Toxic Boss Enforces Mandatory Daily Morning Meetings, Forces Workers to Stand

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Dec 31, 2023 6:00 PM EST

I understand the thinking behind standing desks. They improve your posture, get your blood flowing, and counteract the negative effects of sitting for too long. If you're into it, I'm all for it. But the thing about those is that they're usually optional. If you want to stand, you can, but nobody's making you. When I worked in the service industry I had to stand for the whole shift, which is par for the course for those kinds of jobs. But I was constantly moving, engaged, and was provided with a back-saving standing mat. If I was forced to stand at my office job, my days would be numbered. 

That's why this recent Reddit post ruffled so many feathers, as it was the perfect storm of toxic workplace practices. Read on for the full horror story and be glad you don't work there too. 

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  • 01
    r/antiwork u/Classic-Dog8399 - 8h Boss wants us to have an everyday, mandatory morning. Does he just want us all to quit?
    via u/Classic-Dog8399
  • 02
    I simply cannot think of a faster way to make everyone quit. He wants us to meet TWO HOURS EARLY at 8am and make us stand (no chairs to sit because that's for 'lazy' workers!) through a meeting about how our sales are. We had the first one today. It was just him saying how the store hit the twenty million dollar goal this year. That's cool, but we're still being paid 17 an hour. Glad the CEO is doing well.
    via u/Classic-Dog8399
  • 03
    My coworkers and I were just expressionless and exhausted by the whole thing. Tell me, what's an even faster way to make us to quit? I'll give him some recommendations!
    via u/Classic-Dog8399
  • 04
    EDIT: Yes, he's paying. This was the first day he did this. I am almost certain this idea of his will fall through, but fun to complain about. Yes, I am finding a new job, there were other things leading up to my departure but this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm overwhelmed by comments on here so I'm going to mute this, but thank you for the mutual hatred of this idea! My coworkers were not hating it as much as me and I felt insane.
    via u/Classic-Dog8399
  • 05
    Temporary-Earth9110. 7h You had to be there two hours early to stand and listen to how well the CEO is doing? Holy ! Does that two hours count as over time? Because if you work 8 hour shifts 5 days a week that's 10 hours of overtime every week or are they letting you off work 2 hours earlier? Either way I bet once they pay everyone there the overtime or let them leave two hours early those meetings will shut their selves down.
    via u/Temporary-Earth9110
  • 06
    TShara_Q. 6h Somehow the people who do this don't like to make it paid. Gee, I wonder why. But if it's not paid, OP has no need to show up. Everyone should clock in when they get there for the meeting.
    via u/TShara_Q
  • 07
    FactualStatue • 7h ● (edit this) "If the company's making sooooo much money, shouldn't we reinvest into the company by increasing the pay for all employees?"
    via u/FactualStatue
  • 08
    soundofthecolorblue • 6h shouldn't we reinvest into the company by Buying chairs?
    via u/soundofthecolorblue
  • 09
    fighttodie 8h ● Holy this is every morning? Sounds like he's trying to make a name for himself and can't think of a good way how
    via u/fighttodie
  • 10
    skillz7930. 7h "Stand-up meetings" is one of the recent buzz words that make my eyeballs itch. Dumb to begin with but I think the general principle is everyone is supposed to stay standing to keep them short and limited to important info. TWO HOURS definitely would not qualify.
    via u/skillz7930
  • 11
    Squibit314. 6h It's out of the Agile methodology (circa 2001). They're not to be longer than 15 minutes and cover the same three topics everyday. It was developed specifically for software development. It's really only a buzz word for areas beyond that. A lot of organizations see the benefits of agile/ scum project management and jump to it, when in reality it's not a methodology for all projects. They're beneficial in the context of what they were designed for. A sales meeting is going to lead
    via u/Squibit314
  • 12
    KilroyLeges 4h ● This is correct. I'm in a software company and as a sales guy get included in some "standing" meetings. The ones I attend are related to specific client projects, or pending customer proposals, for accounts I support. They are 15 minutes, same time daily, with an end date. People drop in if they can, there are specified topics. If no one has updates, we drop in like 5 minutes. Oh, and we all are remote so it is done on Teams. It's ridiculous to use outside that environment.
    via u/KilroyLeges
  • 13
    Particular_Ad_4927. 7h Worked for a company (IT) that wanted morning stand ups to plan everyone's daily workload and tasks. It worked for a while but became a nuisance as the day never went as planned.
    via u/Particular_Ad_4927
  • 14
    Jicand • 6h ● That sucks, but I'd take the 10 hours of overtime every week. If you're not clocking in that is wage theft
    via u/Jicand
  • 15
    Difficulty Plane • 7h As long as you're getting paid for the extra time, just grin and bear it. He'll eventually realize they're not worth the extra time and money.
    via u/Difficulty_Plane
  • 16
    EatLard 7h ● Someone read a business book last week that suggested this and had the bright idea to try it.
    via u/EatLard
  • 17
    Reed Ridge 5h ● Meetings for the sake of meetings are a sign of incompetent and ignorant management along with a lack of any leadership.
    via u/ReedRidge

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boss antiwork workplace-stories work stories toxic-workplace toxic boss work coworkers workplace Horrible Bosses Reddit toxic-work-environment
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