Stupidest bollockings you’ve had at work?

[TimeAtTheBar]

I got called into a meeting with my bosses boss yesterday to address a complaint from a member of my team that I had disappeared off for half an hour last weekend.

…I took just half an hour of my one hour paid break and left another manager in charge.

Apart from the fact I am SO DONE with this particular job, this could have easily been resolved without a face to face meeting which I found intimidating and overkill.

To make me feel better, tell me about your stupid or unfair bollockings please; because I am still raging about it a day later.

That would be correct, as it's an ellipsis. More dots does not mean more suspense! 🤦🏻‍♀️

politely asked a daughter of an elderly demented patient if she would mind cutting her mums fingernails as she was using them as weapons against the staff. (they were literally talons). She complained to my manager who then asked me to apologise. I told her to fuck off, but gave in and gave a very ungracious apology. Something like ‘I believe I’ve offended you and for that I apologise.

Oh God this thread has reminded me of the worst job I ever had.

So this was in 2006, new chain of stores rapidly opening and I got a sales assistant job in one. After what felt like ages of not finding work (was about 3 months but I felt lazy) I was chuffed.

On the first day, which was a week of training and stocking the store in 25 degree heat as the heating system was broken, where the stock room was upstairs with no lift, our brand new manager quit before she even walked in the door.

So, as the store had no assistant manager assigned, we were told temporarily one of the other assistants would do minor managerial duties but they would then decide on performance who to pick. I was up for the role as I had managerial training.

The girl who did it temporarily was an utter, unmitigated bully of a woman. She was vile. We all hated her.

However, as she knew both she and I were up for the role she set about making my life hell.

Things she bollocked me on:
It was near Christmas and there was a queue. Not a particularly long one but we were short staffed so we worked through as quickly as possible. This was my fault. She was standing upstairs watching the CCTV cameras so could have jumped on herself. But it was my fault for not turning over sales at the till quick enough. She performed this bollocking in front of customers, stopping me from serving anyone. One customer pointed out that whilst she stood bollocking me, the queue was getting massive so could she shut the eff up and let me serve people. She was not happy.

Then we had the day the till didn't add up. I hadn't been on the till. I was doing stock all day. However, she decided I had stolen £25. I told her if this was the case she should check the CCTV and the till sign in. She refused. It was then recounted by the person who actually cashed up and was found to be fine and not missing any cash. It was also proved that I didn't log on that day. She still docked my wage packet and despite complaints I never got the money back.

Then we had a delivery come late. I was on tills again, it was packed. Shop was also in an area full of crackheads who shoplifted. We had been told by police not to run after them as a shop assistant had been threatened with a used needle.
Anyway, the perfume guy delivered a big box of perfume right by the door. Didn't tell anyone as the shop was packed none of us noticed. He was meant to get the docket signed but probably would have been in trouble for delivering late.
Next thing I know she's coming storming down from upstairs shouting to get up to her office now.
Up I go. She shows me CCTV of a local druggie walking off with a considerable amount of stock-the box of perfumes that I hadn't seen arrive as we were packed. She then accused me of "knowing the thief" and that I had "clearly made eye contact at him and nodded". She went as far as to call the Police. Police confirmed no action against me as they said there was nothing on the CCTV that suggested I had looked at him. Also asked her why she hasn't collected the stock as she saw it arrive and knew it was high value stock. They collared the guy in a local car park as he was known and reiterated that they did not advise staff to go after thieves anyway. She did not apologise.

The last straw. I worked more than my hours over Christmas and requested to Head Office to have New Year's Day off. They agreed and told her. They also said that the day after would be the announcement of who was manager.

So I went home on New year's Eve, enjoyed a very boozy party and was happily hungover and asleep at 9am the next day on my longed for day off.

I go in the next day and her self appointed second in command/dogs body is waiting for me "x wants to see you in her office immediately"

So in I go. She asks the dogs body in to take notes. She then sacks me. Apparently I had an unauthorised day off. I had not called in sick or given 24 hours notice of intent not to work. I laughed at her. I said I told head office a week ago at least and they agreed it due to my working over my hours due to staff issues. She says she doesn't care. She is the boss. She is sacking me and as I've been there less than 6 months (literally a week less) I have no rights to appeal or notice pay. She then gets dogs body to escort me off site in front of everyone.

I ask about my pay to be told I will be summoned when it's been checked and "any losses" will be deducted.

She then calls me the next day and I go down there on foot. She refused to give me my pay as I forgot my work top. Which I had paid for as all staff had to. Had to go all the way home and back to get it. To say I threw the bastard thing at her.

I called head office to be told nothing they could do. She was temporarily manager. Her decision is final. She never got the manager job. They got someone else in. She later got beaten up when she chased after some druggies so she didn't listen to the advice we were all given locally. Wouldn't be surprised if she blamed me.

Having hair too long two days after a haircut with the on-base barber.

Getting put on orders for not polishing the soles of my boots.

Thanks, and Fucketty bye, the army.

Same manager, when I was relatively junior in my role:

1. Shouted at in front of the whole office for bringing her 'problems not solutions' and being lazy/lacking initiative. She'd promised a client some very specific information from a colleague in another country. There was no real urgency for this information and the client was not expecting it immediately. The 'problem' I took to her was that I was not able to get in touch with the person as it was a National Holiday and all our offices in that country were closed. I had spoken to colleagues originally from that country who informed me that no-one would be working (a bit like trying to get an unscheduled work call in the UK on Xmas day) so I'd suggested I would come in to the office very early the next day so I could call as soon as their working day started. Apparently this was not enough- I should have found a way to get the personal mobile number of the (very senior) overseas colleague and called repeatedly until I got an answer. I have a suspicion that if I had done that for a very non-urgent query I would have received a rather more deserved bollocking from them.
2. Asked to file documents for a project that I had not worked on, where Manager had just thrown everything in a pile on her desk. I was bollocked for missing several key e-mails out of the file. She had not printed copies (required at the time) and they were not referred to in any other documents so I had no way to know they existed.
3. Threatened with a written warning for making inappropriate and disrespectful comments about Manager. The 'comments' were answers to multiple choice questions on an employee satisfaction survey that was supposedly anonymous. In view of the above and numerous similar situations I ticked 'strongly disagree' to several questions about whether I was happy with my direct management.

In my 1st full time job after my a levels. I had had 2 days off due to the flu and then a couple of months later had collapsed and ended up in a&e and emergency surgery after discovering I had an ectopic pregnancy (unknown pregnancy). When I went back to work I was given a written warning for having 2 sickness occasions within 12 months!! I was 19 and was really upset that this was what the working world was like!

at my next job the MD would often walk down the corridors inspecting the files and if the labels weren’t exactly the right font/size/centralised he would simply sweep all the files from the whole shelf onto the floor and scream for them to be fixed!

work was piled on and on and I ended up doing silly hours, often at my desk before 7:30 am and not leaving till gone 7. Working Saturdays etc. i actually gave myself an ulcer and the dr wanted to sign me off sick but I refused. i was pulled in and told that I wasn’t putting enough effort in and my loyalty was questionable!

at another job the MD banned the office national lottery syndicate because he was worried if we won we’d all leave at once. He later changed his mind as long as players agreed to sign a document saying they wouldn’t leave if they won and he got to pick and choose who could play!

Go on tell us I give up.

Pulled in for owing hours on a roster which was created by the manager giving me the bollocking and finalised by someone more senior after that.

Hmmm this is many years ago but rankles still
I was hauled into a meeting because I said
I cant wait to retire.
I was in my mid 30s then and the conversation was around what we might do with more time, and I did say it but to this day I dont know what's wrong with that.

I didnt slate the place or the people, I liked my job in general, frankly without Michelle the cow being there I would still be there now.

I truly hope that Michelle has grown the fuck up and stopped being such a petty person.

Nurse here. Got bollocked for changing the clothes of an elderly lady who had spilt her lunch and juice down her clothing…… 🤷🏻‍♀️🤨

Wow, this is positively encouraged at the schools I work in. We also have chalkboards in the corridors for similar, or nice well being comments etc. how short sighted of them?

Why??

@Garysparrowsthirdwife Guess which company the Evil Bitch from Hell worked for! Worked for them for ten years and I've seen so real shit!

The many people obviously having affairs has reminded of my best bollocking story too! I was pulled into a quiet office and advised it had been noticed that there had been inappropriate behaviour between me and a male colleague, namely working in an office with the door closed but glass walls and observed laughing and smiling. Obviously that meant we were at it like rabbits. door was closed because we were auditing some crazily confidential and highly flammable files, the kind that would easily lead to violence in thr work place never mind breaches of confidentiality. We were the only 2 qualified and brought from outside so we didn’t know anyone involved. It was crazy serious but the bloke I worked with was a hoot so we were chatting “behind closed doors”. Anyway it’s the kinda organisation that is very hot on policy and governance so during the quiet chat i felt I was being asked about my sexuality or that of my colleague and that I couldn’t continue the conversation without making declarations that breached my rights. Was great, person about turned inside out saying they never said I was gay and I said you assumed I am straight. Had 2 days of meetings to clear it up. But that’s cause I’m too long in the tooth to be made to feel small these days.

When I was 2 months into a job as a nurse in a specialist unit, I was told off from my employer (a proper formal meeting with area manager and someone transcribing!!) for not doing any overtime as I "wasn't being a team player"

For a little more context... When I interviewed I told them that I wouldn't be doing overtime as my mum was recieving cancer treatment and I was helping care for her

However, I once offered to stay till 5 to help out (my shift was due to finish at 3) and had my supervisor literally laugh in my face because they had asked for someone to stay till 11pm... she then went round and asked all the other staff to extend till 11pm and nobody could.. so she came back asking me to stay till 5, but by the time she got back I'd decided that I now had plans and would no longer be able to offer help for someone who laughs right in my face!!

OP your employer (and your subordinates come to think of it!) sound like royal A-holes too!

I love these stories of mad inadequate bullies ..met plenty in the nhs...now precariously self employed and will never go back.

When I was temping I got told off for being too good and making all the permanent staff look bad. True story!

I got called a lazy c**t by a manager when working for Next because I refused to work a 13th day in a row. It was a part time job.

I now work with people, not for them. My employer treat me as an equal regardless of role, I absolutely love my job! Life is too short.

I’d returned to my workplace after being involved in a fatal car accident and was easing myself back into work after being seriously injured. I’d been off work for about 6 weeks when I went back. I was planning a holiday for a few months time and put in for a few days leave and was told ‘I think you’ve had enough time off’ …this was the early 90’s. I was so shocked (and young!) I just accepted it …

When I was at uni I used to work as a cashier at a well known supermarket (4 letter name, green sign). I had served a lady who had accidentally picked up 2 copies of a magazine, so I placed 1 copy next to me on the till to be returned later (someone would collect things that weren’t purchased, as we weren’t allowed to leave our till area). We had a rather quiet hour, where I didn’t have a customer come through my checkout for quite some time. I cleaned and tidied my checkout area to keep busy, but then found myself with nothing to do, so I picked up the magazine and began reading a story in it. My supervisor (who had taken an instant dislike to me) caught me. She gave me a telling off. I thought that was the end of it, until I was later pulled into the office and disciplined for ‘vandalising company property’. Apparently, they could no longer sell that magazine because I had dared to turn the pages and ruin it with my eyesight (perhaps she thought I had superman eyes and had burned through the pages with my lasers). I offered to pay the 70p to buy the magazine, but nope. That wasn’t good enough. The thing that annoyed me the most though, was that I never did find out the end of the story.

Vandalising the magazine is patently ridiculous, but I'm not really surprised you were pulled up for sitting at the checkout reading a magazine, tbh.
Even if it was temporarily quiet.

Back in the 90s I was a secretary in a bank. All correspondence - incoming plus carbon copies of outgoing letters - were circulated around the managers every day. On one day an important letter had been mislaid. The branch manager (who was an arse) went postal - shouting and screaming. We were told we had to stay until we found it. We searched all of our desks and stayed late going through every single folder in the filing cabinets (hundreds and hundreds). We couldn't find it and eventually left, very late in the evening. The next morning, we were all expecting a bollocking for not finding it, but no...it turned out the branch manager had it in his desk! He never apologised. He also used to "Oi!" at me if he wanted something. I was too young, naive and polite to say anything. He ended up having to take early retirement because of some dodgy lending decisions. Karma

Warning rant ahead
I joined a small team who were lovely and welcoming but did things completely different to the previous team I had been trained by. My dad had died just weeks before I started and I was still grieving, I felt anxious and my mouth would be so dry I couldn’t speak. (xerostomia) I was given something from my very supportive GP to help. As my practice was different from what they were used to the manager put me on a capability notice which meant I would have to work with one nurse as my mentor. She was horrible to the mums and never made any nice,encouraging remarks about the babies but we seemed to work ok together and she never gave me any negative feedback. I was always in early so did all the checks and ensured the fridge was full of what we needed and our trolley set up. After a few. weeks my manager asked to speak to me. It was a progress report. She read out a statement from my mentor (peer) saying that I was always away by 4.30 but she hadn’t mentioned that I signed in at 8. She also stated she caught me eating a sweetie which was unprofessional. She knew why I would quickly suck on one of these before the next patient came in. She also told my Team Leader that my computer was never switched /logged on to the site needed for vaccinations. Every day I had to phone IT to reset it, they were always very apologetic and their advice was to get a new one ordered . I had already put in a request for a working computer and a works phone. I got neither, but not having a working computer or a works phone was in my mentor statement. My TL put me on further capability despite her knowing about everything including the xerostomia. She was also concerned about the medication I required , Co-Codamol. I told her I’d been on it over 10 years and they were occasionally reviewed but she said she would be happier if I wasn’t taking it!!!!! Her leaving comment , “You will start at our own satellite building at 9am and finish in the office at 5pm. The clinics started at 9.10 in a building 6 miles away, which isn’t enough time to prepare for 40 babies coming in that day and I told her that.
The next time I was in the car with my mentor I challenged her about the comments. She seemed really surprised and,to my delight, flustered and embarrassed ,that I would be told the content . I went through all her comments and explained my rationale. She just kept nodding and saying ok.
I then told her to pull over and I got out the car and went home. Sympathetic GP who knew the year I’d had, was very willing to write ‘sick notes’ for as long as 8 weeks at a time. Meetings with HR and TL went on every 4 weeks. I knew I never wanted to see some of those faces again. In the end I retired early through ill health; but it was a fucking horrible way to end a fairly successful
30 + career.
Ooh I’ve obviously been needing that, it was quite cathartic . x

What a shame it had to be you that went, and not that absolute cow

My boss keeps yelling at us carers for not doing work tasks such as reading paperwork, registering daily required LFTs and weekly PCRs, logging into systems (can take up to 15 minutes as they're temperamental) and other such jobs before work. We also get reprimanded for being late for the daily staff meetings 15 minutes before our shifts start. All of which is unpaid. Boss is salaried of course and on big money. We lowly grunts however are on just above NMW and paid by the hour. If you clock in 2 mins after your shift start time you're docked a full 15 minutes. If you work and clock out anything up to an hour over, you're still only paid your shift time (less any lateness deduction)

And they wonder why they can't keep any staff.