# Anyone else's job this strict? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826 "2009-07-03T17:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/41 "2009-07-06T14:23:20Z")
We’re not allowed to have our mobile phones turned on while driving the train. We can use the train radio (which has a phone like handset, and no hands free option) while in motion, or we can bring the train to a stand first, and then talk. Network control don’t like the stopping part, but they’re over a barrel and can’t force the issue. Personally, I talk on the move, but drive more cautiously (not a conscious thing, it just seems that I tread softly when on the radio). People travelling passenger in the cab have to have their phones on ‘silent’, and leave (to the passenger area, I presume, not out into thin air) to answer calls. I’m not entirely happy about this rule. I don’t see much difference between talking to Network control on the radio, and talking to them on the mobile when the radio isn’t working. Drivers shouldn’t be making lengthy personal calls while driving, and SMS or other messaging should be banned (I can’t SMS and drive in any case, I tried). Short calls at non critical times should be permitted, I reckon. You don’t have to steer, so you can’t lose control in that way, like you would with a bus. The demand on concentration is not constant, some times are more critical than others, and decent drivers should be able to tell the difference and act accordingly. That goes to what I reckon might be the real problem, we have many newer drivers with less than honed instincts, and the lowest common denominator keeps getting lower. I don’t expect anyone without experience in the field to agree with me. I follow the rules grudgingly. Don’t get me started on the new rule about bags (too late!) - you have to put your work bag on the opposite side of the cab so that you don’t get distracted by it. I have some impulse control and a clean record over more than ten years of driving with a bag open next to me, gimme a break! Once lobotomies become mandatory, I’m quitting. That’ll be next month, at the current rate. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/42 "2009-07-06T15:59:03Z")
Personally, I don’t think cell phones belong on the job, regardless of what that job is. That’s especially true for anyone who drives for a living… a bus driver is theoretically endangering everyone on their bus and everyone else on the road if they’re chatting on their phone. Mind you, I’ve worked in call centres before, which are a hotbed of strict regulations… I’ve seen Catholic schools that were lenient by comparison. A sampling for you: - Food - getting caught with food in an unsealed container is grounds for a write-up, even if you’re not actually eating it. - Drinks - all drinks go into the company-issued spill-proof cup, or get confiscated. - Workstations - no assigned seating, used on first-come first-served basis. Remove all personal belongings at the end of your shift. - Coats - removed upon arrival and stored in on-site lockers. No coats permitted on chair backs. - Breaks - managers were notified if you were more than 1 minute late logging on after break (or more than 1 minute late signing in for the day, for that matter). Monthly performance bonus was 0 if you were late more than three times that month. - Cell Phones - to be turned off on arrival and stored in the on-site lockers. Getting caught with a phone at your desk is grounds for a one-day unpaid suspension. - Internet - access to non-company sites is blocked off, attempts to get around the block . If you have downtime, go read up on what’s new in the employee info sites. Don’t even get me started on the stringent stats monitoring that went on… most managers never learned to coach skills, because they were kept too busy coaching people on how to take as many calls as possible and make said calls as short as possible. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/43 "2009-07-06T16:01:57Z")
Jobs in the public sector often have to follow rules that are based on avoiding the appearance of impropriety, not just objective safety standards. That seems to be part of what’s behind the rules at the OP’s place. My current job doesn’t have many rules, but is subject to the capricious whims of many. It’s sort of a trade-off. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/44 "2009-07-06T16:07:19Z")
We have several rooms at work that are electronically secure. If you carry in _ANY_ kind of electronic device (cell phone, MP3 player, whatever), it is confiscated and destroyed. Little lockers are available outside for you to park said items in before you enter. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/45 "2009-07-06T16:31:38Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > My team apparently had a rule where if you were late to a meeting you had to wear this big wall clock like Flava Flav. Frankly, I would have loved such a rule at some places I’ve worked. Way too many people who think their time is more important than everyone else in the meeting. So soon nobody shows up on time because they’ll just have to wait… (and the late ones just recalibrate so they’re even later…) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/46 "2009-07-06T16:34:06Z")
In one of my previous jobs, I worked in a classified facility. You weren’t allowed to bring cell phones into the building, and there were lockers outside for them. If you wanted to bring in something like a CD player, you had to get it approved by security first. I worked there for six years, and when I started a new job it seemed very strange to me to have my cell phone with me at work. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/47 "2009-07-06T16:34:37Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > We have several rooms at work that are electronically secure. If you carry in _ANY_ kind of electronic device (cell phone, MP3 player, whatever), it is confiscated and destroyed. > > Little lockers are available outside for you to park said items in before you enter. Very interesting… How is this enforced? Does it require someone to rat you out or do you have to pass through a metal detector to go in? How do they destroy the gadgets? Is it verifiable? (in other words, do the security dudes’ kids all have nice iPods?) And, of course, what kind of work is this? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/48 "2009-07-06T16:39:10Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Very interesting… > > How is this enforced? Does it require someone to rat you out or do you have to pass through a metal detector to go in? > > How do they destroy the gadgets? Is it verifiable? (in other words, do the security dudes’ kids all have nice iPods?) > > And, of course, what kind of work is this? It’s a military facility, and the devices are crushed on the spot. ---
**Author:** ![Arglefraster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/49 "2009-07-06T19:36:04Z")
A former manager in our department (I didn’t report to him directly, I heard this from some of my coworkers who did) required that all of his direct reports BCC him on every single email they sent. There was no business need for this, he just wanted to know who his employees were emailing, and what about. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/50 "2009-07-06T19:58:54Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I once worked at the Bose headquarters as a systems analyst which had some very odd and strictly enforced rules. You absolutely not have a camera inside the campus and, God forbid, if you took a picture of anything, you would be immediately fired for it. I didn’t even work in the research buildings. You also had to take breaks with all of your team members. That means that the boss would call you for a morning break, a lunch break, and an afternoon break and you had to sit at the same table with all of your bosses and coworkers to chat. Eating anything at your desk was forbidden and having water bottles was controversial but often tolerated. Dr. Bose is a billionaire so I assume he knows what he is doing but boy was that strange. When I was at MIT in the early '70s lots of people build “Bozo” speakers from Bose plans. So, I can see the paranoia a little bit. (But not the breaks with team members part.) Banning cameras in tech buildings was pretty common 20 years ago, but where I work now they’ve given up. There is not much you can steal with a camera from a processor design. In your case, circuit diagrams might be easier to get something out of with a picture. The big problem with smartphones in my place is the number of people who read their mail during meetings. When I was at Intel they searched your bag when you left the building. What they expected to find is beyond me. They didn’t search thoroughly enough to find floppy disks (nor were they illegal to leave with) and people brought laptops in and out too. One of the chief Pentium architects objected to the policy, saying that he would never hire anyone too stupid to steal information if they wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/51 "2009-07-06T23:54:05Z")
I’d say the locomotive operator who texted someone on his cell phone, one minute before he [ran his commuter train head-on into a freight train in a single-tracked tunnel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chatsworth_train_collision#Text_messaging) pretty much sealed the case in favor of this type of restriction, everywhere. I do understand the the OP’s frustration to an extent, but why is it so hard to take the phone out of your bag when you go on break? Or do you violate the rule by having the phone on you as you walk from the driver’s seat, where I assume the bag is stored, to the door of the bus? (Substitute words as appropriate if we’re talking about train operators.) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/52 "2009-07-07T00:14:09Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I do understand the the OP’s frustration to an extent, but why is it so hard to take the phone out of your bag when you go on break? Or do you violate the rule by having the phone on you as you walk from the driver’s seat, where I assume the bag is stored, to the door of the bus? (Substitute words as appropriate if we’re talking about train operators.) From what I gathered from the OP, it’s a punishable offense to even have the phone out, off or on, on the bus so you have to physically transport the BAG off and then remove the cell phone once you’re off the bus, making sure to deactivate it and replace it in the bag before getting back on (as well as Walkmans, iPods, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Aunt\_Flow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Aunt\_Flow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aunt_Flow)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/53 "2009-07-07T04:11:16Z")
I used to work at a call center that was pretty bad, in the way of rules. Parking was tight in the lot so they had hired someone to patrol the lot during the day to make sure everyone was parking according to ‘regulations’. If your car’s front bumper was more than a foot away from the bumper of the car in front of you, you got a ‘citation’. If you dared to park in such a way that you were riding the line of the space or even barely inside it, a citation. Get enough of these (two) and your parking permit was revoked and you were responsible for finding a way to get to work. They also had daily performance reviews. Literally your day started with the supervisor sitting down and telling you how shitty you did the day before. This was on top of the more hardcore weekly reviews. And no matter HOW good you did, how much you excelled, the most raise you could expect at the end of your first year was ten cents. And that was nearly unheard of. But the worst was their absence policy. They made a big deal during the hiring process that you got something like eight days sick leave. Once you got on though, the evil truth was unleashed. Yes, you had eight days but…well they disliked unplanned absences A LOT. The first time you call in for the year (not calender, your hire year), you got talked to by your supervisor. Second time, you get written up. Third time, you’re shown the door. Being late also worked against you. Two occurrences of being late equaled one unscheduled full day absence. So be late six times in a year and you’re gone. When I first was hired, they allowed you to bring in a doctor’s note that would basically get you off the hook. But they quickly changed the policy so that even with a doctor’s note, an unscheduled absence went against you. Their reasoning was that people were ‘abusing’ the policy. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/54 "2009-07-07T22:41:03Z")
I had a programming job for seven years at a large regional level plumbing wholesaler. It wasn’t terribly strict generally, but there was a policy which, in essence, disapproved of people on four-day schedules from using personal time off during the week, e.g. for a visit to the dentist. In my experience the eleven-hour-long workdays (including lunch) made it necessary to spend the extra “weekend” day accomplishing weekly chores that one normally spreads out over workday evenings, and I say this as one who was then single, lived alone, and was quite indifferent as to housecleaning and similar domestic chores. I wasn’t hunting for things to do. With that in mind I didn’t like the proposition that if I had a doctor appointment, or some other additional personal business I needed to get done, I couldn’t take time off. Forty or more hours of work during the week is equally long no matter how you slice it, and squeezing it into fewer actual days doesn’t help much, except maybe if you have a long commute. Eventually I was put back on a regular schedule by my own request. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/55 "2009-07-07T23:33:44Z")
> [@Aunt\_Flow](#): > > I used to work at a call center that was pretty bad, in the way of rules. Parking was tight in the lot so they had hired someone to patrol the lot during the day to make sure everyone was parking according to ‘regulations’. If your car’s front bumper was more than a foot away from the bumper of the car in front of you, you got a ‘citation’. If you dared to park in such a way that you were riding the line of the space or even barely inside it, a citation. Get enough of these (two) and your parking permit was revoked and you were responsible for finding a way to get to work. > > They also had daily performance reviews. Literally your day started with the supervisor sitting down and telling you how shitty you did the day before. This was on top of the more hardcore weekly reviews. And no matter HOW good you did, how much you excelled, the most raise you could expect at the end of your first year was ten cents. And that was nearly unheard of. > > But the worst was their absence policy. They made a big deal during the hiring process that you got something like eight days sick leave. Once you got on though, the evil truth was unleashed. Yes, you had eight days but…well they disliked unplanned absences A LOT. The first time you call in for the year (not calender, your hire year), you got talked to by your supervisor. Second time, you get written up. Third time, you’re shown the door. Being late also worked against you. Two occurrences of being late equaled one unscheduled full day absence. So be late six times in a year and you’re gone. When I first was hired, they allowed you to bring in a doctor’s note that would basically get you off the hook. But they quickly changed the policy so that even with a doctor’s note, an unscheduled absence went against you. Their reasoning was that people were ‘abusing’ the policy. Were you a telecommunications relay operator, by any chance? That sounds very like the rules we had. Of course, in that case it was predictable, as being willing to work that business the way Verizon & MCI did required that corporate be pure, unblinking evil. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/56 "2009-07-08T17:32:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Our policy may be strict but it’s not bizarre. Cell phones are serious contraband inside a prison so we have very strict procedures to keep people from bringing them in. And yet a CO at my husband’s prison almost brought one on the compound the other day.:smack: He had to jump through major hoops to get his phone back after it was confiscated, too. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/57 "2009-07-08T17:57:36Z")
> [@Digger1914](#): > > My workplace is bizarre. Many odd rules, just there, I assume, as a control issue. I’m just a regular office drone. > > My boss took me to an empty desk and said “That’s how I want your desk to look at the end of the day”. Co-worker had a difficult time seeing in her cube, she asked to bring in a small light from home and the initial answer was no. > > The only women that are hired are for Assistant/secretary type jobs. Company has never had an employee handbook, because of some incidences with me, they are finally writing one. My father died while I was at work on Saturday, company did not have bereavement policy. They ultimately gave me a couple days off, but they came back and said “ya know those couple hours on Saturday you missed, you have to make those up”. > > We had a Xmas lunch and the one & only temp we had was not included in the lunch. She walked out of the office crying. Why exclude her like that, fine, don’t make her eligible for the door prizes or the giftcard, but at least let her eat lunch w/ us. > > Our hours are officially to 5:05, not 5. Apparently they don’t want to be cheated out of that extra work time. > > I kept my cellphone on vibrate on my desk, I was told to put it away, either in my pocket or in the desk. > > I work one Saturday morning a month, we have to each write e-mail to owner when we get arrive in the morning. My boss, Accounting Manager, was told that he was not allowed to write one e-mail verifying attendance for the whole group. In other words, the owners don’t trust their own middle-management to be honest. > > I could go on for quite a while, but all it does is rile me up. At least I have a job. Do you work for a cult? Jesus, it’s a big country out there…RUN! ---
**Author:** ![Aunt\_Flow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Aunt\_Flow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aunt_Flow)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/58 "2009-07-08T23:37:08Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Were you a telecommunications relay operator, by any chance? That sounds very like the rules we had. Of course, in that case it was predictable, as being willing to work that business the way Verizon & MCI did required that corporate be pure, unblinking evil. Nope. Doing tech support for a popular graphics program. They hired a third party to do the tech support so I wasn’t actually employed with the company. And they also didn’t want people to know they went through a third party so we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and everything. Honestly I loved the job. It was a blast and challenging at the same time. But the company was just horrendous. I only lasted a couple months. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/59 "2009-07-09T01:36:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Were you a telecommunications relay operator, by any chance? That sounds very like the rules we had. Of course, in that case it was predictable, as being willing to work that business the way Verizon & MCI did required that corporate be pure, unblinking evil. Boy, I thought I used to work for the evil phone company, but at least they didn’t rate us on how we parked our cars! ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826/60 "2009-07-09T02:22:15Z")
I apparently work in the world’s most awesome call center. Decent pay. Three weeks off a year. Internet usage allowed within reason. Cell phones allowed within reason. Food and drink allowed. Cameras allowed. I suddenly feel lucky. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-elses-job-this-strict/501826.md?page=4)