I have worked in some places that had silly rules.
One was a Govt building where cars parked in spaces next to the building had to be parked front nearest the building. This was to prevent car bombs hidden in boots causing too much damage.
This was in the '80s and there were still a few Beetles around and they still had to park front in!
In another office, you couldn't go and see someone to sort out a problem, you had to type a memo and this had to follow the chain of command (to my boss, to their boss, between department heads etc) absolute madness.
Had to get permission to have facial hair.
Had to get permission to go to certain countries and to get married!
First private firm I worked for sacked females in a relationship with another staff member if they moved in together / got married. (Lawyers would love that today!).
Come on guys and girls, what were your silly office rules...?
We were not trusted to take pool cars home for early starts. These were base model diesel Ford Escorts without power steering or turbos. We were trusted to underwrite £200k deals though!
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>> you had to type a memo and this had to follow the chain of command (to my boss, to their boss, between department heads
The BBC? Who also included the detail that one could not use people's names, you had to use their job title.
FIs.
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No it wasn't but I have visited them on an information finding visit. Spent 3 days with them before giving up and leaving with no information!
Everything was commercially sensitive and confidential. But this is why you asked me to visit!!! Total waste of time!
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The disabled spaces by my office are reverse park only - as they are close to the building and outside the main car park. There were a few near misses with pedestrians.
We were issued with "safety on site" flash cards once - one of the rules was that you were not allowed to walk while using a mobile phone.
In one of our offices there is a coffee shop on the ground floor with central stairs rising up through the atrium of the building - we are banned from buying a coffee and using the stairs - you must use the lift if you are carrying a drink
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Currently employer. Offices accessed by ID cards only. Because I don't visit offices regularly the my card expires.
Exiting offices also require the card to be presented to the lock mechanism. The only "let me out" button is the emergency button.
Meeting with an office based bod in one of the spare meeting rooms on an empty floor. They leave whilst I have to pack up my laptop and notes. Can't get out, no mobiles allowed in that section (understandable as lots of confidential info) and no phones installed yet. Only option is to hit the emergency button - big mistake. Security guards running all over the place!
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70s, Coal Board HQ in London, I was the newbie working for an old(er) lady who was a junior manager. She was very prim and proper and people were all called by their title and surname (which I think might have been the case in many places then)
Each grade had a certain allowed floor space, and certain type of desk and office chair. My grade (Newbie grade 1) had a foamy chair with no arms.
Manager lady had a nice chair, plus a "visitors chair" which had arms, mostly used for parking her umbrella across.
One lunchtime I swapped my chair for the visitor chair, thinking she wouldn't notice. She did, and I had to swap them back.
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60s, West End of London, working for a small family firm - very pleasant. Pleasant, but formal. Staff junior to oneself were addressed by first name, staff senior were addressed by title and surname - at least while you were in the office and the boss might be within earshot!
We were acquired by a much larger company (think Rid O Rat), they told us that the consumption of alcohol at lunchtime was not permitted. As the majority of eating places locally were pubs, that ruling was ignored!
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In one of our offices there is a coffee shop on the ground floor with
>> central stairs rising up through the atrium of the building - we are banned from
>> buying a coffee and using the stairs - you must use the lift if you
>> are carrying a drink
>>
Not *that* silly, i used to work somewhere with a similar problem. It was surprising how much tea and coffee were spilt on the stairs in a day.
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>>
> Who also included the detail that one could not use people's names, you
>> had to use their job title.
Greater London Council - late 70s. All memos were signed as if from the head of department, in my case, the Comptroller (sic) of Finance.
Drinking at lunchtime was virtually compulsory - everyone from the highest to the lowest went to the pub every day. One might bump into almost anyone. The only rule was to get back to the office before the boss - except on Fridays, when there were no rules.
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Local council employees were forbidden from filling official vehicles at any fuel stations that allowed loyalty cards as it was seen as obtaining an advantage over staff that had no access to official vehicles.
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Way back in the distant past, staff parking within the company compound was was forbidden for employees who did not own a British built car.
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My friends who are unlucky enough to be still in formal employment often regale me with tales of the idiocy meted out by what are now known as 'human resources' departments.
But maybe not a lot has changed. More than 50 years ago when I and both my parents signed my indentures (written in copperplate) to the printing trade the document contained a wide range of clauses forbidding me to do certain things. Most notable was the one forbidding me to consort with loose women. Honestly. Not that I ever did. Well, not that loose anyway.
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After some 13/14 years a relative is going from self employed to an employee, never without a contarct & only a few weeks illness in all that time.
He has worked at the company for around 15 months - company rules meant he had to park "round the back" of the building - in a month or so he will be able to park in the main carpark, at the front of the building! Perks of the "new job"
What was a "short term need" has developed into a "bigger job" than was envisaged in 2015 - he suffers a paycut to go PAYE even after you add in the pensions, health care, car allowance, etc etc for a "bigger job"!!
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Many years ago when I worked at a Global Pharmaceutical Co, there was a grand tour by the very big Cheese! (the biggest!). The "Entourage" consisting of a herd of Big Cheese, Factory manager, Departmental heads, and multiple Coat-tail tuggers entered our area (a flame-proof area) all wearing their white lab-coats (brand-new) and Hard Hats, except Cheese who was wearing his business suit, and being pampered over by the "Minions". They all entered the building I was in charge of, and started to explain to him what we did in there, ( they didn't bother introducing us to him, they just ignored us as we carried on working). I happened to notice Cheese was not wearing regulatory Anti-Static Footwear ( a major disciplinary matter for us!) so I went over to the group and ordered him out of the building and the Area. There was a major outcry from the "Minions" Purple-faces an all! - but he held his hand up, silenced them, and suggested they take him elsewhere. Several hours later, I was summoned to the F.M's Office, where a "gaggle" of Superiors and Cheese was gathered, he shook my hand and gave me a "Commendation" for Observency and having the Guts to actually take action to rectify the problem before it escalated into a possible tragedy! And that I was exactly the type of Employee he wanted to see. (his Words!). I often wonder what he said to his herd of "Minions" when they were "out of Earshot" from us!
I realise that isn't a silly rule, that came sharply after: Anybody who worked in a Flame-proof area was given a pair of shoes or boots to come to work in! - You were not allowed into the Factory if you came in normal footwear!
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Not such a silly rule....
I visit an oil refinery with an 1960's office block right in the middle of it.
The office looks awful from the outside, far too much concrete and too few windows - designed like that to minimise the effect of a blast.
First day on site. Phones sealed in anti static bags, hi-vis jacket issued, hard hat, shoes with metal toecaps. Visit to the H&S officer for training. Tour of the emergency route to the bunker, where you make your way to if the sirens go off. The bunker was a reinforced concrete affair dug in to the ground and covered in soil with emergency beacon and medical equipment all pristine and up to date. Room for about 200 people with another couple of similar ones around the plant. They even have their own fire engines and crews on 24/7 operation.
They made it clear that it can be a very dangerous place to be in a fire but felt comforted at the efforts they went to, to keep everyone safe.
Last edited by: zippy on Mon 17 Apr 17 at 13:30
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I did nearly a year recently in ex-ICI offices near Middlesbrough, where there were nasty chemicals going around overhead pipes in the site, and risks of explosion all over the place. Anyone going into the site (a very large area) was issued with Nomex (non-static) jacket and trousers and hard capped boots. Some also got Kevlar gloves. If you felt *anything* splash on your naked skin you had to rip off all your clothing and go under one of the very cold showers which were all the way around the external overhead pipes (cold water makes your poes close up) while someone called the specialist local chemical incident fire brigade.
I had guys unboxing new computers and prepping them for deployment. The only large enough area for their work was inside the plant and they were not allowed Stanley knives to ease opening the boxes, they were issued with strange (and not-very-effective) plastic tool to cut through the packaging.
There was no passenger lift in the main building (only 3 stories) but you were not allowed to carry stuff up/down the stairs if it meant you couldn't maintain two points of contact (i.e. you HAD to hold the handrail). High heels were banned from the offices, for women as well :-) But strangely you could walk the whole length of the office area carrying boiling hot cups of coffee without any precautions...
Oh, and the new computer equipment (screens, PCVs and laptops) had to be PAT tested before it was plugged ion on the bench for prepping, and PAT tested again once it was delivered and installed at the user desk. Unfortunately Mr Pat Tester was busy so this all had to be done in his overtime !!!!
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>>He has worked at the company for around 15 months - company rules meant he had to park "round the back" of the building - in a month or so he will be able to park in the main carpark, at the front of the building! Perks of the "new job"
Cheaper than a pay increase. More seriously, recognition of status can be as effective as more money in job motivation, at least for some employees.
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A bank I worked for introduced a 7 x 7 management structure. No manager could manage more than 7 subordinates. It introduced several new layers and a lot of people got promoted.
The wage bill rocketed and efficiency plummeted and it soon went back to the old way.
One employer took over a totally failed business. Their sales team have been overselling the product left no margin for error. Somehow the staff of the failed business became the ones promoted in the old co. Guess what happened next!
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>> After some 13/14 years a relative is going from self employed to an employee, never
>> without a contarct & only a few weeks illness in all that time.
Funnily enough I'm just about to do the reverse - left my full time job and have now been asked to come back as a contractor. Less responsibility when I return, no direct reports (had 2 before) but more money, although the loss of pension probably means I'm about even.
Salaried before so always ended up doing more hours that contracted to, but will be "power by the hour" on my return so in reality I might end up better off
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Have you contracted before?
It is more tricky than you might think to move successfully from permie to scumbag in the same role. There is a whole different attitude at work required and you need to re-tune their expectations as well as your own.
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>> Have you contracted before?
No, first time for me. I'm expecting it to feel "different"
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The BBC? Who also included the detail that one could not use people's names, you
>> had to use their job title.
What if two people had the same job title? Must have been rather confusing.
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At Manchester airport you have to wear your high visibility vest done up (ie no flapping). As someone who doesn't tolerate pointless rules I was regularly picked up on this, right up until the point where the security womble decided to threaten me with a fine.
Me: "And how do you know I didn't have my high visibility vest done up?"
Him: "I could see you from all the way over there!"
Suffice to say the fine wasn't issued and they backed down after that.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Mon 17 Apr 17 at 16:13
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In theory we're not allowed to carry open coffee containers from the excellent on-site coffee shop (Large Cappuccino £1.02) to carry it to the Office..the lid ruins the "head" - suffice to say rule ignored...
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I work in a three storey building. Drinks are only supposed to be allowed in the classrooms in sealed containers to prevent a. spillage on the stairs to prevent a slop hazard and b. to avoid damage to the carpet tiles.
Judging by the number of stains slowly appearing on the carpet tiles the rules are not vigorously adhered to. What does seriously pee me off is that if someone does spill on the stairs they will go to great lengths to find a large slip hazard sign and place it on the stars creating an even bigger hazard for the unwary rather than go to a plentiful supply of paper towels and wipe up the hazard. Grrrrr.
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At a huge, huge, huge steel mill in South Wales I was given a hard hat for the tour.
On cranes were 60 tonne rolls of freshly milled steel.
The hat, the manager said, was to mark where we were should a roll fall!
:-)
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Silly Rules At Work - No FM2R
