'We had to pay fifty cents to use a K-Cup': 30+ Jobs with silly rules that drive the workers crazy

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 18, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

These people have the strangest rules at their jobs, from bosses who limit their water intake to one guy who needs to email someone just to find a pen. As they shared to r/AskReddit, these people answered: "What's the most ridiculous rule in your place of work?" 

Every job has its own rules, and when you're told them on the first day, you'll probably think some of them are so inane. As some people shared, jobs will think of the most highly specific rules imaginable in order to prevent employees from slacking off. Some people wrote in about their boss's measures to stop them from using the bathroom so much — one boss even limited his workers to a draconian two glasses of water per day. 

Check out these wild ways bosses have made their offices a much dumber place to work. Then, check out these homeowners, who shared their HOA horror stories in this video. 

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  • 01
    Font - What's the most ridiculous rule in your place of work?
    via u/danbrownskin
  • 02
    Font - CoolioDaggett I'm a teacher, so I have a million stupid rules I have to follow. But the worst one is that my performance evaluation is based on student improvement on the STAR literacy test. I teach wood shop.
    via u/CoolioDaggett
  • 03
    Font - redemption_songs At my old job, HR held a meeting to tell us that there was too much swearing on the sales floor. Someone raised their hand and pointed out that swearing is very common in our industry and that is the way that our customers speak. HR later sent out a memo explaining that swearing should be limited to conversations with clients. It was amazing.
    via u/redemption_songs
  • 04
    Font - aiueo6 What you can get at cafeteria's salad bar: TWO cherry tomatoes TWO baby corns THREE broccolis Cafeteria workers will legit come after you, if you take more than this.
    via u/aiueo6
  • 05
    Gesture - gshell If you are stuck in traffic on the way to work, you must email the CEO. Phone calls and texts are not permitted, only email.
    via u/gshell
  • 06
    Font - rando_schmuck We got a new vacation policy where you could take UNLIMITED time off. When he announced it, we looked at the big boss like he had a d growing out of his forehead; all the while he assured us that if we wanted vacation, to take it. Really! A little bit afterward, he changed it to "discretionary" time off meaning that if your boss approved it, it was ok. Then it changed to "160 hours should be the max and if you go over 200 hours then you probably don't need to work here."
    via u/rando_schmuck
  • 07
    Font - "mi XOAN I used to work at a place in which my boss implemented a no more than 2 glasses a day water policy. What a c. I ignored this rule and complained directly to our CEO and the matter ended later that day. What was weird though was the majority of people actually followed the rule and some even shopped me up to HR about 'breaking the rules'. I left not long after that because not only was my boss a be , but if my colleagues were going to hr over me drinking water, then I obviously co
    via u/XOAN
  • 08
    Font - jamaidens Had a workplace time our bathroom breaks and deduct them from our allotted 15 minute breaks or lunch. We had to go see the office manager to get a key to open the restroom. As soon as we left his office he would start a timer... when you got back he would stop the timer and tell you how much time you needed to deduct from your lunch or next break. They watched our breaks like a hawk. Also, if you made a mistake they would stand over you and time you while you fixed it and deduct
    via u/jamaidens
  • 09
    Font - You couldn't bring anything "that smells" for lunch and they had no way of heating anything up. I worked out my contract and split.
    via u/jamaidens
  • 10
    Rectangle - McNuggetsB Business casual dress code even when i work at home. (They skype me to check)
    via u/McNuggetsB****
  • 11
    Font - bondsman333 Dress code policy is just dumb at my work. Different positions have different requirements. Even though we all work in the same office. My favorite rule though is the one on shorts. We can wear shorts on Fridays between memorial day and labor day. However the shorts can't have pockets on the side. It was written to discourage ratty cargo shorts. But the way in which it is written allows me to wear gym shorts. So I do.
    via u/bondsman333
  • 12
    Font - Monkeytuesday Once worked at a place where some miniboss decided that since UPS trucks don't turn left, we shouldn't either. I don't know or care how well that worked out for UPS, but this was a god d ed ambulance company with a 911 contract. I will turn left if and when I f ng need to turn left.
    via u/Monkeytuesday
  • 13
    Font - JennLegend3 Not my current job but I used to work for some crazy people. • you had to stand in a specific area while eating so they could see you on the camera • don't talk to customers longer than 3 minutes unless you're making a big sale, even then, keep it short • answer the phone within 2 rings, keep the conversation to less than 30 seconds
    via u/JennLegend3
  • 14
    Font - • you can't talk to your co workers outside of work • you can't talk to your co workers while at work, even if there was not a single customer in the store I'm sure there's more I just can't think of right now.
    via u/JennLegend3
  • 15
    Font - Historiun Old job of mine in a warehouse. Our stations were pretty far apart, so when we'd listen to music we'd all usually have our own stuff playing. Not a problem since you could barely hear the neighbors music. Well, the CEO didn't like hearing multiple songs when walking through the warehouse. He made a rule that we all either had to listen to the same music, or none at all.
    via u/Historiun
  • 16
    Font - Nicolas Cage4eva I once needed a pen. Figured this was a reasonable ask. Went to the supply closet on my floor, which was locked. Asked the floor's admin, she told me to go to the main supply room in the basement. Went to the basement and explained my situation of needing a pen. They told me all requests for supplies must be approved by my department head. Problem is, being new, I'd never met my department head. She also worked in San Francisco (I worked in Milwaukee), so I needed to send
    via u/NicolasCage4eva
  • 17
    Font - drvinaymuc If you had to take a leave on monday or friday so that you have an extended weekend of 3 days instead of 2, it was counted as 3 days leave (counting in saturday and sunday). Deal with that! EDIT: This was in a small private company in India dealing with medical writing.
    via u/drvinaymuc
  • 18
    Font - Whosyabobby If you are 1 min late it is a tardy. If you take a half day nothing goes on your record. I was told to just take a half day if you are going to be late because they straight up fire you for tardies. Also if you clock out early it is a tardy. If you have to go to the doctor on lunch break and it is going to take and hour and ten min, take the rest of the day off. Weird.
    via u/Whosyabobby
  • 19
    Font - Haligan74 Fireman...our Risk Management department decided long ago that poles were too risky for us. So we use the stairs. We have poles. Anyway, now the newest rule is no free weights....as in NO free weights to work out, stay fit. Go into burning high rise- absolutely, walk around the station carrying 40lb dumbells...too risky
    via u/Haligan74
  • 20
    Font - PhantomTaco84 We aren't allowed to wear jackets unless they are purchased from the resort gift shop with the hotel name logo on it. They are $50+ and we don't get reimbursed, but it's the price you pay to stay warm in the cold months.
    via u/PhantomTaco84
  • 21
    Font - khendron Former job: There was trouble when I (officially) moved desks and my new desk had a phone with call display. Apparently call display phones were allowed for people at a certain pay level. Your pay level also governed the height of your cubicle walls. My manager's solution was to promote me. Another former job: We were mandated to work on a engineering related research project outside of work hours, because a responsible engineer always gives back to the engineering community. I c
    via u/khendron
  • 22
    Font - os quartpint We have to do all of our paperwork at least three times. There is a copy of it in our personal folders, a copy online, and a copy in our store folders. Not only does it waste time and paper, but forgetting to do one has gotten people fired. They did the other two identical pieces of paperwork confirming that yes, they did take out the trash and yes, they did check the store voicemail, but how dare they forget to do the third piece of identical paperwork. Our weekly visits fro
    via u/quartpint
  • 23
    Font - throwaWaY2113232444 · My workplace doesn't let you use the word "problems". Instead, we have to say "challenges" if something is wrong. As a problem is a negative word, and challenges promotes the fact that there is room to fix said problem...
    via u/throwaWaY2113232444
  • 24
    Font - os rhino43grr All the extra toilet paper in the building has to stay in a single closet where it can be overseen by the toilet paper queen. I heard her shrieking the other day when she discovered someone had "hoarded" one spare roll of toilet paper upstairs so the people who work upstairs wouldn't have to walk down multiple flights of stairs when the toilet paper ran out. EDIT: It's the cheapest, 1-ply toilet paper available on the giant rolls that only fit in the special dispensers. I ca
    via u/rhino43grr
  • 25
    Font - Im_A_Boozehound Many years ago I was a vacuum cleaner salesman. There were songs about this particular brand of vacuum cleaner and how awesome it was. Every morning, we had to sing these songs as a group. In fairness, it was a pretty quality item. EDIT: It was Kirby. Didn't mean to be subversive, just didn't think anybody would care.
    via u/Im_A_Boozehound
  • 26
    Font - TypewriterKey When I was in the military I saw a buddy of mine sitting outside crying. I went and consoled him best as I could - apparently he was just depressed and unhappy. After he was feeling a bit better I went to go and find someone to tell them what was happening. They knew. In fact, he had been crying so much lately that they had instituted a 'no crying at your desk' policy - which is why he was outside.
    via u/TypewriterKey
  • 27
    Font - themikegman Can't have my hands in my pockets.
    via u/themikegman
  • 28
    Font - ImJustSo I drive valet. The company handbook says you're never allowed to back up. Ever. You absolutely cannot do the job without reverse. It's impossible. It's in there because of liability and our insurance policy. This way it can always be the valets fault if an accident occurs ever.
    via u/ImJustSo
  • 29
    Font - AlkorCineast We can't ask others if they want to come grab a coffee in the break room.
    via u/AlkorCineast
  • 30
    Font - ▸ [deleted] No accusing other staff members of being witches. (Yeah, it happened so we had to make a rule. I run a hostel in Uganda.)
    via u/deleted
  • 31
    Font - FuffyKitty It's not like this any more, but for a while they attempted to have a dress code. Guys had to wear collared shirts, but "Hawaiian" style shirts were totally acceptable. You could not wear jean shorts, but jean overall shorts were ok. I got sent home one day because my shorts weren't finger-tip length. We were tech support... no one EVER saw us, that was the best part.
    via u/FuffyKitty
  • 32
    Font - Jimmy_Reese1984 I used to work for a large bank. We had an attendance policy that was so complicated it actually created an incentive for employees to take an entire day off rather than be tardy too often.
    via u/Jimmy_Reese1984
  • 33
    Font - notsofastandy I don't know if it's standard, but I worked at a place where HR wasn't allow to tell us if someone was fired. It was a big enough place that you might not immediately realize someone had left and, when you found out, you weren't supposed to ask why. So, if you wanted to know if they were fired, you asked, "Was there cake?" Which was to say that, if the person had retired or left pleasantly after a number of years, they would be given a party with cake. If they were fired, no
    via u/notsofastandy
  • 34
    Font - "I haven't seen Brian for some time." "Brian is no longer with us." "Brian no longer works here." ."Was there cake?"
    via u/notsofastandy
  • 35
    Font - staydizzycauseilike. We have a lock on the first aid kits. So if you just need a band aid for a cut, you have to get the key from the Safety guy. Which in turn makes it a " reportable accident" with mountains of paperwork and investigations. We use an unbelievable amount of duct tape now.
    via u/staydizzycauseilike
  • 36
    Font - AKOTEL WHA FranklintheTMNT Do not put half used sweeteners back in the sweeter tray. Throw them away. I work with adults.
    via u/FranklintheTMNT
  • 37
    Font - Poison-Song There was an issue where there was too much 'socializing' going on on the factory floor, particularly when people were working while sitting down (false - skewed supervisor perception), so they made everybody stand. When that presented ergonomics problems, they brought in these weird chairs that made you sit at a slant, had no backs, and no wheels, so they wouldn't cause "distractions." No part of it made any sense.
    via u/Poison-Song
  • 38
    Cheezburger Image 9799558912
    via u/727Super27
  • 39
    Cheezburger Image 9799558400
    via u/727Super27
  • 40
    Cheezburger Image 9799559168
    via u/deleted
  • 41
    Cheezburger Image 9799558144
    via u/jenroberts
  • 42
    Cheezburger Image 9799558656
    via u/johndoenumber2

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