Ridiculous Workplace Rules, Policies, Requests, PC, Initiatives, etc.

Theta

opinion guy wrote: »

On what grounds ? I'm not aware of any law that says you can't drink in the office (so long as you are not driving etc). If you boss tells you to have a beer, you think ok and you do, then they try and fire = unfair dismissal and you can sure the bejeeesus out of them

Unless its company policy and then you can be given warnings and then fired.

I moved desk about 30 feet one time and I wasnt allowed carry anything over to my new desk. It had to be crated and moved for me by a removals crew.

opinion guy

Theta wrote: »

Unless its company policy and then you can be given warnings and then fired.

I moved desk about 30 feet one time and I wasnt allowed carry anything over to my new desk. It had to be crated and moved for me by a removals crew.

Well if you were drinking and it was against company policy then both you and your boss would be idiots. And none of us on AH are idiots....right ?

bbam

Our company ha a video made on how to make a cuppa in the canteen. Complete over reaction to some crettin scalding himself while making tea and then reporting it as an accident.
Everyone had to sit through the video and sign off for doing so.
Fecckin waste of time and resources.

Quorum

Matt_Trakker wrote: »

Was told I had to improve my handwriting for the menu board, I told him if that's all he had to complain about his restaurant was doing just grand. Shut him up so it did.

I don't think this is bad, spidery handwriting on menu boards is annoying.

Squ

bbam wrote: »

Our company ha a video made on how to make a cuppa in the canteen. Complete over reaction to some crettin scalding himself while making tea and then reporting it as an accident.
Everyone had to sit through the video and sign off for doing so.
Fecckin waste of time and resources.

An apprentice walked into a hand pallet truck, and chipped a bone in his ankle.

Instead of just telling him to look where he's going, all 500+ staff had to do pallet truck awareness training.

fasttalkerchat

Squ wrote: »

An apprentice walked into a hand pallet truck, and chipped a bone in his ankle.

Instead of just telling him to look where he's going, all 500+ staff had to do pallet truck awareness training.

I clipped my own heel with an electric pallet truck. Was pulling a pallet and slowed down to pick up a lump of wrap and didn't bother to stop the pallet truck moving. It was agony!
A manual one on the other hand... what an idiot!

fasttalkerchat

opinion guy wrote: »

On what grounds ? I'm not aware of any law that says you can't drink in the office (so long as you are not driving etc). If you boss tells you to have a beer, you think ok and you do, then they try and fire = unfair dismissal and you can sure the bejeeesus out of them

I would be surprised if all companies didn't have it written into the rules. In my work its grounds for an immediate dismissal whereas showing up drunk is just a written warning.

Mensch Maschine

Duggy747 wrote: »

Working in Lidl years ago before they cleaned up their act:

Half hour break on a 12 hour shift which you never got the full break for because you'd be called out on the floor mid-way through eating. If you worked 6 hours you weren't allowed a break. If you made a complaint it was easy to boot you and have someone fill your job within 2 days. Litteraly, I worked 2 years in one store and saw about 20 people fired for the most simplistic things only to be replaced almost immediately.

Was told to sort out the rotten fruit and veg, the milk and all of the rubbish gathered up in the warehouse by manager. Didn't mind that until said manager comes in and complains about the state of my shoes after I'm knee deep in rotted rubbish.

If you were ever under on your till, even by €5, it was coming out of your pay. One person was fired for being €30 under.

You had to scan as close to 35 items per minute everyday, if you didn't you got called up in front of the district manager about why you were so slow. It was impossible to keep up as you could only go as fast as the customer would pack their bag. If you ever go into Aldi or Lidl and wonder why the cashier is throwing your stuff at you at a fast pace after they've scanned it and not giving you the chance to put it in your bag, that's the reason.

I was told off by the manager for talking to customers when they'd ask me a question. The rule was you were not allowed to talk about the products, just point them to where they are and get back to work.

There was a stupid rule of having the palettes (toilet paper, lemonade, etc) absolutely perfect against the line of the tiles. The Germans used to come on random inspections and see a palette would be out of place, resulting in someone getting a telling off in the office. Fùckin' problem was that the tiles were laid down crookedly and the palettes were badly built forcing you to lean them up against each other so they wouldn't fall and smash. One of the Germans would actually go around the store with a ruler to see that products were exactly lined up on the shelves.

You also had to unload a full palette in under 15 minutes, a palette that would have various items leaving you to haul the thing across opposite sides of the store.

You weren't allowed more than 1 toilet break a day. If you wanted a 2nd you had better explain yourself ("Um..........I need a shìt!?!" )

We were refused a kettle after the crappy replacement they gave us burnt out after 2 weeks. Exact same thing happened with the microwave after it's replacement never even worked when we got it. We complained all we liked but nothing would happen for a few months. (During which one of the managers bought a kettle and microwave out of his own money for us.)

The store had to be immaculately clean at the end of everyday, which is fine. Only that on the days you'd have to bring the specials out on a Sunday or Wednesday night you frequently would be in there until midnight due to a manager scratching their heads on where everything should go, no extra pay as you stopped being paid at 9pm. Again, if you complained then somebody else on the floor staff would get fired.

Manager's didn't last in there by getting fired on a whim and making staff stab each other in the back at the promise of promotions. One manager was fired for not showing up to a surprise meeting on her day off while another was fired for kicking a football in the warehouse after another manager ratted him out by calling the district manager down to watch the CCTV.

All lights were controlled by sensors, you'd be sitting in the tiny kitchen eating your lunch when after exactly 5 minutes the lights would turn off leaving you to wave your arms manically to activate the sensors again. Annoying as hell having to do that 3 or 4 times everyday on your break.

It was like a fùckin' camp, nobody trusted each other as everybody would rat each other out for the tiniest thing since there were promises of rewards for doing so, created alot of tension in the workplace. I only kept it up as it put me through college but once my final exams were due I just got the hell out of there.

I hear they've come a long way since I quit, which was around the time all these claims about abuse were making it into the news.

Wow, just wow. If I had of known that I would never have shopped there.

summerskin

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

opinion guy wrote: »

On what grounds ? I'm not aware of any law that says you can't drink in the office (so long as you are not driving etc). If you boss tells you to have a beer, you think ok and you do, then they try and fire = unfair dismissal and you can sure the bejeeesus out of them

I would be surprised if all companies didn't have it written into the rules. In my work its grounds for an immediate dismissal whereas showing up drunk is just a written warning.

On Friday afternoons in one of my old jobs we drank a few cans in the office while listening to music and getting head and shoulder massages or relaxing on giant beanbags.

Sounds like you're a little out of touch, perhaps.

token101

Lyaiera wrote: »

It's no longer over the counter. I think the pharmacists have a little leeway over handing it out though.

They just give you a little talk about how addictive it can be and hand it over. I've never had hassle getting it.

suicide_circus

token101 wrote: »

They just give you a little talk about how addictive it can be and hand it over. I've never had hassle getting it.

And then just do a simple cold water extraction of the codeine and get a nice wee buzz on. Amirite?!

opinion guy

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

I would be surprised if all companies didn't have it written into the rules. In my work its grounds for an immediate dismissal whereas showing up drunk is just a written warning.

I'd be VERY suprised if every company had it written in the rules :rolleyes:

Then again I've worked in Germany where you could, and people did, get beer in the canteens at lunch

fasttalkerchat

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

whereas showing up drunk is just a written warning.

If that was actually enforced sure half the country would be fecked on a friday or monday morning. The amount of friday mornings I've been still half cut in work along with half the place.

In reality these rules are made high up and nobody you are going to come into contact with gives a damn about these sort of rules.

They banned drinking where I work only because after a feed of free wine at a christmas party in the office some lad fu**ed the ceo out of it. Before that 10 or 12 of us would often head up to the tea room of a thursday or friday evening and drink a few litres of different spirits between us before heading to the pub. There would be some fairy high up people involved too (which meant nothing would be said) and not just a crowd of young lads.

strong_damo

Being forced to dress up on Halloween so our team could win a prize.

Noo

I had a friend who worked part time in a school, she had shorter and different hours to most of the other women there. During her review she was told that none of the other staff like her because she doesnt make an effort to talk to or have lunch with the girls and was told to make more of an effort so theyll like her, she didnt share the same lunch hours as them ffs! Anyway cue her bursting into tears during the meeting, to their astonishment?

Cookie_Monster

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Its great to have such a laid back manager sometimes but I would be afraid to be seen to be drinking in work. If someone keeps a copy of the CCTV you could get an immediate dismissal any time.

The boss often grabs a round of beers for meetings after 4 during the week too, we even have a beer fridge out the back which must be kept stocked. And it all comes under 'staff training' from an accounts point of view.
A lot of places in Aus/NZ do it apparently.

fasttalkerchat

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The boss often grabs a round of beers for meetings after 4 during the week too, we even have a beer fridge out the back which must be kept stocked. And it all comes under 'staff training' from an accounts point of view.
A lot of places in Aus/NZ do it apparently.

Sitting in the car waiting to start work... I really wish I hadn't went on boards to kill time :l

BOF666

I worked in a call centre for an insurance company for about 3 and a half years, it wasn’t too bad when I started but got progressively worse as time went by. Calls holding pretty much all day, and our phones had auto answer, so we always had to be available. Got to the stage where you couldn't get up to make a cup of tea or get a glass of water, you had to ask your supervisor to do it for you!

Got given out to if you were 5 seconds late back from lunch, if you were late going on lunch, or if you took too long on a smoke or toilet break.

Holidays had to be applied for months in advance, and only 3 people (out of a team of 40) could be off on any given day. Used to get interrogated if we called in sick too.

We didn’t deal with customers face to face, but got in trouble if we didn’t have a tie. Couldn’t wear a hoodie if we were cold either.

Then we had weekly, monthly and quarterly meetings with supervisors to discuss targets - we had 2 targets when I started, had about 9 by the time I left, nobody ever hit them all, but even if you managed to hit 8 of them it still wasn’t good enough. And if you protested any of this, you’d get given out to for being negative!

They literally used to bring in something new every month to encourage us or keep up morale, but they had the place looking like a playschool after a while – We got stickers if we did well in call evaluations, used to have raffles for chocolate and stuff, they put colourful ‘motivational’ posters up on the walls and put up balloons any excuse they got.

Worst part was that most of our frustration got taken out on the customers, we’d have to put them on hold for a few minutes just to get some time to ourselves. Then we’d get in trouble, and be on the phone in a bad mood, put customers on hold again… It just kept going on like that. The day I finally left was the happiest day of my life!

Solair

Yeah, I actually think the work practices that go on in many call centres are really quite horrible.

I remember doing summer work in one and the worst aspects were the fact that you were treated like some kind of battery chicken by the management.

Calls came in on auto-answer, and you had no control over them. You just got a beep in your headset and you'd another angry caller on the line. It became quite overwhelming at times.

Then, the control-freak management walking around the floor all the time and listening on on you and being paranoid about time-keeping.

Many of them were also very poorly trained and felt that to motivate they had to criticise. So, even someone who was doing a good job would be found fault with.

You also had absolutely no autonomy whatsoever so if a customer had a problem. You couldn't really solve it or take ownership of it or really do anything. All you could do is pass it up the line by ticking some box in a customer relationship management system. Invariably their problems would never get addressed and they would be back onto the call centre a few days later shouting abuse about how you'd been so unhelpful which would result in a major investigation of why you had provided them with such poor service.

Naturally enough, the call centre operators were always blamed even though the system wouldn't allow them the autonomy to help the customers.

People used to quit without even telling the management that they'd left! It was that bad. They'd just disappear lol

gimli2112

Solair wrote: »

People used to quit without even telling the management that they'd left! It was that bad. They'd just disappear lol

I actually called up on behalf of my sister in law and quit for her 'cos she wanted nothing more to do with them.

It was a call centre down the country for UK based customers of a mobile phone company. Not pleasant.

Saint_Mel

Probably already mentioned in another work place post but we are suppose to carry cups of tea/coffee/can of coke on a tray in the centeen at our breaks cos some newbie scalded themselves with a cuppa the other week.
So even if your just getting a can of fanta, you are supposed to carry it to the table on a tray

Tigger

Ludo wrote: »

We got an email instructing everyone to sit down when using the toilet at all times. they even went so far as to put little diagrams up in the cubicles showing a person taaking a leak standing up with a big red X over it

Show the Pic cos I call bull****

ash23

I worked in an insurance call centre too and it was somewhat a similar shambles to that described above. Every "team" had a purpose. Sales, renewals, customer service, accounts etc. So if you were a renewals person you were blocked from entering any account that wasn't due for renewal. If you were new business you couldn't enter an account that was established etc etc.

Sales number was the one promoted (to-to-to-to-to-toooooo) so most people rang sales. As soon as sales heard "can I give you a policy number" their aim was to get them off the phone. So they'd pass them to customer service. Who would then find out the call was actually for renewals/new business/accounts etc. So some poor chump would have waited 5 minutes to get through, then get one person, passed to another before being told they'd have to be passed to another. They'd get so annoyed with us.

The constant voice in your ear would drive you soft. We had different codes to log in and out of our phones depending on if it was a bathroom break or tea break or lunch break etc. It started effecting my life outside work. I basically didn't want to talk when I'd get home from work.


Oh I remember when I worked in a large Irish retail store in the clothes dept. It was dead one day, not a sinner in the place and I was bored. So I took a notion to start polishing the dust off the top of the clothes rails which were very dusty. I was quickly set upon by a manager who told me to stop because it didn't look good to have staff cleaning. That was for cleaning staff to do after hours.

Apanachi

Duggy747 wrote: »

Working in Lidl years ago before they cleaned up their act:

[...]

to watch the CCTV.

Didn't want to quote the whole long text, but Lidl has a reputation of spying and treating staff unfairly:

A couple of years ago, there was a huge affair in the news about how Lidl over here in Germany used to systematically monitor the staff, they had hidden cameras all over the shops, monitoring how often and for how long each staff member went to the toilet, who was possibly having an affair with whom, if a staff member seem "introverted" of "naive" etc...

Telephone calls made during the breaks were recorded, details of each call was noted and written up in reports, things like "Ms XXX's friends seem to all drug addicts" or "Ms XXX hopes that her pay check will come today because she badly needs money. - Reason????" appeared in the staff reports. It even went so far that there was alleged case in Lidl in the Czech Republic where staff weren't allowed use the toilets outside of their breaks, the only exception being women who had there periods, these women were supposed to wear headbands to be able to avail of this privilege (this one Lidl denies)

LisaLee

Shryke wrote: »

Begins with S?

Nope a T, worrying to think that this is commonplace in more than one business!

ermahgerd

Noo wrote: »

Anyway cue her bursting into tears during the meeting, to their astonishment?

Crying in the workplace is really inappropriate.

I don't have to deal with it now, thankfully, but I used to work with girls who'd break down if a customer was angry with them or if a fellow staff member was short with them.

That's not acceptable whatsoever.

df1985

jesus my office sounds like a breeze compared to some of this!

kowloon

MadsL wrote: »

Intel (I know you said it wasn't) do have a lids on coffee and tea policy and that handrail policy. They are incredibly safety conscious because people do get hurt in accidents during the production process (some noxious chemicals and acids used in chip making) Now if a dumb fcuk scalds themselves or someone else on a cup of tea that has to be recorded as an industrial accident, and affects Safety Managers bonuses. As Fab 24 has the world's best safety record for Intel, you can see that they don't want stupid accidents blemishing that record.

I remember a manager pointing out that a death didn't affect Intel's record as he was working for another company. A 'green badge'. It made for an awkward moment.