#1
* Doris used to receive forms by post. She made a copy and filed them in two filing cabinets.
* Forms arrived by fax. She did the same.
* Forms began arriving by email too. She printed 2 copies and filed them.
* The filing system went online and Doris got a scanner to scan in the posted and faxed ones.
I arrived after things had stopped arriving by fax or post. Doris was printing the emailed PDF form twice, scanning it twice, and saving the scanned PDFs separately into two different digital files.
#2
A small company I worked at many years ago would get a cake for birthdays, asking the birthday person what kind of cake they wanted. My bday came around and the receptionist, whose job it was to procure said cake, asked what kind of cake I wanted. I said, "I'm not a big cake fan - Let's shake it up - let's have bagels & cream cheese so everybody can enjoy with their coffee."
She blinked and said, "No, it has to be cake." I ask, "Why?" She replied, "Because thats the way we've always done it."
I laughed and said, "Well, it's my bday and I don't want cake. I want bagels. I think we're safe changing this up." She was so flustered, she had to go ask the boss if it was OK LOL. We had bagels LOL.
#3
But some doctors still do handwritten and it's usually the ones with the absolute worst handwriting.
There are a few in particular who are notorious for how bad the scribbles are.
And it's extra bad because working in this job for as long as a lot of us have, we've gotten used to bad handwriting, so we can usually decipher it. But there are those few Drs whose handwriting is just so horrible that none of us can read it, and it has to be sent back to the store so the store can call the doctor and get clarification.
It's so, so dumb because this could easily be very serious for a patient. Imagine they need .1 mg and it's read as 1 mg. Or they're supposed to take half a tablet daily and it's read as 1 tablet twice a day.
They just need to be made to use escripts, or at least use a scribe who can write better than a chicken having a seizure.
Many workplaces cling to outdated routines with the same enthusiasm a cat has for a warm laptop, insisting things stay exactly as they are because “that’s how we’ve always done it.” This mindset creates unnecessary bottlenecks and obstacles, stifles creativity, and leaves employees wondering why progress is treated like a myth rather than an opportunity.
These rigid systems often start innocently, built decades ago by someone now long gone, yet they survive like a cockroach after the apocalypse. Workers inherit them without questioning, unsure who owns the rulebook or even why it’s considered so sacred. The result is a culture where innovation somehow becomes accidental instead of encouraged, and frustration becomes a standard operating procedure.
#4
"You round by 5s," I insisted.
"NO!" She shouted. "It doesn't matter WHAT you round by, as LONG as you use the SAME NUMBER! I have ALWAYS done it this way, and you don't know what you are talking about just because you are a MAN!"
"... k."
So when I called in the numbers for the weekly sales, they were always way off. The DM got sick of correcting her, and so when the manager was demoted and replaced, I asked, "do I still have to round by 3s?" to the new manager.
"What? No! You round by 5s! Did Laura round by threes??"
"Yeah, I tried to explain to her why that was bad, but she got all pissy about it, so I pick my battles."
We had to redo all the spreadsheets by hand for the current and previous fiscal year to get all the numbers straight. The DM said, "No wonder her numbers were so far off.".
#5
You know, the ones they used to use back in like the 1960's?
We still use those. We. Still. Use. Those.
#6
You know the joke "this call could have been an email?" Hold my beer.. Major retail company in the UK signs with one of our ad agencies who creates the campaign and gets them to agree to contact terms. Ad agency then sets a meeting with another one of our agencies that works on the floor below them, said agency comes up with a cost proposal and walks it upstairs to hand deliver it to the other company team. Company reviews, walks down the stairs to let the team know they approve and the downstairs company writes up an insertion order to then be walked back upstairs for signature and they send a copy via fax to the client and both advertising companies manually enter the information into their respective billing software - which is the same software. Eventually the downstairs ad company prints out an invoice and walks it back upstairs to the sister ad company.
"We've done it this way for 30+ years!" and I reply "Yes but the software you pay an annual license fee to and are manually entering this into at the end has been able to do everything you just described from an online portal for 20 years."
This is part of the world's largest advertising company, accounting for roughly 25% of every dollar spent globally on ads..
Employees quickly learn that suggesting improvements can feel like poking a sleeping dragon. Even simple tweaks, like streamlining forms or updating ancient software, become battles against invisible guardians of tradition. Many give up before trying, deciding it’s safer to follow the old path, even if that path winds through unnecessary spreadsheets, duplicate meetings, and manual tasks.
The Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations says part of the issue lies in fear; the fear of risk, change, or admitting that a process no longer serves its purpose. Some managers associate updates with potential failure, preferring predictable inefficiency over potentially uncertain improvement. This resistance lets outdated practices thrive.
#7
One of the employees followed me around and insisted I couldn't make any changes because "we've always done it that way"
Eventually, I got annoyed and told a whole room full of employees that "always doing it that way" was the reason they were failing miserably.
#8
#9
This was in an AV team of a university IT department which had to track a lot of expensive equipment and they wondered why they kept losing stuff. I tried to get them to implement a digital way of doing it, got a free trial with a really good system, taught them all how to use it.
Didn’t last a week till they were back to the old ways.
I quit shortly after.
Another reason workplaces resist change is comfort. Familiar procedures, no matter how clunky, feel reliable to leadership who’ve built their careers around them. Updating workflows might mean learning new tools, revising responsibilities, or acknowledging blind spots. Harvard Business School says that, for some, that’s uncomfortable, so they cling to stability, even when it’s slowing everything (and everyone) down.
But employees aren’t powerless. Challenging outdated processes starts with curiosity and evidence. Simply asking why a procedure exists often reveals there’s no real reason. Clearly demonstrating how a small improvement saves time or reduces errors can shift perspectives. The prospect of change also lands better when it’s supported by data, patience, and empathy, instead of confrontation or frustration.
#10
This had been going on for years.
#11
#12
Employees can also build allies by sharing benefits clearly; things like less repetitive work, faster results, fewer headaches. Showing how change truly improves everyone’s day (not just yours) often helps break down resistance to it. People actually respond better when solutions feel collaborative rather than imposed, and small wins can create a momentum that eventually cracks the “we’ve always done it that way” wall.
Storytelling helps too. Sharing examples from other teams or companies often normalizes the idea that innovation is healthy. When leadership sees real-world proof of successful change, fear actually shrinks. Encouraging experimentation and treating mistakes as learning opportunities can gradually transform workplaces from stagnant systems into adaptable, resilient spaces.
#13
#14
My boss will email me. Print the email and put it in my in box. Then call me to tell me to check my email.
#15
The software we used already had digital approval built in and the manager literally sat ten feet away, but any time someone suggested changing it the answer was “this is how audit likes it”.
Audit had changed platforms years earlier and didn’t care anymore. We were wasting hours every week shuffling paper for a rule nobody was actually enforcing.
In the end, breaking outdated processes isn’t about rebellion, it’s about growth. Workplaces that welcome change empower employees, boost efficiency, and create cultures where curiosity thrives. Challenging old habits can feel daunting, but every improvement begins with someone asking, “Does this still make sense?”.
What do you think of the persistent procedures and processes netizens shared in this list? Upvote the ones you found most ridiculous and feel free to leave a comment if you can relate!
#16
Now there are certain regulations we have to follow to ensure whatever is applied is safe and has a certain time interval. Well yesterday I just found out that a certain organic fertilizer was applied and I didn’t even have the proper documents showing the product was safe. That product was applied beginning of November and was harvested 4 days later.
I was like YOU ARE KIDDING ME.WHO is making the calls?! Welp the owner was. And the gal training me said “that’s just how things are here. You can’t keep getting pissed off when something new like this happens”
Uhhhh yes I can. God forbid we run into a recall situation or audit. Because we would be in trouble. But yeah sure. Keep doing it like this.
#17
I routinely come across things that don't make sense, will not work, and/or are against code (the law). When calling out contractors on these things, I often hear, "that's how we always do it." I respond by saying just because they did it that way doesn't make it correct.
There is one contractor that has been a thorn in my side for a while now. For every project, they send the developer a list of "qualifications". It's basically a list of grievances. The items are either things they just don't want to do or things that they say are wrong on our drawings that really aren't wrong. One of their guys in particular has a knack for misinterpreting code and then trying to throw us under the bus like we did something wrong. I often respond to these lists with, "that code section doesn't even apply to this project."
This wouldn't be that big of a deal except that the building inspector will stop construction if it doesn't match the approved drawings. Then the developer will tell us we need to change our drawings to match what was built. Instead of telling the contractor to fix his mistakes. Then they get mad at me for charging them money for changing their drawings. Even worse when I say I can't change the drawings because what they built won't work.
#18
#19
Yeah, the older teachers who still cling to decades-old curriculum.
But honestly, with the issues that we have now, admin especially not acknowledging that these kids are still in pandemic-induced trauma and that because *parenting* and society have changed significantly in the last 5ish years. THE KIDS ARE NOT ALL RIGHT. I teach 1st grade, and kids come in unable to regulate themselves (throwing tantrums and things because they have not been taught how to handle their own feelings and needs), totally screen and with seemingly uninterested parents. We try to advocate for solutions with admin and get answers like, “well this is a problem nation-wide” and “the kids seem to even out by 3rd grade” (they don’t, according to their teachers). The kids have fundamentally changed (when you bring this up, you get “that’s what they thought about rock music and video games”) and education is uninterested in changing with them, so it’s a fight.
#20
