The most bonkers boss / work rules you’ve had?

[JustAnotherWhinger]

Chat on another thread reminded me of an old boss I had.

She insisted everyone had to be in the tea club. I don’t drink tea or coffee and I’m allergic to milk so declined.

At that time another new start declined to join the tea club and the HT actually sent out an email detailing her disappointment that “some people” had opted out of the “collective enjoyment” of the tea club. A few months down the line she told me she’d cried at the “snubbing” of the group.

I worked there three days a fortnight, and I was also PT in three other schools over the fortnight, so four tea clubs I didn’t use would have been bloody expensive!

Whilst at uni I also had a boss who insisted people clock in and out at even minutes past or to only.

You’d get thoroughly told off for clocking in on an odd minute.

Nothing has ever been as bonkers as school rules for me or my kids.

My oddest boss was in a school too. The final straw was when she asked me to order orange folders and didn't like the shade of orange, made me return a load of cardboard wallets.

no smoking joints before 6pm.

except for the boss.

One school I worked in had a wallet saga once as well.

They always ordered yellow ones. New HT knows that buff ones are considerably cheaper so changes to buff.

You’d think she’d suggested a weekly child sacrifice!

Not exactly work rules but I once worked for a woman as her only employee in her new start up. She literally thought I was her servant and once called me up at 10.30pm to tell me to pay her electricity bill for her, her home electricity bill. She went really off the rails when I handed in my notice and was making really wild demands including telling me to count through boxes of 3000 tote bags that had been ordered to make sure that every single one was there. She had a meeting where she decided to bring a few of these tote bags to hand out, it was an hour drive from our office and she called me barking at me to drive over with 2 more tote bags as she hadn't brought enough for the people there. When I asked if I would be reimbursed for petrol (i was on minimum wage and couldn't afford to make the drive otherwise) and she literally started screaming down the phone that she paid me and therefore she owned me. I didn't work the rest of my notice after that.

DH would get his wrist slapped for using a postage stamp and not writing down exactly who the letter was sent to in 'The Book'. Every stamp had to be carefully accounted for. This was a business which sold products worth thousands.

Jeez she sounds ridiculous!

I once worked in an office where the manager was obsessed by hierarchy. He sent out a message to us all that only managers were allowed chairs with arms. Anyone violating this policy should return their armed chair immediately. However, this resulted in not enough armless chairs. New ones were ordered and the high status armed chairs put in storage.