'I had a boss who expected me to lay out his lunch': Employees share the most absurd rules they had to follow at work

Author image for Isabella Penn
Isabella Penn
Sep 25, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Every workplace has its quirks, rules, and unspoken codes. Some are logical, some are annoying, and some are just absurd. Often, you don't realize the weird little rules until you've already started the job, and by then, you're stuck navigating a maze of idiosyncrasies while trying not to look like the new person.

One former employee shared a story from a college call center job that perfectly illustrates the joy and frustration of absurd workplace rules. In this office, soda cans were banned at desks. The manager was obsessed with enforcing the policy, sending memos, holding team meetings, and requiring employees to sign documents promising to comply. 

But this employee and a group of friends found a way to make work fun. They bought clickers that sounded like soda cans opening and coordinated "soda raids" to drive the manager insane. The clicker would send her running across the call center in search of phantom cans, only to fall for the prank again and again. When the employee finally left the job, they capped it off with a real soda pop right on her desk.

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  • This story kicks off a thread where employees share some of the most ridiculous rules they’ve ever had to follow, proving that work can be as absurd as it is frustrating.

  • Cheezburger Image 10556697344
    via Redd Francisco For Unsplash+

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.


     

  • "What’s the most absurd “rule” you had to follow at work?"

    I had a call center job in college that didn't allow cans of soda at the desks. They worried about spilling.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • I had a manager that I hated. She was like the soda . I brought in a clicker that sounded just like you were popping a can of soda.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • I would wait till it's pretty quiet... then click. She would pop her head up like something out of wack-a-mole.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • I would wait till she sat down and did it again. She would walk around looking for soda cans on the desks. It drove her insane.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • I bought a couple of more and gave them to friends, and we would coordinate the clicks or do it in rotation when she was at one
    via False_Interaction_86
  • end of the center there would be a click from the other end. She would all but run to that side looking for the culprit.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • She even convinced the center manager to send out a reminder memo, then team meetings where we had to sign a document stating that we wouldn't have open soda cans at our desks.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • We waited to lull her into a false sense of security, about a week, then started all over!!! It was glorious.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • When I left, I walked past her, I clicked in her ear and tossed it on her desk and then popped a real soda and drank it sitting on her desk
    via False_Interaction_86
  • and watched her turn purple with rage!!! It was the most fun I ever had at a job.
    via False_Interaction_86
  • FambaiZvakanaka In one of my office jobs, instead of casual Friday, we had formal Friday - full suit and tie. In general, there were also rules around what you could wear through the week -
    via FambaiZvakanaka
  • only black/charcoal suits (no pin stripes); basic white or light blue shirts only (no patterns); no cuff links; no watches/jewellery; plain black leather shoes (with laces - no slip-ons
    via FambaiZvakanaka
  • allowed); plain ties (to be worn if a client was on the floor). We also had to answer our desk phones within three rings. What a weird place it was...
    via FambaiZvakanaka
  • Cheezburger Image 10556697088
    via Arlington Research For Unsplash+
  • Immediate Flow_2025 I worked for a truly micromanaging boss who would look through your receipts to check everything was in order. This was an interior store and there
    via Immediate_Flow_2025
  • would be evenings with few to no customers and few receipts was equivalent to no work done and a "serious talk" about selling more. You know the type of boss where you get a "talk" no matter what. If it was a quiet.
    via Immediate_Flow_2025
  • evening and you restock and clean the store, you should be better on sales. Bur if you had a busy evening with a lot of sales you should be better at restocking and cleaning. When I finally could quit the job I met this boss again and
    via Immediate_Flow_2025
  • when asked if I missed the work space I blurred out a | really hard NO!
    via Immediate_Flow_2025
  • pizzasauce85 I had to clock in and spend. the first 10-15 minutes of each shift talking with this obnoxious woman Tina. She worked in dairy while I worked grocery stock crew.
    via pizzasauce85
  • She would throw baby fits that I wouldn't talk to her every day and was jealous that I was so open and friendly with my fellow grocery stockers. She was in her forties, I was early twenties and we had nothing in common except
    via pizzasauce85
  • she had spent a year living in my home town's nearby military base. I tried to talk about the town but she kept insisting I was lying about how much the town grew since she had been there. She said I lied about the high school I went to (it was built
    via pizzasauce85
  • in the late 90s so of course it wasn't there in the 80s.) She said I was lying about there being a mall (it was built in the 70s and is still there to this day.) She kept saying I was lying about what colors I dyed my hair. She belittled me for being tall and slender while she was short and
    via pizzasauce85
  • chubby. She always criticized my clothing choices (like "huh? Pink is an old choice for a belt, why don't you ever act normal and wear black or brown???) She also hated. that the guys and I in the stock crew grew so close and had always ignored her (they were young dudes in their
    via pizzasauce85
  • 20s and got tired of her rudeness and lack of nice qualities.) She hated that the stock crew would all get pizzas for lunch and "exclude" her. Her lunch time was at a different time than ours and we each bought our own pizza so she could have bought her own pizza from
    via pizzasauce85
  • the dominos down the street like we did. The issues were all annoying and minor but not enough for anything to be done. She also is one of those people who can't talk AND work at the same time and she would block you from
    via pizzasauce85
  • doing your stocking if she came to your area. Plus she refused to help with unloading/downstacking trucks so why would the stock crew want to be around her lazy self???
    via pizzasauce85
  • Management got tired of her complaining about me so they demanded I socialize with her. They tried to force me to invite her to do stuff outside of work but when they couldn't, they altered my schedule to have "Tina time" where for the first 15 minutes
    via pizzasauce85
  • of my shift, I had to go to her section and make small talk. I hated it but it was 15 minutes of paid time standing around nodding my head and muttering "that's nice" repeatedly.
    via pizzasauce85
  • brainwash1997 My first job was at a Stop & Shop w/ a Dunkin Donuts inside. Most employees worked with a coffee beside them.
    via brainwash1997
  • One day someone placed their iced coffee on a stack of boxes. Store manager strolled on by and somehow the coffee spilled all over him. Next day, all drinks were banned outside of lunch breaks. Needed to bring in a
    via brainwash1997
  • formal doctors note to even have a sealed water bottle. Only lasted about a month, but that was absurd.
    via brainwash1997
  • Chipchop666 I had a boss who expected me to lay out his lunch like if he went to a restaurant I was a secretary and that wasn't my job i picked up the bag of hot food and dumped it on his lap This was in the late 70's Then I walked out of the office Job lasted 4 hours till lunchtime
    via Chipchop666
  • PhilL77au Our manager's office was just off the break room. He tried to ban us from eating hot chips in the break room because it made him too hungry. After he put his 2 weeks notice in we repeatedly snuck into his office to hide cups of hot chips.
    via PhilL77au

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rules employee work stories job work coworkers i quit policy Office comedy bad bosses funny
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