‘What’s the weirdest thing that got you into trouble at work?’ – 23 proper jaw droppers
People have been sharing the weirdest things they got into trouble for at work after @katieharr1988 over on Twitter asked this.
What’s the weirdest thing you ever got in trouble at work for?
I was accused of being disrespectful because the six people I CCd on an email weren’t listed in order of seniority.
— Katie Harrington (@katieharr1988) October 4, 2021
And people – lots of people – got in touch to share the weird, petty and downright gobsmacking reasons they got into trouble at work.
We’ve read them all (well, quite a few) so you don’t have to and here are our 23 favourites.
1.
I got devoured for multiplying numbers in my head instead of using a calculator because I was “showing off” 🤷♂️😄
— Andrew Kehoe (@AndrewKehoe8) October 4, 2021
2.
I was told off for using a word in a report that my boss didn’t know (“minutiae”). I asked her to give me a list of all the words she didn’t know so that it wouldn’t happen again.
— Jimblimbim (@JasMcN) October 6, 2021
3.
Telling a customer what time we closed at. The company owner felt this was classified information that could be used for a robbery. I wish I was making this up.
— Declan Reilly (@declander) October 5, 2021
4.
Solving a big problem at work, but I didn’t tell my boss how I came up with the solution. When he presented to his bosses, he felt embarrassed he could not answer how HE came up with the idea and HAD TO give up the credit
— Hedy (@msheddylammar) October 5, 2021
5.
Guy I worked with got called in by head of department to be told he walked too slowly, & it gave the impression of not wanting to be there
He asked if they‘d like him to walk around like another guy who rushed everywhere, & they said no, because he looked like he was in a panic
— Jonthemon (@Jonthemon6) October 5, 2021
6.
In an annual review it was said “we’re not allowed to criticize you for this so it’s not really a complaint but… We noticed you really do like your 9 to 5s”
(I.e. why aren’t you working past your contractual hours?)
— KrazyKain (@KainKravitch) October 5, 2021
7.
Generating an entire user manual for a new call centre system.
Handing it to my boss immediately before his meeting with his seniors.Meeting over, he marches to me demanding why my name was on every fucking page’s footnote
“Because I fucking made it”
— Spazdiv Cuntfeatures (@spazdiv) October 5, 2021
8.
As a young postman in the 1970s I got reprimanded and sent home at 3.30 in the morning for wearing trainers. I had to change into proper boots. The supervisor who sent me home was my dad, who had taken me to work in his car. I had to walk home and back.
— Roy Smith (@RS6484) October 5, 2021
9.
I wrote *NB – PLEASE READ* in an email subject to a bunch of people in science and was called up for using offensive language to staff members, because one of them thought I meant “No Bulls***” and not “Nota Bene”, the literal abbreviation for “note this well”.
— Katie Wyer (@KatieWyer0815) October 5, 2021
10.
Not being dead.
There was, unbeknownst to me a person in a Bank I used to work for who had the same (uncommon) name as me, and one weekend he’d sadly died suddenly
I came into work on the Monday and the receptionist kind of scream-howled. I was admonished for joking I was dead
— Chops of Alec (@RLokomotiv) October 5, 2021
11.
New boss asked me to cut & paste some info in a Word document & was aghast when I did so using the, er, cut & paste function. Swore at me, then made me print the doc out, cut it up with a pair of scissors to move paragraphs around & then re-type it from scratch in the new order.
— Annie Kirby 🌊🦭🐳🧜♀️🧜 (@DoctorKirbs) October 5, 2021
12.
I asked a director’s secretary when he was free to sign a doc and she told me to ask him myself. I did, and he asked me why I hadn’t just asked his secretary. I told him she told me to ask him myself. He was annoyed. She reported me to my line manager for being insubordinate.
— Caoimhe Kiernan (@CaoimheKiernan) October 5, 2021
