To ask for stupid reasons you've been told off at work?

[chailatte123]

I once asked a member of the Senior Team if she had dyed her hair.
Apparently this was very rude.

I got told off because I put an out of office that said I was away from my desk and would answer emails the next day. . I was away from my desk because I was on a mandatory training course. Apparently it looked like I was absent, er...

I worked at a place with more staff and cars than parking spaces so a lot of double-parking routinely went on. It wasn't an issue as such, everyone just accepted it as a condition of working there and nobody had a problem with asking or being asked for a car to be moved, but it certainly wasn't helped by the company providing hire cars for those going out on customer site visits. I once got back from such a trip just before finishing time, found no free spaces so double-parked as per de facto protocol, handed my hire car key over to reception, got in my own car and left.

The next day, I found out that it wasn't until about an hour after the receptionist went home and following numerous subsequent futile tannoy announcements for the owner of my hire car to come forward that someone found the key. I was about to get hauled over the coals for causing all this until I pointed out that the situation was hardly anything out of the ordinary at that office and reception's hire car keys drawer really should have been the first place anyone looked.

New Colleague told a client something that is wrong, I advised colleague they were wrong. Said colleague told me it explicitly states this thing is allowed in the policy and asks me to speak to my manager and look at the policy for clarity. I did both, spoke to manager and reviewed policy.
Informed said colleague I did both these things and policy does not state what they are saying. They told me I needed to drop it and stop going on about it... advised the only reason I was 'still going on about it' is because they asked me to do those things 🤣 it's became a bit of a pattern now and can see they just don't like to be wrong 🙄

As a very young teacher I was told my cardigan was unsuitable. Apparently children didn't like navy cardigans. Only bright cardigans were allowed...

The school had introduced a new (complicated) behaviour policy at the start or the term and another member of staff had created a poster in simplified, child friendly language that explained it clearly and shared among staff because there were multiple steps and everyone had asked for a display version to put up so the kids could see it every lesson etc. I sent a copy to print and a member of SLT saw it on the printer and tore strips off me in the staff room for having the “audacity” to create something for it and put it up in my classroom- literally screamed at me and told me to remember my place. Several weeks later they issued an “official”
poster that was almost identical to the one I’d been sent and had been displayed in other colleagues classrooms the whole time.

Many years ago before computers we ysed to have an "Accident Book" at work (Civ Serv) and I used to read it when I was bored to cheer myself up 😅. Reading them back out loud was so funny 😂.

I got stuck in the ladies toilet - the lock failed. Luckily some colleagues noticed I had been gone a long time so sent the Office Manager to rescue me - but she yelled at me like it was my fault 🤣

I'm a teacher and was a Head of Year so parent facing. I once got told off for wearing trousers that were 'too summery'
Really!! The next day I wore a satin floral pattered bodycon dress. This was aparently fine and 'very smart' . Go figure!! we now have a Deputy Head that wears random ridiculous stiletto shoes! They changed the dress code when she started because it used to read 'no stiletto heels'!!

I don't work there now, in fact I don't think it exists any more but it was a marketing agency and I was the proofreader. We were encouraged to be creative but clearly poetry was a step too far!

I got told I wasn't the bubbly person I was when I started at the company. Id recently returned from being signed off with depression

A lot of these posts seem like valid criticisms to me.
I had my ass handed to me on occasion because I made errors by not paying attention. 🫣

I was told off for not "working" whilst waiting for a lift. I am not sure how that is valid.

I would have refused to apologise , and would have taken then to employment tribunal if they tried to give me a warning. Spamming colleagues with nonsense like that is unprofessional and a waste of company time.

Thought of another one. A few years ago working in a kitchen, fairly new to the role. Was asked to complete a task that required the use of a chopping board. It’s best practice (but not law, although EHO prefer that it’s followed) to use the correct coloured chopping board for what ever it is you’re preparing.

I’d accidentally picked up the wrong coloured chopping board, think along the lines of using a brown chopping board, which is supposed to be used for vegetables, instead of a green one which is for salad items and fruit. I took food safety seriously so this was a genuine mistake and the chopping board was clean and sanitised before use so it wasn’t a total health hazard, just not considered best practice. However my manager noticed and hit the roof, gave me a right dressing down and made me feel really small and stupid in front of the rest of the team to the point I was in in tears, partly from being absolutely mortified by my error and partly due to the embarrassment of being told off like that in front of everyone. Ended up carrying on with my task using the correct board in tears whilst telling everyone I was fine.

I have managerial responsibilities in my role now and would never dream of dealing with an issue like that the way my manager at the time did with me. It needs correcting for sure, but you can do that without humiliating and demoralising a staff member in front of everyone. Especially when in the grand scheme of things it really wasn’t that big of a deal.

I think it’s Gabbana

Being too friendly, apparently it’s frowned upon. I work with the NHS

On my first day in an NHS role, I was asked into the office at the end of my first shift for "feedback". I was bollocked for not being "chatty" enough. Chatty in the staff room during our break. All the other staff were talking about their sex lives. So I was told off for not discussing my sex life on my first day with people I do not know.
Oh, and they were all women. It was not pervy men.

First month into a new job, government dept with too many managers each vying to make their mark.
I came in a few minutes late, no more than 5, saw my line manager who told me I was needed to work in the document centre. I accepted, took off my coat and went to put my phone on charge behind the desk.
The document centre is a secure room with access given to only a select few. The rules are strictly no phones or recording equipment.
Roughly 2 hours in, a senior manager comes in with a face like a smacked arse, and calls for myself and a colleague. She marches us into a meeting room, and starts going off how disappointed she was in us, how its not the behaviour she expected from people at the beginning of their employment, and was going really quite deep. She then says how its very clear no mobiles are allowed so what on earth made us think we could bring them in.
Well, I knew for a fact I didn't have mine on me so switched off, knowing she was veey much mistaken.
Well, she noticed I wasn't paying her any mind and this pissed her off even more.
I tried to explain it was impossible for me to do what she was accusing me of, and she started screaming how she had witnesses.
I shrugged my shoulders, said "if you say so".
Later I went to my line manager and asked him what that was about, he said she does it to all new starters, finds something to yell about ao they know their place.
I was utterly aghast, what a load of bullshit.

ODFOD😵

Oooos that was for @Duckiewasthefirstniceguy. Give it a rest !

I once retweeted something mildly uncomplimentary about the Taliban (whom at that time were in the news for doing very unsavoury things) on my personal Twitter account. I was summoned by HR and told to take it down because it might offend someone.

I was on placement as an ODP, and a surgeon asked to borrow scissors, so I handed him mine. He spent a further 2 ops with them in his pocket. I asked for them back at the end of the day, and he happily obliged.
I was bollocked by my mentor for asking for them back. Apparently, I should have let him keep them.

I think anyone that has done any sort of AHP course will have similar stories from when they have been on placement.

I was told off for logging off at my correct finish time every day.

Apparently I should have been logging off at different times each day whereas logging off at the correct time showed that I was clockwatching. Of course, nothing was ever said about me logging on 45mins early every day.

That fact I travelled on public transport and had to make sure I could get my hourly bus was totally irrelevant.

WFH and then early retirement were the best things that happened to me.🙂

I had somone I worked in an office with she bought some cream from an upmarket shop I cannot remember but she wanted to return it I offered to ring the shop up on her behalf & she would take the product back. Next thing I know she has reported me to the manager at work saying I made her go back to the shop. I was gobsmacked didn’t understand 1) why the manager at work was involved 2) how can I ‘make’ an adult women return something that she didn’t want.3) the other person was with me whilst I was on the phone & gave permission for me to call the shop Didn’t stay there that long. It was batshit.

Sitting down on a chair....my boss was a power hungry knob head.