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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

671 replies

chailatte123 · 16/05/2026 09:27

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

OP posts:
storminabuttercup · 18/05/2026 06:38

1in3willgetcancer · 18/05/2026 03:31

Nobody ever told me that rule! Good grief.

It reminded me of when I was a kid ‘if you’re well enough to watch tv you’re well enough to go to school’

Pineapplewhip · 18/05/2026 06:46

A client told my boss I had sent an email full of spelling mistakes. She went bat shit at me, telling me I'd ruined the company reputation, that I was an embarrassment.

I checked the email. Not one single fucking spelling error.

They were talking about another person; at another company. Never recieved an apology. The woman was a total cunt.

I googled her several years later and saw an article of her, doing full compo face because she had been scammed for tickets to Wimbledon final. Apparently the tickets were bought by her - for a big overseas investor to the company (it was her company). I thought it couldn't have happened to a nicer lady.

GenialHarrietGrouty · 18/05/2026 08:28

CruCru · 17/05/2026 18:27

I used to work in a place where there was another woman about the same age who was also blonde. I used to have bosses who would come up behind me and shout “Fiona. Fiona!” when that was my colleagues name, not mine. Then they would get cross because I would say that my name was XYZ, not Fiona. Because the blonde women in their early twenties were pretty much interchangeable.

I got confused with a colleague regularly by a woman boss, despite the fact that I'm short and fat and white and colleague is tall and slim and black.

ruethewhirl · 18/05/2026 10:37

CruCru · 17/05/2026 18:27

I used to work in a place where there was another woman about the same age who was also blonde. I used to have bosses who would come up behind me and shout “Fiona. Fiona!” when that was my colleagues name, not mine. Then they would get cross because I would say that my name was XYZ, not Fiona. Because the blonde women in their early twenties were pretty much interchangeable.

That reminds me of the boss in The Devil Wears Prada calling both her assistants Emily because she couldn't possibly be expected to remember both her assistants' names... 😄

CruCru · 18/05/2026 10:40

GenialHarrietGrouty · 18/05/2026 08:28

I got confused with a colleague regularly by a woman boss, despite the fact that I'm short and fat and white and colleague is tall and slim and black.

Edited

I feel your pain!

I used to work in the same office as a women with the same first name and a rhyming surname (so Sandra Spoon and Sandra McFune, say). I can’t tell you how often a senior person would come up and talk at me about the other woman’s project and then get cross when I didn’t know what he was talking about. The thing is, these were people who knew us, we’d worked there years.

CinnamonBuns67 · 18/05/2026 10:53

I wanted to leave work on time instead of staying late (wasn't going to be paid for the extra time spent in office) 😱 this made me apparently "not a team player"

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 18/05/2026 13:33

CinnamonBuns67 · 18/05/2026 10:53

I wanted to leave work on time instead of staying late (wasn't going to be paid for the extra time spent in office) 😱 this made me apparently "not a team player"

Actually I understand that - it is your right of course to leave the work to others because your contracted hours are completed, and I’m sure you had very important commitments.

It just means that people won’t go out of their way to help you if you need it.

I once had to work until 11.00 pm because a team member who was slightly more senior than me decided he couldn’t be arsed to hang around and complete the urgent tasks.

It was okay though as I no longer helped him any more than I actually had to l

SpanThatWorld · 18/05/2026 14:07

Headteacher was "appalled" that child X had gone to another school and what did I have to say for myself

"Child X was never on my caseload. I don't know who they are"

It was also appalling that Child Y had gone to this other school last year. Why had this happened?

"Last year I wasn't working here."

Converse4Ever · 18/05/2026 15:08

I had a temping job in the 90s. Money was dreadful, as was the job. The office manager kept saying he couldn’t give me a permanent job as I would probably have a baby (I was 23 and no plans to do that).
I then got a permanent job, it paid 3 times what I was getting there and was what I wanted to do. Office Manager went mad as I was ‘disloyal’ and how dare I go for an interview, I offered to leave there and then but he needed me too much.

IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece · 18/05/2026 16:08

For answering the phone to my boss. I was a nanny and it was a test to see if I used my phone at work. She bollocked me when she got home, so I quit. She was a fucking knob generally though

shellyleppard · 18/05/2026 16:26

I was a carer for a lovely elderly lady who had problems with eating and drinking. Needed help with feeding and thickened fluids. Had been there for six months when her daughter decided I was making her mother's coffee wrong. Had a right go at me, asking who trained me.....the previous lady did who I replaced!!!! I quit soon after lol

SamphiretheTervosaur · 18/05/2026 16:33

ArchieStar · 16/05/2026 14:54

Ex college teacher here. I was told I would face a disciplinary for not forcing one of students to take her hoodie off. Doing so would have reveal her self harm cuts and scars to her classmates. I said bring on the disciplinary if that’s the case because im
not forcing anyone to do anything.

Aye! That too! Made worse because our safeguarding lead 'couldn't possibly comment'

Same student occasionally preferred to take my lesson lying across 3 chairs, tucked under the table. Weird, probably uncomfortable, but she always answered questions, was engaged in the class. She said it helped her block the noises in her head, I had it all written up, shared with same safeguarding lead

And got right royally keel hauled for letting students sleep during my class

Student got straight As and is currently working on her PhD, she grew put of the migraines that were the cause of some of her teen issues

SMT were abominable. And this wasn't even why I left!

Verv · 18/05/2026 16:36

ruethewhirl · 16/05/2026 09:46

So you don't think it's rude to comment on people's appearances at work? Would you comment on a male colleague's appearance, just out of interest?

Our accountant wore a floral shirt to work once and has had the office nickname "Buffalo Phil" ever since.

Warmlight1 · 18/05/2026 16:38

Verv · 18/05/2026 16:36

Our accountant wore a floral shirt to work once and has had the office nickname "Buffalo Phil" ever since.

Always think the colours allowed for men are very dull.

IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece · 18/05/2026 16:50

Verv · 18/05/2026 16:36

Our accountant wore a floral shirt to work once and has had the office nickname "Buffalo Phil" ever since.

Hah! I worked for a small company who got on famously well, the Junior Associate went to New York on holiday and first day back came in wearing an NYC baseball cap and Jacket and within the hour had become Delilah (as in Hey there Delilah what's it like in New York City...) and he stayed that way working himself up through the company for the next 5 years. When he left and announced his new role on LinkedIn, there was a flurry of "Congratulations D!" messages 😁

henlake7 · 18/05/2026 17:00

I was once told off for not following a written order....that didnt exist!
The person in question wrote the order and backdated it to make it look like I had ignored it.😡 (needless to everybody started taking photos of this particular persons orders so we were covered in the future).

oh, also I really hate it when you get told 'make time'. I mean sure....let me just hop in my time machine.🙄

CustardySergeant · 18/05/2026 17:11

RaraRachael · 16/05/2026 09:52

As a teacher I got told off for telling the class that Vesuvius is in the Italian mainland.
A parent had phoned up to complain because, "It's on sn island" 🙄

How could you have got told off for giving accurate information?

TheWytch · 18/05/2026 17:41

iamnotalemon · 16/05/2026 09:57

I hole punched documents in the wrong place apparently and was told via email.

Oh I got into trouble for that one in my first office role.

They weren't lined up neatly enough.

AnneElliott · 18/05/2026 18:23

I got told off for sorting out an issue with a file which I’d been alerted to. Not sorting it could have resulted in a JR for our Gov Department but my boss told me off as ‘it wasn’t my job’ and ‘I wasn’t employed to think for myself’. Luckily I moved to a different section not long after.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 18/05/2026 19:23

SamphiretheTervosaur · 18/05/2026 16:33

Aye! That too! Made worse because our safeguarding lead 'couldn't possibly comment'

Same student occasionally preferred to take my lesson lying across 3 chairs, tucked under the table. Weird, probably uncomfortable, but she always answered questions, was engaged in the class. She said it helped her block the noises in her head, I had it all written up, shared with same safeguarding lead

And got right royally keel hauled for letting students sleep during my class

Student got straight As and is currently working on her PhD, she grew put of the migraines that were the cause of some of her teen issues

SMT were abominable. And this wasn't even why I left!

Well done you for giving your student the support she needed, @SamphiretheTervosaur - I’m just sorry your SMT were such unsupportive arseholes. I hope it is a consolation for you that that student probably remembers you very fondly for how well you treated them.

Auburngal · 19/05/2026 18:33

Today I was washing my own teaspoon from home which I used to eat a yoghurt.

A manager asked me why I’m I taking one of the work spoons home?

Warmlight1 · 19/05/2026 19:43

Auburngal · 19/05/2026 18:33

Today I was washing my own teaspoon from home which I used to eat a yoghurt.

A manager asked me why I’m I taking one of the work spoons home?

Could it be an excuse to talk to you?

XenoBitch · 19/05/2026 19:47

Warmlight1 · 19/05/2026 19:43

Could it be an excuse to talk to you?

Nah, some managers are just absolute cunts. Mine was one.
I picked up some strawberries from Tesco (so had the Tesco branding on) and ate them in work. He saw, and demanded to see my receipt for them because he was basically accusing me of stealing them from the workplace.... which was a hospital. Granted, I was a porter and the department I was in is called 'Hotel Services' and that also covers catering. But they get all food from a particular supplier, not Tesco. And they never bought strawberries either.

Honestly, I could write a book about my ex boss. He was awful.

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 19/05/2026 19:51

Warmlight1 · 19/05/2026 19:43

Could it be an excuse to talk to you?

Whoa that is quite the leap. You’ve been reading crappy romance novels haven’t you? 🤣

jmh740 · 19/05/2026 19:55

I asked the pupil i supported if he had his own advent calendar or shared with siblings. Mum complained then I got dragged into the office for a talking too

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