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.

I was once told off for sending an email to a senior manager that was too informal.

Apparently starting the email with "Hi (Senior Manager)", was too informal...

Worst place to work, ever.

I got told off and named and shamed for not updating my Zoom software. No one told me to update my Zoom software and I never used the Zoom account on my personal computer because I always use the work computer for work Zoom meetings.

I think that generally companies that treat employees poorly are usually incompetent themselves. The muppets who work at HQ in my company are definitely incompetent, but seem to think they are wonderful.

Thank you for that; it’s a habit I also have formed but , and I know I’ll struggle, I will persevere until I’m down to 3 dots.Gradual or cold turkey, what’s best ?
Every days a school day !

Yeah everyone knows you don't eat egg or fish in the office

I was doing a summer job in a local fairly big office back in the 80’s. Just filing and distributing post and collecting internal memos and taking them round. There was a meeting on with the 5 directors and I was asked to make the coffees. I duly made a pot of their coffee, which nobody else was allowed, and put it on a tray with jug of milk, sugar bowl, cups and spoons. I got hauled back in because the milk was cold and I hadn’t heated it in a saucepan, as they all preferred it that way. Even back then aged 15 I was a gobshite and said if nobody told me this how was I meant to know? The nice director laughed and asked me if I would mind warming the milk so I did. Then the big bitch who really hated me said it was too hot (it wasn’t) so I said just add a touch of the cold milk that was still on the tray. She lost her shit and started screaming that I was a gobby know it all and she didn’t think I was in the right work environment. I said that’s absolutely fine I’ll go now. So I did. Fast forward 15 ish years and I was interviewing for a new office manager when in she walks. She was so rude to my colleague who was interviewing with me that I said I don’t think you’re in the right work environment. Vile woman

In my university days I worked in a popular Italian restaurant and got called in to cover a shift. I needed the day to do an assignment but decided to help them out as it was only for a few hours and there was only one other waiting staff on shift.
Pretty much as soon as I arrived the other worker received a text saying his uncle had died so he went to the staff room to gather himself. I understood of course, but that left just me flying around trying to work bar and run food in a restaurant that was filling up fast. I called up I needed help multiple times but was ignored.
Finally the manager came down from the office and found me fetching milk from the walk in fridge instead of on the floor and gave me a row in front of all the customers. I pointed out I had called for help many times but she refused to acknowledge she was at fault and she could have come to help, or at least called someone else in. She got the sack not long after. I hated that place with a passion.

My old manager once tried to put me on a PIP because she got jealous I formed a friendship with another colleague. On this PIP she accused me of not doing jobs that were in fact HERS to do. I lost my shit, complained and raised a grievance then didn’t return until it was sorted. Some people really are awful.

I got pulled into a disciplinary for taking two weeks off work following a very traumatic miscarriage. She didn't like that I travelled to see my parents in the second week. Basically told me I had used it as an excuse for a holiday.

I worked somewhere that hated people taking time off. Illness, agreed annual leave, acrued flexi, you name it. It was all frowned upon.

I was told off for booking three days leave for doing something connected to my hobby. I do something at a very high level. My manager didn't like this hobby; said it was pointless. Before I committed to the activity I had the leave approved. Did the activity. A year later I was bollocked for it. A year! HR got involved.

Also told off for allowing someone on my time to request 3 days compassionate leave to attend a funeral hundreds of miles away. Compassionate leave policy was deliberately vague; she was well within it (as clarified by HR). Manager said she could have one day. She asked could she have that day, plus two days annual leave. I said absolutely. My manager said no. That wasn't what leave was for and didn't want to set a precedent. WTAF.

As we had flexitime, we were allowed to take hours for lunch. During the pandemic my team was struggling with IT equipment. I sourced equipment for them from elsewhere in the company and spent that two hours delivering it to 5 different colleagues. Then worked two extra hours at end of the day even though I'd essentially done it in my own time. Manager knew about this. A week went by and I got a bollocking. How dare I do this. Why did I get involved. Then bollocked me for not being a supportive and helpful manager. Again, WTAF.

When I resigned, he pulled me into a room and demanded to know if I'd told anyone else and what words I'd used. Told him I'd tell people how I saw fit.

On my last day, I was bollocked by someone else because one of my direct reports had asked a very sensible question about familiarity with covid protocols. He was a manager himself and had been asked. The previous week I'd been bollocked because my managers had no initiative and I needed to empower them.

Was it compassionate leave or had you taken holidays?

I was brought into the managers office of a well known retail store for a disciplinary for time off (3 weeks), for a miscarriage which actually went on for 6 months before I had an operation to fix it! I left not long after that!

6 months

Once got a bollocking from HR for daring to request flexible hours. When I pointed out I had a legal right to request she decides to question my commitment to the job. I went ballistic as the previous week I had attended a customer meeting abroad on days I wasn't scheduled to work and that very day had come in at stupid o'clock for a Japanese customer teleconference. Ended up handing in my notice on the spot (unfortunately I had a 3 month notice period). Called my favourite customer that evening and had a freelance job with them by the next week. That was 20 years ago. Never looked back.

I have to complete timesheets for my work and we were not allowed ANY non-chargeable time. We were expected to charge our entire 7 hours a day to clients, so even if we went to the loo or made a cup of tea, it all had to be charged.

I spent 2 hours of time doing an admin task that was not chargeable to any client in particular (and to charge it to a client was particularly unfair on that client), so I used a non-chargeable code. I then had a really arsey email from one of the partners (not my boss) reiterating that I should not have any non-chargeable time on my timesheet.

The timesheet being referred to had 45 hours of time on it. I was only supposed to do 35 hours per week and we didn't get paid overtime or TOIL. I put the non-chargeable time on there to make the point that I was doing work for free.

So basically I got a bollocking for doing 2 hours of work for free on top of the other 8 chargeable hours I'd also done for free. My charge out rate at the time was about £100 an hour, so they'd already had £800 worth of work for free. Grabby bastard he was.

I wrote an initial response, saved it as a draft and then re-wrote it the next day when I calmed down. I made my point very clear that I'd done an admin task, that it was not possibly chargeable to anyone (unless he wanted me to try and split 20 timesheet units across 500 clients) and I'd already gone over and above what was expected of me time wise.

His reply? "Well, don't post any non-chargeable time in the future". i.e. we don't care if you work for free - we just don't want to know about it.

Just remembered another one. I'd not long started in the job I previously mentioned. I think it might have been my first week. It was late 1990s and computers weren't massively common in my industry still. In my previous job, for example, we'd had one computer to share between 3 of us, so to have one each in my new job was luxury!

During my lunchbreak I decided to play a game of solitaire, so sat eating my sandwich and playing cards when one of the bosses walked past, leant in the room and said "we don't play games on these computers - turn that off!" and walked off.

He'd have had a fit if someone had told him about how the internet was going to change everything and mumsnetting during the working day!

I got a bollocking for "going home early after an external meeting"

I'd left over an hour early to get to that meeting, and had no lunch break, and when I left the meeting it was too late to get to the office by five so I went home. I got home before five but after 4pm and called my assistant to check messages etc and told her that I could be reached by phone if anything cropped up but I would be dictating my notes from home and be back in the office the next day (a day early due to the early finish). I couldn't reach my boss because he was playing golf with clients.

This was before the days of having a laptop and logging on from home.

Don't quite know what he expected me to do 🤷‍♀️ I quit not long after, it was one of a series of whatever I did was wrong type scenarios that ate away at my confidence.

Taken into the office for spraying perfume. In the changing room.
Really.

I also got in trouble for going home after a meeting and doing some work for half an hour. I was then told I should travel in the direction of work and when 4pm hit I could then head home.

I was at another meeting over an hour away by train. So at 2.30pm when it ended I took the direct train home, so I got home a little bit before 4pm (Id left home super early to get to meeting). The train that went to the town where I worked didn’t leave until after 3pm, so I would have gotten in after the time I finished (4pm) and THEN I would then have to travel home. So gained nothing.
Got in trouble for that as well. Was told to use Google maps to calculate when I was passing in line with work town and use holiday for the missing time.
So next time I had a cup of coffee at the station and got the 3pm train and took the lieu time.

These complaints were by a chain smoker who went outside 4 times an hour for a cigarette.

Yeah it was absolutely awful but work made it so much worse!

@Johnnysgirl surely as it was a miscarriage it was neither compassionate leave nor holiday. It's sick leave.

I've never been signed off work for three weeks (multiple miscarriages).

I used to work in a small bank branch in the days when you were behind glass for security, 2 of us working there on a short staffed day so for security reasons couldn’t move from behind the glass even for the lunch break. I failed a mystery shop and got a bollocking in a meeting after the branch closed in my own time and lost my bonus. The reasons I failed are as followed:

• On the other side of the counter (where I couldn’t go) it was a mess
• There was a big queue (both of us were serving)
• I didn’t offer the person to speak to another more senior member of staff (there wasn’t one)
• I didn’t take enough time to go through the reasons behind the persons request to close their account I just did it (people were queuing out of the door)

This happened when I was 21 and I just took it and cried afterwards. I wouldn’t now!

What a hero! Round of applause all round. Second round of applause for your compassion.

What a dickish post.

Good for you. Not every miscarriage is the same... obviously.