30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life

People rarely like others telling them what to do. It takes away our agency, our ability to make decisions, and our freedom to act a certain way. It can also remind us of our childhood, but not in a good way. It takes us back to our early years when parents controlled our lives and we had little say in what we could or couldn’t do.

Some rules, of course, are there for our safety. But others, especially implemented by bosses at work and teachers in school, can be borderline absurd. One person recently asked, "What's the most ridiculous rule you've had to follow at work or school?" and it seemed to bring back lots of memories for folks online. Over 1,000 people shared their stories where nonsensical rules at work or school left them exasperated, living rent-free in their minds to this day.

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30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life During COVID, my boss wanted everybody to wear masks while on zoom calls. It mattered not, whether you were in your private office or working from home.

You’re a freaking idiot, Sharon!

Derroe42 , Edward Jenner / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

137points

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Sue Denham 4 months ago

I would have encouraged my colleagues to wear masks - Halloween masks.

49points

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30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life Boys weren't allowed to have buzz cuts or hair below their ears. Nor were they allowed to wear shorts.

Girls had zero clothing rules.

So yeah a lot of the boys started wearing skirts in the baking summers and grew manbuns.

A couple of girls got buzz cuts.

X0AN , Ron Lach / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

104points

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notlikeyou1971 4 months ago

It's usually the girls who have so many ridiculous dress rules. I am really really surprised that the roles are reversed here. Schools are ridiculous

65points

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30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life I work at a school. Our principal requires females to wear bras to be "professional." If she suspects someone is not wearing a bra, we have to verify the bra is present. Not by the shoulder strap, but by the around the chest strap. Yes, we have to ask teenage girls to pull up their shirt and show us the actual bra.

I told the principal I'm not comfortable doing that and don't think wearing a bra is indicative of professionalism. I'm thinking about not wearing a bra just to see if she notices.

jevoudraiscroire , Maryia Plashchynskaya / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

96points

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CK 4 months ago

Is that even legal? It shouldn't be.

172points

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This is minor in the grand scheme of things but I was 17 and it was the first time I ever encountered people leaning on their authority and rampant stupidity.

I had a summer job in a b-brand doritos factory. It was a surprisingly chill thing, there were 2 of us charged with making sure the right amount of boxes ended up on every pallet going into trucks, then help with the loading.
And you had to fix up the mixed pallets, that had a few boxes each.

You'd line up the pallets at the docking bay, and do a final count, and mark on a paper that you counted.

I said I had counted, and the regular said "I didn't see you count".
I said "Look, 2x3x4 on the bottom, 2x3x2 on top, and 4 loose ones"
He said "No, count"
And started walking around and counting 1, 2, 3, 4, etcet. And of course came to the same count.

But I wasn't allowed to use multiplication. I had to do the walkaround.

sanderjk Report

Final score:

90points

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Bernd Herbert 4 months ago

Math is the devil's work, didn't you know?

68points

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They told the girls, in the north of England, that they couldn't wear trousers in winter. New Headmaster was religious which explains the insanity. So a good number of us boys borrowed skirts and rocked up in them. We all got suspended for the day.

That got fixed real quick. Bit of a shame really. Skirts are really comfortable to wear.

Ok-Fox1262 Report

Final score:

87points

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Kalikima Premium 4 months ago

Personally, I find pants to be more comfortable.. but a skirt is nice when it's hot out.

40points

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30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life My husband has to take a class every year on dealing with dangerous chemicals in the workplace. He and his whole team are 100% remote. He works from our spare bedroom.

ShortButFriendly , nappy / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

86points

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Gabriele Alfredo Pini 4 months ago

Some clients require me to take classes on site safety. I work from my home as a programmer and the sites are in another nation.

40points

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30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life The boss told me to gather login details and pin codes for all the employees phones and personal email accounts. I said no. He fired me.

EDIT: he fired people all the time. He was an idiot. He always rehired them within days when he realized he couldn't fulfill the contracts without us .

lux_roth_chop , Ivan Samkov / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

83points

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Aidan Campbell 4 months ago

Data protection and privacy breach

53points

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30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life If you showed up late to class too many times you were suspended for three days. But if you know you're gonna be late and just show up at the beginning of second period, nothing happened to you. You would be punished for being late but not missing class.

Quest4life , Diana/ pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

83points

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Corwin 02 4 months ago

Again one of those rules where people do not think about a bigger picture.

41points

Amy Dodds 4 months ago

and the punishment is... missing more class?

7points

Jaya 4 months ago

I had a similar thing. Because I was 18 during the last year of school, I was allowed to sign my own absence notes, but was no such thing as a late note, so if I was late, I would just skip a class to avoid trouble.

3points

Janissary35680 4 months ago

Brilliant

1point

Pickle (any pronouns) 4 months ago

In my school, if you're late more than four times per term (from year 10 onwards) you can't go on a big trip in year 11, formal, etc (you can still graduate though). It's really dumb considering that this is one of the top schools in the state.

1point

Busybee 4 months ago

Oh, a similar rule in my school. If u showed up late for the early morning class, u had to pay a fine according to the number of minutes u were late. So people would just skip the morning class and show up for the regular class

1point

TheBlueBitterfly 4 months ago

Like one of my jobs. You accumulated the same amount of points for being over 7 minutes late as a "late call-off" (calling in sick later than 4 hours prior to the start of your shift). So if I knew I was going to be late (I rode the bus and it was road construction season) I'd just call off 10 minutes before my shift started.

1point

Tristan J 4 months ago

Malicious Compliance class

1point

Queeqec 4 months ago

2nd period? Means second hour?

0points

Janissary35680 4 months ago

Second scheduled class of the day. It may or may not have been an actual hour.

0points

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WoodenLion 4 months ago

once if i was going to miss the day i had to call 1/2 hour before my shift started. late - call within 30 minutes after shift starts.not going and it's past 1/2 hour before shift starts? call in late for one hour and then call back for the whole day.. [when you called for late, your new shift start time was when you said you would be in] then you are calling in miss-a-day before your new shift starts.

0points

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They insisted bringing us back to the office after being fully remote for 2 solid years because we need to "team-build" and collaborate. Then they send out email warnings that we are not to talk to each other or socialize too much.

GenXQuietQuitter88 Report

Final score:

81points

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Kylie 4 months ago

Erm, okay then.

31points

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#10

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life I was written up for having torn jeans in highschool. Only thing is I had just torn them in shop class .

SafeBathroom3759 , Eddson Lens / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

79points

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Pan Narrans 4 months ago

Oh, I would be having a field day with that teacher!

39points

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#11

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life Freshman year of high school, 1968, got a detention because I was wearing pants with belt loops without a belt.

New_Menu_2316 , Карина Каржавина/ pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

78points

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Hphizzle 4 months ago

The horror!!!

30points

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#12

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life It was against uniform/dress-code to wear my glasses.

It was a skin care and make up retail job, and the then-owner justified it as “customers should be able to see our skin and makeup clearly”.

eemyeemy , Carlos Vaz / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

75points

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TheElderNom 4 months ago (edited)

That's stupid on so many levels but on an other note, that earring looks uncomfortably heavy.

69points

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#13

When I was a bus driver, we had a rule that you had to wear a high-viz vest anytime you stepped outside. One day I clocked out and was going to my car, and that day I happened to get the parking spot directly outside the front door; I got yelled at for not wearing my vest. I told them that I was off the clock, and they can't tell me what to do when I'm not on the clock, and that the only thing separating the door from my car was four feet of sidewalk and if we had a bus driving on the sidewalk in-between the building and the parked cars, we have a much bigger problem than me not wearing my vest. I then left without putting the vest on.

A911owner Report

Final score:

75points

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Meagan Glaser 4 months ago

*rogue asteroid zooms towards earth, about to smash when OOPS thats a high vis vest! Back to space I go* OP is endangering the species

38points

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#14

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life Worked for a company that limited how much water we could drink from their water cooler everyday (16 ounces). I would bring in gallon jugs from home everyday just to show them how ridiculous they were being.

MynameisMatlock , Safari Consoler / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

72points

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Corwin 02 4 months ago

I see a court case glaring at the horizon.

20points

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#15

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life My teacher kicked me out of math class for having "too long and red hair" which was the craziest thing I've come across. Now she is fired or in a mental hospital anyway.

lavintiburski , Engin Akyurt / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

70points

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Moon 4 months ago

*me, who has long red hair* I'm illegal

42points

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#16

I had a boss who tried to enforce that we weren’t allowed to meet outside of work without inviting everyone because her and her husband were such nasty people that they had no friends. Her birthday was around Christmas so she’d frequently make the Christmas do a birthday party and make it compulsory. If someone said they couldn’t go, she’d really enquire about why not and get annoyed. She also told another member of staff that she either invited everyone to her wedding, or none of us were going. Not sure how she thought she was going to police that but the girl ended up inviting whoever she wanted anyway and getting a bollocking.

BananaHairFood Report

Final score:

69points

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Bookworm 4 months ago

Do these people really think they can direct their employees' entire lives like Barbie dolls?

7points

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#17

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life A job that required me to be 15 minutes early, but I couldn't clock in until the exact start time. Needless to say, I would show up right on the dot or a couple minutes behind.

Vix_VEE333 , Salim L'hermite Pas Net / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

68points

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XenoMurph 4 months ago

If they require you to be early, you get paid from the time you are required to be there.

57points

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#18

I asked my manager if I really had to come in because I lived so far away out in the boonies and a blizzard was coming. She said yes, so I go. Why am I late? Snow. Then five minutes after I get there they shut the whole store down. Why? Blizzard. Took me 4 hours to go 40 miles.

ocean_flan Report

Final score:

66points

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Jessica Cooney 4 months ago

Yeah no, this happened during the blizzard of 2014 when I worked Walgreens. They wanted us to come and SLEEP in the store so there would always be someone there. I said F that. My life is more important than any job.

57points

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#19

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life Boss said me and one other coworker couldn’t hang out to together outside of work. And could only talk about work related things at work.

ikyc6767 , Canva Studio/ pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

63points

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Liz The Biz 4 months ago

I once had a boss who said we were only allowed to talk about work whilst at work. One day he went out to a meeting. While he was gone my college and I were discussing what an absolute a*****e he could be. When he came back he said, "I could hear voices when I was outside. I hope you were talking about work." We both assured him we definitely were.

15points

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#20

I went to a Catholic high school and our uniform had to come from one store. The pants were expensive as hell and didn’t last. My last pair fell apart so I wore a pair that looked the same but weren’t from the store we had to buy them from. By the end of the day I was in the principals office being threatened with a suspension for being “out of uniform” god I hated that place.

TraditionalTackle1 Report

Final score:

60points

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sdorph 4 months ago

This used to be pretty common where I live, school uniforms could only be bought from licensed stores at about three times the cost of equivalent non-uniform items, it was pretty obvious there were kickbacks happening

59points

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#21

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life No coats allowed indoors at all to the point where you had to take your coat off before you step inside just to make sure you don't get told off. This was also enforced during winter so even if you stay inside where it was still cold you couldn't wear a coat, including break and lunch times.

siddeslof , August de Richelieu / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

57points

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Enuya 4 months ago

I had a professor like this at uni. You absolutely weren't allowed to even bring your coat to the classroom, let alone wear it. Also, our university was always very cold, even in summer, and in winter most of people weren't able to sit through 1,5 h lecture without either very warm sweater or a coat

19points

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#22

Worked a data entry job. The company had a dress code: Business formal. No tattoos, no piercings. Suits with ties, pencil skirts with high heels, you get the idea.

We had ZERO contact with customers or representatives from other companies. Our branch manager (who's actually a decent human being) was very lenient on it since he knew it was entirely pointless. The owner of the company was just vain af and wanted even the data entry slaves to look posh.

KatKaleen Report

Final score:

55points

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JJ 4 months ago (edited)

I work at a private university with an informal dresscode (because they cannot really tell you what to wear). My boss (dean of informatics) gets a reminder to wear a suit every quarter of the year, but won't give in. Same goes for all his profs, my boss backs his entire team. He hired me with visible tattoo on the forearm and a nose ring lol It's probably just the business faculty thinking too much of themselves anyways.

26points

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#23

At my Jr. High we were only allowed to walk one direction in the hallway, like counterclockwise and the building/hallway did a full loop of the school. My locker was like 20 feet from the main entrance, then my first class another 20 or so feet in the wrong direction. Every morning I had to walk all the way around the building to get to my locker, then all the way around the building again to get to my first class. This caused me to be late to my first class many times, and I rode the bus, so literally that was the only thing making me late. I tried going the opposite way for the 20 feet to my locker, but there was always someone watching at that spot. I tried explaining my conundrum to them and they didn't care, they told me to keep walking.

They claimed this rule prevented fights.

Chasin_Papers Report

Final score:

55points

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moggie63 4 months ago

I would have proved the inaccuracy of that statement by punching them.

87points

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#24

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life At one of my previous jobs, we were required to get permission to use the restroom, even during our breaks.

SparkleG1rl_7 , Tim Mossholder/ pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

51points

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Corwin 02 4 months ago

uhm no, I left kindergarten a long time ago

56points

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#25

At my current job, if you call out for being sick or family emergency during times of seasonal events or holidays when it’s very busy we have to actually come to work so my manager can deem you actually aren’t capable of working or that there’s an actual emergency. If you don’t , you will get written up.

indaaronwetrust Report

Final score:

49points

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Kylie 4 months ago

Too bad if you can't crawl out of bed or god forbid, have Covid, right?

29points

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#26

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life Having to submit a paper copy of an email to approve using the printer. Ridiculous micromanagement!

BloomSavvy , engin akyurt / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

45points

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CK 4 months ago

How did they produce the paper copy?

37points

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#27

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life In 1968 our high school football coach insisted that we have crew cuts and to stay away from girls, “They drain your energy and destroy your soul.” .

anon , Pixabay / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

43points

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Pan Narrans 4 months ago

I take it divorce didn't fly with church those days...

26points

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#28

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life We couldn't drink water during class. Hydration isn't important, right?

Independent_Low_1426 , Anna Shvets / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

39points

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Atom Bohr 4 months ago

I think this was pretty common until a few years ago

33points

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#29

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life I worked in an office with a zero tolerance policy for microwave popcorn, because the smell was too "distracting for others."

No other scents or foods were prohibited, but microwave popcorn would result in disciplinary action.

Afraid-Stomach-4123 , charlesdeluvio / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

38points

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John Mosley 4 months ago (edited)

Time to toss a trout in the microwave to show them there are worse smells than delicious popcorn.

73points

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#30

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life Back when I was about 7 or 8 at Primary school we had a crazy old bat for a teacher who insisted that everyone bought a bible and brought it in with them every single day.

ukman29 , Tima Miroshnichenko / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

37points

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Sue Denham 4 months ago

At my High School all students were given a free bible. It became a thing to glue the pages together and carve out a cavity big enough to hold a pack of cigarettes.

63points

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Note: this post originally had 69 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

What's the most ridiculous rule you've had to follow at work or school?

and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 4 months ago

One of my proudest moments in life is when my middle school sent out a b******t “warm weather dress code reminder,” which was super antiquated and unfair (all the “no” pics were girls. Sigh.) I successfully petitioned and got it updated, ex. from “all straps must be three fingers thick, shorts and skirts fingertip length” to “all shirts must have straps and backs, no undergarments or bathing suit parts can be shown.”

10points

Luis Hernandez Dauajare 4 months ago

Funny how so many of these ridiculous rules are in work and not so much at school. Guess adults do not have parents fighting for them or blindly allow literal abuse because we need the paycheck.

6points

Insomniac 4 months ago

My school would not allow us to wear sunglasses at the school. Not even outside in the bright sun. I suffered a TBI when I was 7, and bright sunlight still gives me migraines. They were fine with me fainting, puking, and being sent home. It was far better that I become ill and be deprived of days of my education than to break their precious rule. Oh, and my TBI was caused by the principal's son. It was somehow an "accident" that he threw a massive rock at my head.

5points

Evelyn Wrightsman 2 months ago

No hoodies in my Christian private school. wtf? also no "Flashy headwear" I consulted my teacher about it and he said that the headwear is so no one gets distracted by it. But zero good reasons for the no hoodies. We could have any winter coat we wanted though

Jen D. 4 months ago

This is nonsensical and illegal: had a boss who tried to force me to forge his signature on visa paperwork, and I don't mean the credit card visa. I said no. He also blatantly told me that the paperwork he was trying to get me to sign was just a stop-gap measure to get workers into the office from China without having to wait for a work visa, which can take months. He wanted them in the office by the end of the month. Needless to say, I quit. Sometime after, the company went defunct. I wonder why.

Ivy at Eve 4 months ago

We girls helped petition the boys to wear shorts in summer. It had been an all girl school until two years before I started attending and we successfully argued that we girls were allowed pants between November 1st and Easter so it was only fair the boys were allowed shorts. It took us a year, and there were limits to the kind of shorts but we got there.

Lee Banks 4 months ago

In preschool, there was a rule that 'trucks and books are for boys. Girls may play with dolls.' I didn't last there for long. Mom taught me about sexism, and fully supported every time I got suspended for calling it out.

Lara Verne 4 months ago

When I was in high school, they came with ridiculous rule. It wasn't teacher's or principals fault, but some regulations from auditors. Some 'specialist' came to school and decided how tall your school desk should be, based on your height. It sounds reasonable, but we all ended with knees under chin, as they set desks too low. But according to their charts, it was perfect. It was obviously nonsense and they knew it, but they tried to make teachers enforce this rule. Our teachers had common sense, so they ignored it.

Lucas Gonzalez 4 months ago

When I was in 5th grade we had a rule where any sports balls or equipment had to be taken away 10 minutes before recess ended. They claimed this stopped fights

I had a rule in 5th grade where if anybody got in trouble everyone would be in trouble

Vix Spiderthrust 4 months ago

I live by the sea. My local council, in an effort to curb antisocial behaviour, want to pass an ordinance to say you can't wear anything that covers all or part of your face. That's right: these dumbfucks want to stop us wearing sunglasses...AT THE BEACH.

Mad McQueen 4 months ago

Had a manager that said on day three of being out you had to get a Dr note and text a photo of it with the date of return. Fine an all. Bring note in after being out and doing all that to give them for my file. Oh we throw those out. Kept last one a just change date on it. Also manager under that boss (that boss was replaced) told me one day when I called out I needed a dr note. For one day. I said well then I'll come in as it's not worth the money to go to the dr for a note. Told the new manage, well asked in front of him, when did the Dr note policy change that we need one if out one day? She was like ummmm. So I said well manager said I needed one to be out one day. We went into the office and he ran in too. He said well that's what the old manager told me to say. She said we never needed Dr notes. Good to know. He's gone now too.

30 Of The Dumbest Rules People Were Made To Follow In Their Life

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