'I was instructed to stay at my desk, so I did': Boss orders employees to ‘stay at their desk’ in uniform, company crumbles due to drop in production

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/dc1920 6 hours ago Sit and look pretty instead of doing actual work? Okay! LOC
  • 02
    Font - For the sake of clarity, I'm going to say I work in an industry which is similar to warehousing. Same logic in the grand scheme of things. In my branch, and several surrounding branches, there are only two staff members to keep the place running so we all have casual uniforms; Just a polo shirt and appropriate pants and footwear. I
  • 03
    Font - mainly do administration work and have a team member who works in the back end of things, but I'm capable and willing to jump outside when required of me. Examples of me needing to work in the back would be if we have a huge rush, or if I need to send my team
  • 04
    Font - mate to help at another branch or out on the road to collect stock and I have to fill in for him while he's gone. It's a pretty good set up because working outside really breaks up the monotony of being stuck at a desk all day and it's easy enough to do both parts of the job when I need to.
  • 05
    Font - Some genius in head office decided he wanted to change the uniform for any and all admin staff to something a little more corporate and dressy. I can only describe this uniform as a three piece suit made with the heaviest fabrics known to man. Suddenly I've gone from wearing a polo shirt which is
  • 06
    Font - comfortable and easy to move around in, to wearing a white long sleeved business shirt with a vest, jacket and neckerchief. Complete with a skirt, stockings and a slight heel. I straight up look like a flight attendant working in an industrial warehouse, and can barely lift my arms high enough to hold
  • 07
    Font - my steering wheel on the drive to work. It was a poorly designed uniform and I was so incredibly uncomfortable wearing it; I was very quick to voice my anger. I first mentioned how it is unfair (borderline cruel) to expect staff to wear such a thick and layered uniform
  • 08
    Font - when we live in Australia; particularly in a place known for our consistent high temperatures and harsh sun. I then asked how I would be expected to leave the desk to operate machinery and do heavy lifting in a suit, skirt and heels. I was met with the promise that
  • 09
    Font - anyone working in admin and wearing a corporate uniform would not have to leave their desk to do any back-end work at all. I raised another concern, stating that we did not have enough staff for them to make this particular promise and still maintain our quality of work and hit our deadlines, and was
  • 10
    Font - met with a strong guarantee that I would not have to do any physical work in my day-to-day operations. I was all but ordered to sit at the desk to look appealing for clients and never move from there... Okay then, no problem.
  • 11
    Font - From that point onwards, I followed their instructions. I never left my desk. There would suddenly be long wait times for orders and fulfilments, because my team member was on the road on a job and there was no one on site to continue his work until he got back. If my team member called in sick, I would spend the day pushing back
  • 12
    Font - deadlines with clients which affected our targets and our reputation. Funnily enough, my team mate only started getting sick because I had to have the office aircon on freezing temperatures ke at my so I wouldn't get heats desk. I was honest with clients who had complaints, and explained that I would usually step in to help to make sure
  • 13
    Font - their needs were met but was specifically instructed not to anymore, and then redirected their complaints through to customer service in head office.
  • 14
    Font - After a few months of this I was invited to a meeting with three of my direct managers and a HR representative. They were clearly upset about the drop in productivity and amount of complaints we were receiving. I let them all say their piece before reminding them I raised these concerns to them months ago, and was
  • 15
    Font - merely following instruction given to me which were abundantly clear that I was to take care of admin work at my desk and do nothing else. I let them know my hands were tied, so all I could do was look pretty and placate clients when we inevitably couldn't meet their needs as promised. I suggested hiring more warehousing staff to fill in the
  • 16
    Font - gaps left by the admin staff who were now chained to their desk by their uniform and unable to ease the pressure of the workload like we used to do. I could see that comment definitely hit them right where I wanted it to and they couldn't argue with me for following their instructions, so I was told they would get back to me on a solution moving forward.
  • 17
    Font - Well, here I am at work two weeks later, typing this post while wearing my old polo shirt uniform. I was fully prepared to find another job if their "solution" wasn't reasonable, and maybe I still will look to leave this place. But, I'll take the win for now!
  • 18
    Font - PrestoMagicMan - 6 hr. ago Take this story, redo it in a positive light and put it on your resume. "Successfully lead efforts to improve safety quality and customer satisfaction by working with senior leadership to mitigate gaps I identified in daily operations" Vote Reply Share
  • 19
    Font - Cfwydirk +4.6 hr. ago Maybe will still look? You work for stupid people. Can't hurt to see what's out there. Vote Reply Share
  • 20
    Font - Kementarii +1.6 hr. ago So close to where I worked. My uniform was polo shirt, jeans, steel cap boots in the office. All we had to do was throw on a hi-vis vest and head out the back door if needed to help out.
  • 21
    Font - "Head office" introduced a corporate uniform, but luckily were smart enough not to apply it to anyone who worked at the warehouse sites. Vote Reply Share
  • 22
    Font - dc1920 OP • 6 hr. ago My employer certainly would have been saved a lot of hassle if they were as smart as your employer was! Vote Reply Share
  • 23
    Font - Cautious-Fact2550 4 hr. ago Is it too obvious to guess that head office was in a southern state with a climate much cooler than yours? Been there and we got a "no ties in QLD" rule implemented.
  • 24
    Font - xX8Havok8Xx . 3 hr. ago Seems like your doing 2 people's job and your pay should reflect such Vote Reply Share
  • 25
    Font - dc1920 OP . 3 hr. ago I have asked for a raise but reviews aren't done until September. It'll be their loss if I'm gone before then! Vote Reply Share

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