely stunned and didn’t really say anything then went and checked myself and I had done it the right way around. Spoke to her the next morning to say I didn’t appreciate the way she spoke to me and she went off on one about how useless I was.

It was so unnecessary and unpleasant. I was in the right fgs!!!

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BeingATwatItsABingThing · 21/05/2022 21:19

Putting in customers’ home numbers instead of mobile numbers. I’d never been told I had to only accept mobile numbers but I was too young and naive to challenge it.

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Fernsinthegarden · 21/05/2022 21:21

At one specific job - absolutely everything that my boss decides offended her that day. One example would be not completing a task that she hadn’t even asked me to do, publicly bollocked me on a Zoom conference call for and then laughed it off later when she realised that no, she hadn’t actually asked me to do it.
On the flip side, bollocked me for following up with a client that she HAD asked me to do but insisted she hadn’t, despite me showing her an email with proof that she had.
Basically, not being a mind reader.
Sorry, it’s probably not as lighthearted as you’d have liked 🤦‍♀️

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Orangesox · 21/05/2022 21:22

For getting to work too early due to the unpredictable nature of the rush hour traffic on one of the busiest motorways in Britain Hmm

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Sprogonthetyne · 21/05/2022 21:24

Mentioning ice caps in passing, close to the 100th anniversary of the titanic sinking. I was working in retail and manager was concerned a passing customer may have lost someone in the sinking, be struggling with the anniversary bringing back memories, and so be offered.

A. The conversation had nothing to do with the titanic, it was a about someones re-use coffee cup, along the lines of "doing their bit to save the ice caps"

B. It was the 100th anniversary, anyone who lost someone will be long since dead.

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Fernsinthegarden · 21/05/2022 21:24

Oh and in the vein of the poor poster who was written up for having a miscarriage, I was issued a ‘final written warning’ for having Covid and staying off work and not being well enough to continue my duties from home. I was told on my return to work that I was lucky she hadn’t sacked me on the spot as my attitude was also ‘not in the spirit of the business’. This will potentially out me as so many people knew but I was also 11 weeks pregnant at the time.

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JustKeepLookingWithYourEyes · 21/05/2022 21:24

For “walking too slowly” around the office. Apparently it suggests I am slow at my job 😂

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CeeceeBloomingdale · 21/05/2022 21:25

Using inappropriate language. By a colleague who doesn’t have English as their first language and misunderstood what I actually said. Twice.

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PronounMadness · 21/05/2022 21:25

Having “unprofessional boobs”.

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NoodletheSchnoodle · 21/05/2022 21:26

For having what is basically known as resting bitch face Grin I was 18 or 19 working on the shop floor in a specialist retailer and got pulled into the office to ask if I could look a bit more jolly/happy as my face looked miserable.
Sorry, that's just my face! 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

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paddingtonstares · 21/05/2022 21:27

Not getting sales while we were closed for covid. 🤔

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Fluffycloudland77 · 21/05/2022 21:27

Referred a patient for minor surgery, got a dressing down for inappropriate ref. It was appropriate though and they had the op.

Years later they got sued by a patient for the same op on a patient who was wildly unsuitable for surgery and it all went wrong for them.

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HalfShrunkMoreToGo · 21/05/2022 21:28

For looking too serious.

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Nutellaspoon · 21/05/2022 21:32

For saying that we shouldn't count men as women when reporting the gender pay gap statistics.

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Alphabet1spaghetti2 · 21/05/2022 21:33

I was accused of stealing £2k out of a safe - I was out of the country on holiday with extended family at the time.
For phoning my area manager regarding a life/death and health and safety matter on a Saturday afternoon, when he was at home. He was my direct line manager, but apparently I should never have spoken to him about it at all.
For not being tall enough to close a broken blind without a step ladder.

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romdowa · 21/05/2022 21:33

For refusing to breech company policy to make life easier for others.

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girlmom21 · 21/05/2022 21:35

JustKeepLookingWithYourEyes · 21/05/2022 21:24

For “walking too slowly” around the office. Apparently it suggests I am slow at my job 😂

Ha I've been told off for walking too quickly because it looked like I was always rushing. Well yeah because I'm busy as fuck because you're not doing your job, knobhead boss.

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Nevergoingtobemrsjones · 21/05/2022 21:36

The other day I was at work-for context the front is a car park and the back a duel carriageway
i was stood talking to a colleague (we where in front of the window)and we both saw a man try to run across the duel carriageway,he was hit by a car and died-he would have been dead before he hit the floor-his body landed on the road-I’ve never seen a body before
we are a two story building-so in shock I shot upstairs to clear any customers out and back downstairs out of respect to the man who had just died-you could see his body on the grass verge,while the paramedics where working on him
i had teenagers standing on tables to get a better look and people where trying to get up the stairs to see what was going on
i got a bollocking for asking people to show respect and just go downstairs to finish their food,for stopping people from coming upstairs for a gawk and another bollocking for closing the upstairs as they where getting complaints from entitled twats who wanted a better view

i don’t know who was more unreasonable-the idiots who wanted a gawp or the bosses for giving me a bollocks for stopping them!

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