I was just chatting with a friend and we were talking about the stupidest things we've been disciplined for at work.

75 Comments

1. AnonymousDecember 22,2022 at 9:44PM UTC

   I was once written up because I was taking PTO. Mind you it was earned hours of PTO, but my Director personally felt that I should always have more than a week of PTO in the bank, "just in case". I only had a few days in the bank and that wasn't enough in her eyes, so she wrote me up. HR did not add the letter to my file since it was not company (US Government employer) policy.

2. AnonymousDecember 22,2022 at 11:58PM UTC

   At my job they blow thru their time so quickly lol .I always carry a week just in case. But who cares as long as you have time. She seems too worried about the wrong thing. You earned it

3. AnonymousDecember 23,2022 at 1:48PM UTC

   Geez. Which government agency was that?

4. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 12:14AM UTC

   Craziness!

5. Michele LaCagninaDecember 23,2022 at 1:21AM UTC

   I got in trouble for reading a book at lunch. Accused of being anti social.

6. AnonymousDecember 24,2022 at 5:43PM UTC

   Oh wow...that's crazy

7. Balanced372207December 25,2022 at 4:16PM UTC

   I have heard that happen to people on the job before. Or if you are scrolling through your cell phone on your UNPAID lunch hour. Sometimes it is better to read a book, and not get involved with the office drama.

8. AnonymousDecember 23,2022 at 4:47AM UTC

   Using a recently renovated mens room because the only ladies room in the building had the entire ceiling crash down due to a leak, and there literally was no way to access the toilet. I knew that the mens room had been cleaned the night before and no one had used that bathroom before I did. The owner of the company came out of his office, and verbally berated me in front of my team (all men) for using that bathroom. When I tried to explain the reason why I used that particular bathroom, he had the nerve to tell me that i was using the ladies room ceiling as an excuse!

9. AnonymousDecember 23,2022 at 6:31PM UTC

   OMG. What a jerk!!

10. AnonymousDecember 23,2022 at 2:44PM UTC

    On a very cold snowy day I wore snow boots all day. I was brought into a conference room and told that I should always bring extra more appropriate work shoes just in case a client comes in. We had to close early that day for a snow emergency - no clients were going to come into the office.

11. AnonymousDecember 24,2022 at 5:43PM UTC

    They were correct to tell you to have an extra pair of professional shoes. You should have changed from your snow boots which were likely dirty, grimy and wet from sloshing around in the snow to work appropriate shoes, regardless of whether clients are expected.

12. misskelleypDecember 25,2022 at 2:43AM UTC

    Wow, talk about no human decency in that place to work...

13. Balanced372207December 25,2022 at 4:14PM UTC

    i always had a complete change of clothes, with shoes and accessories, in the trunk of my car, "just in case."

14. AnonymousDecember 23,2022 at 5:41PM UTC

    The staple girls did not like how I stapled their documents at a contract job. They had just thrown a stack of paper onto my desk and proceeded to gossip all day. I used a wrong word, “hell,” to express my frustration to the manager. The contract assignment ended shortly thereafter because, according to them, it was an inappriate word. Thanks for bringing up this topic.

15. AnonymousDecember 24,2022 at 5:40PM UTC

    It is an inappropriate word to use at work. In fact cussing and any off color language in the work environment is unprofessional.

16. AnonymousDecember 24,2022 at 9:57PM UTC

    It was such a juvenile environment. The client is seldom held accountable for their employees’ conduct. I should have cussed in one of the many foreign languages I know instead. Mind you, I know what a professional environment looks like in action.

17. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 2:39AM UTC

    That's silly. Adults need to be able to tolerate a little language once in a while. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

18. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 1:48PM UTC

    Sit in a teachers’ lounge at lunch. You’ll hear a lot worse than that.

19. Balanced372207December 25,2022 at 4:27PM UTC

    Can't blame the teachers. They deal with school administrators who wouldn't last five minutes in a class full of hostile students, and parents who think their children can do no wrong. And those same teachers are always being told that it's their fault that little Johnny or little Janey can't (or won't) learn.

20. AnonymousDecember 23,2022 at 7:08PM UTC

    At my 1st job in 2006, I was told to "call" if I was going to be late.
    Late meant after 9:00. Thing is, everyday I left my apartment at 8:05 - 8:10 for a 30 minute commute (walking and train combined) because the NYC subway is not reliable. There's always delays and at least 3 times a week, we'd stop in our tracks for an unknown amount of time. I'd be standing there, sweating bullets, because I was packed into the train like a sardine. These delays are why I left when I did. Sometimes I'd be at my desk at 8:40 and sometimes I'd walk in at 9:01 (literally). One day, my manager called me over and asked that I call him to let him know if I was going to be late (this is the 9:01 day). I apologized and explained to him when and why I leave at the time I do everyday and sometimes the train gets stuck at the very end making that early arrival nothing but a dream. This is 2006 so I also had to tell him that since cell phones didn't work that far underground, it would have been impossible to call. He just looked at me and said, please call if you're going to be late. I continued to stand up for myself, and politely tried to say that 9:01 isn't terribly late and there are many times when I am here before that time, but he didn't care. He was a clown and as a fellow NYer, he should know that getting stuck on the train isn't uncommon. Thankfully I was good enough at that job and eventually another manager from a different department poached me to join his team after 8 months.

21. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 2:46PM UTC

    I worked in NYC and had to take the “C” train from Rockaway Park, NY. One day I was 5 minutes late. The owner said, the next time I was late I would be fired. Well the next day the “C” train was not working. I had to take a bus and then a different train. I was 5 minutes late, sweating bullets! The obiss said I thought you wouldn’t be able to come to work today. I told him I had to take a bus and a train which was twice as much and unaffordable to me on a regular basis. After 1 years time I got a different job for much more money. He didn’t want me to quit and would’ve given me $1000 raise. His loss! This was back in the late ‘80’s. I went from $12K to $15K. It was a big difference to me!

22. AnonymousJanuary 4,2023 at 9:00PM UTC

    Good for you! Getting disciplined for being late because of unreliable transportation, from a fellow NYer especially, is just disgraceful. I'm happy it worked out for you!

23. AnonymousDecember 24,2022 at 2:36PM UTC

    Crying because my spouse died 2 months earlier and I was still emotional. Was told to take a walk so I wouldn’t cry.

24. CosmosMomDecember 25,2022 at 1:14PM UTC

    I was “talked to” for being upset at work because my partner had gotten violent at me the night before and I was shocked and unsure of what to do next.

25. Balanced372207December 25,2022 at 4:10PM UTC

    My daughter was fired when she came back from FMLA that she used to care for her father, before he went into a nursing home, where he died from COVID. Her supervisor said that he was going to die, anyway, so why bother about going to see about his care.

26. AnonymousDecember 26,2022 at 5:59AM UTC

    I think I would have decked her! Or at least gave her a mean look! I could envision myself being nasty!! What an awful, heartless B!!

27. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 12:10AM UTC

    Your daughter’s supervisor is despicable.

28. Balanced372207December 30,2022 at 7:12PM UTC

    I wanted to, but at the time I worked at the local county prison, and I did not like the accommodations there.

29. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 7:26PM UTC

    Oh oh!!!! Oh hell no!!!! I feel you here. I was put on that PIP the week after I buried my mother. Companies and ‘supervisors’ like that are bad. Flat out bad. I’m absolutely sorry this happened to you. Disgusted.

30. Rt WlDecember 24,2022 at 11:33PM UTC

    Stapling in the upper left is wrong?

    I never heard that before.

31. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 12:39PM UTC

    Believe it or not I have. One guy I worked with wanted a specific way, it had to be far enough in but not too far. He actually took the time to give a lesson to new employees.

32. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 3:50PM UTC

    Raising my hand on this - and just talking about this too. How do some people keep their job. This former coworker made such a fuss about where something was stapled that my department had to have a meeting on it - and basically be warned what could happen if she complained again.

33. misskelleypDecember 25,2022 at 2:35AM UTC

    Perfume - when remote working?? seriously?? What is this world coming to?

34. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 1:31PM UTC

    That is really something. I was working part-time as a cashier at Marshall's. One of the supervisors kept making threats about firing an employee for just leaving a security sensor on one of the back tables. The supervisor then made up some story saying I threw the finger at her, which I didn't even do. I winded up having to file a complaint against her with the HR Ethics hotline.

35. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 1:39PM UTC

    I was once written up for wearing white tennis shoes to work, even though I did not own tennis shoes or white shoes (I strictly wore black flats to that job).

    Same place wrote me up for not spending my unpaid lunch period in their breakroom, which had nothing but counters (no chairs or stools, you could only stand).

    Another place fired myself and others without cause by the manager when she discovered she was being investigated by HR for creating a toxic work environment.

36. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 2:40PM UTC

    I am utterly floored at what I’m reading here. And I thought my PIP was stupid beyond belief.

37. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 3:52PM UTC

    I worked at a Swedish retail store while I was in college and had a coworker who was a real nutter. She reported me to our supervisor for spreading rumors and gossiping at the company holiday party. I was then called into a meeting with the supervisor who gave me notice but would not tell me what I supposedly said because that would be continuing the rumor. The kicker was, I didn’t even go to the party—volunteered to cover the shift at the store since I needed the money!

    It was absolutely surreal and I couldn’t figure out what the whole point was.

38. Balanced372207December 25,2022 at 4:24PM UTC

    I wasn't disciplined. I was spied on. I was at home on FMLA, recovering from a mastectomy. This was during the height of COVID when people were not supposed to be "visiting" anyone. A coworker came to my house ostensibly to bring me a hot meal. I opened the door and let her in. She looks at me up and down (this was three weeks after my surgery, and I still had drains in my body). She says, "well, you look well to me. When are you coming back to work?" So, I open my shirt, exposing drains and all, and say, "the nurse that comes to dress the wound only comes twice a week (which was true), and I need some help doing it all by myself." Coworker looks like she is about to vomit and turns what my African American family would call, "Casper ghost white." I suppose she reported back to HR about my condition, because I never was spied on again, and when my oncologist and surgeon both sent notice that I would be off for a minimum of 10 weeks, I had no problem extending my FMLA.

39. AnonymousDecember 26,2022 at 5:57AM UTC

    Good for you!!

40. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 4:52PM UTC

    I cannot remember if it was a firing-type offense, or how angry she'd get, but I once worked somewhere we weren't allowed to use scissors. All things need cut had to be done on the table blade. No pencils were allowed in the office, even for internal things. She required that every email that left the office going to a client be personally approved by her. Difficult place to work even though I really loved the work itself.

41. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 6:17PM UTC

    I have a lot of these so I will pick my favorites: 1.) I was fired (they said I quit) for transposing the length and width measurements for a very expensive rectangular frame (all sides looked exactly the same) we had to order. They say they had to replace the frame costing the store several hundred dollars. I asked why they didn't rotate the frame to see it would fit perfectly before paying for a replacement. They didn't understand my question. I apologized for making the documentation error, but this was not good enough. 2.) I was fired because my boss hated me, mostly because the twins were poisoning him against me. They didn't like me. This wouldn't cut it for HR, so the first silly mistake I made was enough. Don't make phone calls to your team members (employees) during their working hours, people! 3.) I was written up bc i told a patient I would be right with them, and turned to complete my note. My co-worker was available 30s before me so she assisted the patient. Supposedly, this patient complained.

    **I believe all of these are based on some kind of discrimination, and I would bet most of our experiences with this can be tied to a form of discrimination.

42. Bradford McCormickDecember 25,2022 at 6:41PM UTC

    Dumb? Computer programming. Back in the early 1970s I had a manger who was an ethical giant, a master of the job skill and a sincere people-centered leader. He rose to AVP in a big bank. His 3rd line had a mission-critical project and he asked him to go back to do the very hardest part of the computer programming. He did and he told me "It was the best work I ever did in my life", which was saying something for this person. What was his reward? the 3rd line fired him because his toadies were frightened he might be building a power base againt them in the company and they gave the 3rd line an ultimatim: them or him. The 3rd line's cardiologist had told him he had to reduce his stresss level, so he fired the ethical giant

    As for stupd things, I am male and I alwsys had to get a haircut even though a hated it (I never was a hippie; I just was traumatied from toddlerhood by haircuts) Finally when worked in IBM Research I ws freed from that torment. What does getting a haircut have to do with doing a job, especially in the back office; I was not a sales rep?

43. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 7:37PM UTC

    1.

    For taping my name on the back of my ergo chair so it didn’t disappear in a dept where others were nororiously taking our chairs on their shift and not returning them. Wasted my time often trying to find it.

    2. Not having 50 additional copies ready immediately for an internal meeting when the speaker last minute changed her presentation. Mind you, the big copier was broken & our on site Print shop was frantically trying to print the large packets for this 7 hour conference.

    3. Calling in sick when I fell off my bike and fractured my clavicle. This was at a nursing home as I was a patient care provider.

44. Gwendolyn FreeDecember 25,2022 at 7:38PM UTC

    For speaking up in a meeting to a new manager! My old manager stopped the meeting, & asked me to continue what I was saying. I refused and he wrote me up for it! I door yo his supervisor and explained how he handled the meeting. I was given the opportunity to not meet with him without a supervisor and pick another team I wanted to work on. I resigned shortly after that!

45. Melissa BetetaDecember 25,2022 at 8:48PM UTC

    I got written up for clocking in 30 seconds late. I had 0 infractions prior to that. Little did they know, I was late and limped into my job because the night before I had endured domestic violence from my ex husband (husband at that time.) 6 months later I got written up for being in another departments office, even though I was talking to a coworker about work related items. I was given the ultimatum to quit or get fired and I let them fire me.

    At another job, I ended up catching Covid while I was visiting my hometown, came back to work, tested that evening, which was positive and was out for 10 days. After getting Covid, I got strep and tonsillitis, which set me back 3 more days. I came back and was let go a couple months later for things that happened while I was out with Covid and strep.

46. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 6:36PM UTC

    I missed a day of work due to domestic violence. The cops called my boss to say I was going to miss work. I was written up for giving less than 2 hours notice. I nearly died that night. No one cared.

47. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 7:23PM UTC

    I am so sorry.

48. Melissa BetetaJanuary 7,2023 at 3:08PM UTC

    At least you were smart to tell the cops. I did call the cops, they came, but I told them my husband just got back from his 4th deployment and he was having ptsd, which absolutely wasn’t the case. I should have told them everything that happened because I nearly died that night/morning as well. I had been with my husband for 10 years at that point and felt I owed it to him to not lose his career. Boy was I wrong and truly dumb. It’s alright, it was certainly a learning lesson that will NEVER happen again. On another note, I am glad you are alive and hopefully in a much better place now.

49. AnonymousDecember 25,2022 at 9:07PM UTC

    My coworker kept putting a trash can directly in front of a power panel box. I kept moving it (b/c it’s illegal to place anything w/in 3 feet of a panel box) and she kept moving it back after I left for the day. I explained to both her and my boss that it’s illegal and a fire hazard and since this is right outside my office it really concerned me for my safety. They both agreed that the trash can shouldn’t live there. But she just said that in front of him to save face. The next day the trash can was back in front of the panel box. We played this game for about another week when the facilities guys came in and noticed it shouldn’t be there and scolded me b/c my office is closest. I explained to them the entire situation and their solution was to place black and yellow striped caution tape 3 feet out from the box and post a sign on the box that stated it is an OSHA violation to place anything inside the caution tape.

    (Which should have been done when they installed the box, but I digress.) Co-worker lost her shit when she came in the next day and saw what they did. She blamed the entire thing on me. Yelled at me and told me I had no right to change anything in a public space. She didn’t care that I didn’t actually do it. Then she went to our boss and our boss has no idea how to properly deal with conflict so he just handed off the entire situation to HR. HR brought us in to have conversations on what happened. She agreed to everything they laid out for her and told her to stop acting like a child but for the next few months, she amped up her saltiness towards me and acted like a “mean girl” any chance she got. It was pathetic. I was in my 30s and she was in her 60s. It was a complete waste of my time and so ridiculous. I mean the law/OSHA rules are pretty clear!

50. AnonymousDecember 26,2022 at 7:32AM UTC

    Wow! That was one very unhappy, jealous, controlling witch with a B!

    And sad the boss was too much of a wimp to "do the right thing" and manage the situation without pawning it off on HR. How ridiculous!

51. Melissa BetetaDecember 26,2022 at 1:43AM UTC

    Thank you for your kind words! I work for an amazing company now and absolutely love my job! I had to stay positive as it can only go up from here and it certainly did!

52. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 7:24PM UTC

    So glad you landed on your feet!

53. AnonymousDecember 26,2022 at 5:51AM UTC

    Don’t you hate it !?! Ugh

54. AnonymousDecember 26,2022 at 11:43AM UTC

    I‘d been working for a smallish branch of a German company ~250 people. I got a ‚talking to‘ for having a conversation with the top manager. Because ‚one wouldn’t do that in Germany.

    i had to write a 68 cent check for personal calls.

    My automated system sent out reminders that dept heads needed to update some info. One guy took it as a nasty gram and spent 45 minutes on the phone complaining to me. I said I couldn’t spend any more time discussing and that I was ending the call. Got chewed out for hanging up and not letting this guy vent all day.

    i caught a coworker forging a signature. HR told me that the coworker was only trying to help, and then I was commanded to streamline the process that ‘forced’ her to do the forgery.

55. AnonymousDecember 26,2022 at 11:56PM UTC

    Staying late to meet deadlines.

    That was twisted to infer that I was incompetent.

56. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 1:57PM UTC

    I once was let go from a contract position after the boss found out I was 17 instead of 21. (I graduated HS early and took a summer job before starting college) He found out because he asked me out for drinks and when I said no the first four times he kept pressing. I finally told him that I couldn't go into a bar because I was not 18. Got a call from my recruiter that evening and was told not to go back. Problem was, I had to. I had left stuff at my desk, and I had their mail bin and keys to the PO box. The rest of the staff had no idea I had been "removed from my position". I had been working there for over three months.

57. Rebecca A BrittDecember 27,2022 at 3:21PM UTC

    I was faxing a document to a client and to the person paying the bill...two different people. The client should NOT have seen the bill.

    Boss wrote the two fax numbers down for me on the back of the fax sheets.

    Client called, having received the bill.

    My boss was furious. Asked me to do it again. Same thing happened.

    He came over and WATCHED me type the numbers into the fax machine. Client called AGAIN.

    Finally, I figured out, after he and his girlfriend called me an idiot for not knowing how to fax, that HE'D written the wrong fax numbers on the documents.

    No apology and I was fired.

58. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 6:29PM UTC

    Holy crap!! What is wrong with these people???

59. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 9:45PM UTC

    Pathetic when people cannot admit to their mistakes and apologize. Hope you got unemployment for their wrongful termination.

60. Rebecca A BrittDecember 27,2022 at 3:23PM UTC

    Fired for "making pretty pictures on my computer" and not doing what the other "secretaries" were doing.

    I was the graphic designer for a client newsletter.

    My manager, when firing me said, "You need to know that this is about perception rather than reality."

    Also, they were mad because I replace a girl who was their friend and having an affair with one of my coworkers. And the company was eventually shut down for off-shore money laundering and several people went to jail, so I win.

61. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 9:47PM UTC

    Insane! How about allow a person's integrity rather than perception of? That's sad!!

62. AnonymousDecember 27,2022 at 9:47PM UTC

    False positive drug test for medications I had current prescriptions for. Gave them all the proof they needed.

63. AnonymousDecember 29,2022 at 9:11PM UTC

    I need you to elaborate more about the perfume thing! How? Why??

    I was once fired from a vet's office because I cried (just a little teary eyed actually) when a sweet old dog came in to be put down.

64. AnonymousDecember 30,2022 at 11:06PM UTC

    OP here - she was allergic and got upset if anyone wore that perfume. (She's an executive so she thinks she owns the place.)

65. Rebecca A BrittDecember 30,2022 at 5:20AM UTC

    Dress codes are so petty and usually sexist, racist and misogynistic (or all three!)

66. AnonymousDecember 30,2022 at 11:11PM UTC

    I actually interviewed for a company that asked me to read the handbook while I waited to be seen. "no white socks" and "earrings can only be studs" - and even more items. The owner was a massive misogynist. I was desperate and still hanging in there until he gave me elevator eyes and asked if I had a gym membership - then I told him to go to hell. He's out of business now.

67. AnonymousDecember 31,2022 at 3:59PM UTC

    That is not always true. There are many industries that are conservative and want their employees to dress in suits, dresses which has nothing to do with racism, sexism or misogyny and everything to do with protecting their corporate image. On the flip side I've seen people dressed for work like they were going to a club which is inappropriate.

68. Rebecca A BrittJanuary 1,2023 at 3:29AM UTC

    I’ll grant you if it’s “everyone must wear a suit” but usually it’s “everyone must wear a suit and women must have a skirt below the knees, and wear stockings and closed toed shoes, and one necklace, discreet earrings, etc.”

    it’s never just a suit. I worked at one place and women had to wear a suit that has to be a skirt. I wasn’t allowed to wear pants.

69. AnonymousDecember 31,2022 at 12:30AM UTC

    That's pretty sad and I'm sorry you had to go through such discrimination. I am all for dress codes to a degree. Work attire should reflect professionalism while allowing for individual style. The attire should be clearly defined and enforced equally for all employees.

70. AnonymousDecember 31,2022 at 4:00PM UTC

    What group of people is affected by upholding a dress code?

71. Rena CromerDecember 31,2022 at 9:39PM UTC

    I never thought about the gray hair being part of the dress code/discriminatory until it happened to me. At age 26 I started graying prematurely and I barely was being paid enough to be able to afford the proper attire to wear to work, let alone the $$$ it cost to constantly get my hair dyed, so I let it grow out and I got called out by my boss for my GRAY HAIR!!! - AND.....she was a woman!!! SMH

    Now I work at a university where my gray hair is cherished :-)

72. TiffanyDecember 31,2022 at 11:45PM UTC

    I’ve also had issues with dress code. Tattoos and piercings completely negate my years of experience and knowledge.

73. AnonymousJanuary 1,2023 at 8:18AM UTC

    I was once teaching regular ed. at a charter school once. The principal let me go for doing my job and for going to the allergist. I have issues with my allergies.

    One of the kids, kept opening the computers up and would remove the memory around Halloween. It didn't help that I had to do training for a teacher inservice on Thanksgiving.

    It didn't help me that the principal promised one of his friends a job. I winded up losing my job and the other man got my job. I heard complaints from parents saying that the kids couldn't u understand a word from the man who got my job. The main spoke Turkish.

74. AnonymousMarch 24,2023 at 3:34PM UTC

    I've been disciplined for helping my subordinates clean. The best part of my day used to be just hanging out with the shooting the breeze. There didn't have to be long detailed conversations in order to reassure them they're appreciated. Small gestures like that I felt were appreciated and appropriate. However the reaction of the bosses said otherwise...

75. AnonymousApril 27,2023 at 9:54PM UTC

    I got written up for telling an outside contractor that I didn’t get a voicemail from our mutual customer about scheduling an installation. I was on a private call and I was told “someone from another department overheard the conversation.” The alleged person then told their manager who reported me to HR claiming I named my coworker as deleting my messages, and stealing my sales leads. I never said that. I merely said I wasn’t getting my voicemails.