# What's the most unreasonable, pointless, inane, illegal, or just plain insane policies you've been subjected to in the workplace? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273 "2022-04-04T20:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/161 "2022-04-10T22:03:49Z")
It gets tricky when you don’t get mail delivery to your house. Or UPS or FedX. And sometimes will or won’t send to a USPS PO box. We ended up getting an additional UPS box in addition to our USPS box. It’s ~$300 a year but really, really worth it. I can order stuff. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/162 "2022-04-11T11:08:17Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > > [@enipla](#): > > > > Heh. Some folks where I worked asked if they could have a standing computer desk. I was asked if I wanted one. I responded that I want on I could use while laying down. > > Try a web search for “recliner computer chair”. At my last job, we had workstations similar to [these](https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/emperor-trading-stations.274974/). They were pretty amazing. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/163 "2022-04-11T11:29:09Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > At my last job, we had workstations similar to [these](https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/emperor-trading-stations.274974/). They were pretty amazing. Holy cow. At my first computer jog, we had workstations that where a digitizing table, and two monitors. It would all go up and down. Was really hi-tech for the late 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/164 "2022-04-11T11:37:58Z")
Not me, but my sister had a part time job with the IRS one summer during college. Someone had suggested having background music and the director decided to have the employees vote on it. The vote was equally split, so as only bureaucrats can do, they decided to have the music play for 30 minutes, then off for 30 and repeat this all day. Unless she was just lying to me. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/165 "2022-04-11T12:25:49Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > At first my company’s rule was that groups of employees traveling and eating together That reminded me of another inane rule we had, that actually ended up working out in my favor. The first time I had an opportunity to submit a request to travel to attend a conference for professional development, I submitted three suggestions. I worked on the notion that I had to have something for each person in the chain of command to say “No” to, so they’d each feel like they had contributed to the process. So I submitted for a conference in Japan, one in San Diego, and one in Calgary. As I expected, my direct boss said no to Japan. I then expected his boss to say no to San Diego, as it was significantly more expensive, and I would be approved to go to Calgary. But apparently there was a rule that we couldn’t send two people to the same conference, and unbeknownst to me, someone else had also applied to go to Calgary. So I got the approval for the San Diego Trip. I didn’t mind, hell, it was California in the spring, let’s go!! But of course, that established that I was _allowed_ to go to San Diego for conferences, and so all my future requests were approved. I ended up going there about 6 or 7 times, every other year or so. Our travel to the US was limited during the Trump years, and then COVID, so I haven’t been back in a while, but maybe next year? ---
**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:** [April 11, 2022, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/166 "2022-04-11T12:27:24Z")
Back in the day when I still rode a dinosaur to work, I was an hourly employee at a large corporation. One winter morning we had about a foot of snow, but as I wouldn’t get paid if I didn’t show, I braved the difficult drive in. The security guard at the front door told me the facility was closed, but before I left, I swiped my ID card in the reader to prove I had been there. A couple of days later management sent around a memo stating that exempt employees would be paid for the day, but nonexempt would not–we were given the opportunity of using a vacation day to pay for the lost day. This policy did exactly what you would expect it to: it polarized the workers. For those of us who had the forethought to swipe our card in the reader? We were paid a half day for showing up. Kind of a win… maybe? When the springtime came, it was the running joke among the blue-collar crew that on particularly beautiful days there might be one or two guys out sick. “Where’s Joe?” “He’s out…snow day.” Surely the company lost more than it gained by the disgust and outrage generated by this one act. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/167 "2022-04-11T12:31:17Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > When I was a baby Ensign, assigned to the Pentagon, working in the Navy Communications Center in 1980, we had a similarly gawd-awful schedule - two 12-hour mid shifts (7PM-7AM), then 24 hours off, then 2 12-hour day shifts (7AM-7PM), then 96 hours off. I don’t think I got decent rest the entire 6 months I worked that schedule. I had that schedule for one summer job during University, at a Canadian government computer center. I actually kind of liked it. The day shifts nearly killed me, but I found the night shifts quite easy. And the 96 hours off periods hit just when I wanted them to, for special trips with friends that I had tentatively planned to take that summer. It helped that we also got extra pay for the hours we worked outside the core 8-5 period, so it was extra pay for the majority of our hours. Score! ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/168 "2022-04-11T13:45:52Z")
I have a client who uses a standing desk. In fact, he has no chairs at all in his office. Unfortunately, I sometimes have to go work with him and it involves careful review of media files on his multi-monitor set-up. Of course, he’s thirty-something and I’m almost seventy. Even if I borrow a chair from their conference room, I can’s really see the monitors. I finally started taking a tall bar stool from my house when I have to go work with him. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/169 "2022-04-11T14:24:39Z")
Snow days: That reminds me… I worked at a facility where we were allowed to set our own daily start time, as long everyone was present during the “core hours” of 9:00 - 3:30. So some people worked 7:00-3:30, some 7:30-4:00, and so on, up to 9:00-5:30. One day it started to snow HEAVILY at 7:30. Snow built up more quickly than I’d ever seen before. Around 9:00 the local cities declared snow emergencies. **In an effort to be fair to all** , we were told that everyone who came in at 7:00 could leave work immediately. Those who came in at 7:30 should continue to work for a half hour and then leave. Those how came in at 8:00 should continue to work for an hour and then leave. Of course, everyone packed up and left immediately. It was bad enough driving through what had already fallen, no one was going to wait and try to drive through any additional snowfall. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/170 "2022-04-11T23:31:05Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Six of us traveled to a week-long conference, and our per diem was really a “per week”: _Here’s X amount for your food this week._ I can see one not-so-insane reason for companies to want receipts. When I first started travelling for business many moons ago, the rule was $50/day per diem for food. For a week’s trip, that would add up to $250, which was a rather princely sum for me at the time. And further, there was frankly no way to spend that much: free breakfast at hotel, sandwich, drink and chips at the company headquarters which would never be more than $5 for lunch, leaving a full $45 for dinner which would have been very fancy for the time (at least for me) and the temptation was to get a gas station sub for dinner and pocket $40 each day. But the boss didn’t like that because he said that the whole idea of the per diem was not to supplement my salary, but to allow his employees to enjoy themselves on these trips and not have to worry about eating Ramen all week and I was thwarting that purpose. He seemed to generally mean it, but it was the same amount of money out of his pocket so I don’t know why it bothered him so much. Then he started requiring receipts and we got to learn the “fake receipt” game. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/171 "2022-04-19T23:49:23Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I can see one not-so-insane reason for companies to want receipts. It’s not insane, but it’s still usually misguided. There’s a reason that my employer pays me in money and not meal vouchers and housing vouchers and automobile vouchers. It’s because I’m the one who is best suited to decide how I want to spend my money. If you’re on a company trip, it’s reasonable for the company to pay a bit extra to cover your extra costs, but once they’ve decided on a fair amount, it shouldn’t make a difference if you want to go have a nice fancy dinner every night, one really blowout dinner on the last night of the week, or eat peanut butter sandwiches and spend the money some other way. Presumably if someone is going to eat peanut butter sandwiches to save the per diem on the trip they’re eating peanut butter sandwiches to save their salary all the other days of the year, so why should the company care about that particular peanut butter sandwiches over the others? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/172 "2022-04-20T03:13:36Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > why should the company care about that particular peanut butter sandwiches over the others? You’re right. Employees are obligated to disclose their dietary patterns and food budgets for appropriate downward modification of their pay. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/173 "2022-04-20T06:18:55Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > If you’re on a company trip, it’s reasonable for the company to pay a bit extra to cover your extra costs, but once they’ve decided on a fair amount, it shouldn’t make a difference if you want to go have a nice fancy dinner every night, one really blowout dinner on the last night of the week, or eat peanut butter sandwiches and spend the money some other way. When the call center I was working at in Tempe was closed in favor of the one in Las Vegas, four of us second-level types got an extra four weeks being flown up to LV and teaching our ways to the people1 up there Monday through Thursday and using Fridays for our job interviews. The flight, car rental, and lodging were already on the company dime so all we had to do was send receipts to expense our meals every week. Breakfast was part of the hotel stay so we’d tank up and skip lunch, then eat at a buffet2 Monday and Tuesday and splurge on Wednesday. Thursday was the flight home so it was a quick snack at the airport. None of the bean-counters complained. On another note, our first morning in Las Vegas the manager wanted to simply put us on the phones instead of instructing. We glanced at each other and said, “Okay, you’re the boss, but we’ll tell the company sending us next week is a waste of money.” He relented. 1Our stats were far superior to Vegas’. Why we were chosen for the closing remains a mystery. 2Vegas buffets were still a cheap loss-leader back then instead of the revenue stream they are today. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/174 "2022-04-20T12:10:31Z")
Years ago, I worked campus security while going to college. For our annual review, the boss had been told to have an average score of three out of five. Apparently, it was too difficult for him to do this, so every single employee in the division was given a three on every single item. No one in higher management complained and that was that. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/175 "2022-04-20T12:39:05Z")
I was working at a law firm in Ventura in 1994. The Northridge Earthquake happened that year, and Ventura got a hell of a shaking even though it was miles away from Northridge. In fact, it knocked out electricity and phones (this was almost before cell phone usage). We got on the radio, and all police and fire and emergency response teams told the public to stay home unless it was an emergency. I stayed home, and all the secretaries and some of the attorneys at my firm stayed home as well. A week or so later, the firm’s partnership decided to dock a day’s pay for that day for all of us stay-at-homers. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/176 "2022-04-20T13:18:50Z")
We need to fill out this pointless “leave taken” document each month, even though the concept of “leave” does not apply to us teachers/researchers, at all. If we forget, we get emails bugging us to do this. It’s so stupid I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/177 "2022-04-20T14:47:45Z")
We fill out a leave document each month for HR indicating when we took holidays, sick time etc. This makes sense as the system that HR uses is linked to payroll and benefits, and tracks all of this. Couple of years ago we got a temporary director who was… more… hands on. Her management style was to walk down the hall every hour or so and peer into offices to make sure everyone had bums in chairs and nobody had snuck off to the washroom. We are all professionals with graduate degrees. In her new unit, we were scattered all around campus. This drove her batty. So she came up with her own employee tracking spreadsheet that we were all supposed to fill out daily, and she’d compare this spreadsheet with the one we sent to HR every month, scrutinizing each one in detail to look for discrepancies. This, in her mind, was “managing us”. She genuinely thought this double bookkeeping system and utter waste of time was the model of efficiency. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/178 "2022-04-20T14:58:30Z")
Well, TBF it gave her something to do during the day. I have developed a hypothesis that managers are paid piece-rate. The more things they find to worry about the more they get paid. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/179 "2022-04-20T15:02:39Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > We need to fill out this pointless “leave taken” document each month, even though the concept of “leave” does not apply to us teachers/researchers, at all. I’m not sure what you mean by the concept of leave doesn’t apply to teachers/researchers at all. I can understand that if someone works on an academic year basis, they may not have any paid vacation time in addition to the vacations built into the academic schedule - but all the teachers I know get at least a few sick days/personal days each year, and the people keeping track of that have to be notified that they were used somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273/180 "2022-04-20T15:09:15Z")
I recently wrapped up a consulting gig that was 100% remote. Near the end of last year, we got a note that all workers, even contractors, needed to submit proof of vaccination within the next week (it came with no notice at all, and unsurprisingly caused a lot of consternation on the team I was managing, most of whom were permanent employees, but some of whom were also 100% remote). I considered ignoring it, but instead just uploaded it…it was dumb, but not worth the argument. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-unreasonable-pointless-inane-illegal-or-just-plain-insane-policies-youve-been-subjected-to-in-the-workplace/962273.md?page=10)