“I Left Shortly After”: 30 People Discuss The Dumbest Rules They’ve Ever Had To Follow At Work

In the OP’s opinion, while rules are necessary to ensure order and productivity, they should be reasonable and not overly restrictive. “The best rules are those that support employees rather than hinder them,” they told Bored Panda in a recent interview.

“I think it's important for companies to regularly review their policies and get feedback from employees to ensure the rules make sense and foster a positive work environment.”

According to Dr. Janice Presser, worker protection and safety rules are almost always necessary. “Beyond that, most work rules are not,” she pointed out. “To understand the difference, you need to look at both the intended consequences of the rule, as well as the unintended consequences.”

Even though some workers—two in five of them in Britain, for instance—view rules as unnecessary even when they relate to their own health and safety, imposing restrictions in certain situations is a must.

The expert suggested that wherever worker safety and health—including mental health—are at risk, and the business owner or manager believes that people won’t all naturally act a certain way, it’s necessary to create a rule; it’s also crucial to outline consequences, and apply it equally to everyone, including themselves.

Talking about the significance of rules, Dr. Presser pointed out that most of us have likely had to follow them when we were kids. “Hopefully they were for health and safety, like not sharing toothbrushes, crossing only on the green lights, and not running with scissors,” she said, adding that some of those rules likely felt like they were imposing on our child ideas of freedom - like having dessert before dinner. However, when rules make sense and are imposed to keep children safe, they grow up to realize that they were necessary.

“My daughter was three when I made a rule she disagreed with—she wasn’t allowed to go out alone after dark,” Dr. Presser shared. “Her little face tightened into rage and she spat out, ‘When I grow up… and you grow down… then I’ll be the mother.’

“Luckily, she grew up to become a wonderful team player who understands that the best way to have fun is to get other people to feel better when you’re around, not the reverse. I fear that those who make self-defeating, team-busting, employee-demoralizing rules are still trying to be the ‘bad mommy’ of their childhood.”

According to Dr. Presser, imposing ridiculous rules—especially rules against inconsequential things that usually make workers feel better, like personal photos in their workspace—lowers employee engagement and reduces productivity.

“Moreover, when the rules affect one group more than another (most rules about appearance fall in this category), you are not only working against your best interests but may even be setting yourself up for a nasty discrimination lawsuit. It has never ceased to amaze me how many employers with absurd rules whine about how they can’t recruit ‘good people’—whatever ‘good people’ means,” the expert said.

Not being allowed to have personal belongings at work—even photos, as Dr. Presser noted—was exactly what the OP had experienced themselves. “The most ridiculous rule I encountered was at a previous job where we weren't allowed to have any personal items on our desks, including photos or even a coffee mug. It felt very impersonal and strict,” they shared.

The redditor revealed that they decided to start a discussion on ridiculous work rules because they have always been fascinated by how different workplaces operate and how certain rules can sometimes seem absurd.

“I thought it would spark a lively and entertaining discussion,” they said, adding that they were genuinely surprised by the variety and extremity of the responses. “The most surprising were the rules that seemed to micromanage every aspect of an employee's behavior, even down to things like bathroom breaks.”

While ridiculous workplace rules can make life needlessly difficult, certain rational ones can inadvertently do so, too. Discussing similar cases, Dr. Presser told Bored Panda about the time she was working with a Korean company in the US, which had a custom (perceived as a rule by many) of doing a series of calisthenics exercises at a certain time during the day. “The managing director would stand up and everyone else in the room would follow,” she recalled.

“Some of the exercises were pretty strenuous,” the expert added and said that at some point, said director asked if she was surprised by the exercise session. “He said they always did it, because that was what they did in school.

“He asked if I thought it was silly, and I said no,” Dr. Presser continued. “They wanted everyone to be strong and healthy; but thinking of HR issues, I gently mentioned that the younger women might be pregnant and not ready to tell anyone, and might not feel up to it, but wouldn’t want to just not do it.

“He had never thought of that, and we agreed that since there was a basketball hoop on the roof, they could just take a 10 minute break and let anyone play who wanted to, while others could take a social break or check in with children. It worked because people cared about each other and recognized that on a team, not everyone should always be doing the same thing.”