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Bored Panda reached out to professor Jeffrey Thomas, student engagement leader and lecturer in behavior management at University Of Tasmania to find out more about group punishment, which punishes a group of people for the actions of one or more unidentified culprits. Thomas explained that we see this frequently in the school system where a teacher may require all students to stay in at lunchtime because one student did not follow a class rule.

Sometimes the punishment can be applied to a whole school community, Thomas told us. “For example, not being allowed to go on an excursion because rubbish was left in the yard. It is a technique that has been around ever since schools have existed and is based on the understanding of behaviorism –the idea that you can modify a person’s behavior through the introduction of external factors,” he explained.

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Every July 4th, there's a great parade in Willimantic, CT - the Boom Box Parade. It's unique and totally inclusive; literally anyone can join, from political groups to the local food co-op, to the karate dojo kids and the Victorian house association, some dude on a skateboard, 4-H clubs, stilt walkers, local businesses, local weirdos, etc. Oh, and did I mention, there's no band, so you have to bring your boom box and tune to the local station - they broadcast the parade music and it fills the air. Very loony, very fun.

Anyway, the street is lined with folks in lawn chairs watching and cheering for people on floats. It USED to be that people on floats would bring super soakers and blast the crowd (in addition to throwing candy and beads), and the best of all was the Hosmer Mountain Soda Company - they had a water cannon in the back of their delivery truck, and they'd fill it with a couple of gallons of water and BLAST this huge squirt of water into the watching throngs. It was great, because of course it's usually around 90 degrees on July 4th in CT, so everyone enjoyed it and screamed and laughed and had a great time.

Or so we thought - a few years ago some lady got mad because their hair got wet, so now there's a rule against any kind of squirt guns or water balloons. Also no "throwing" candy (they can gently place it into a kid's hand). Thanks, you miserable old bag.

disqeau , Clay Banks Report

Final score:

218points

POST

V Martinez 2 years ago

I hate when 1 person ruins it for the masses. Just ban the 1 lone idiot and let the rest of live happy, fun-filled, crazy parade lives!

130points

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered When I was in middle school, I used to play MTG or Yugioh with friends during lunch. Some jackass decided it would be fun to grab my cards while I was in the middle of a game, run to the bathroom, and toss them in the toilet. I brought the issue up to the principal. He responded by banning all trading cards.
Wow, way to punish the victim.

StalinsPerfectHair , Erik Mclean Report

Final score:

188points

POST

Pumpkin Spice 2 years ago

If someone takes my Chandra's Fury card, they'll feel the burn of MY FURY.

38points

In terms of punishment, the professor argues, the external factors are designed to be so unpleasant that the person will not carry out the same behavior in the future. “At an individual level, common classroom punishments could include detentions, cleaning, or missing out on activities that other students enjoy.”

On the other hand, strategies of group punishment are morally and educationally questionable. However, “it is possible to gain short term compliance through the threat of punishment,” Thomas said and added that “in group punishment, the culprit’s actions result in them – and everyone else in the group – being punished.” According to the professor, in this way, students realize that they are the reason for their peers’ punishment and that idea of the associated social harm aims to be the unpleasant external factor that will modify their future behavior.

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered My office used to provide coffee for employees, until one woman complained that this "wasn't fair" to employees who didn't drink coffee. She drank Diet Coke, yes even at 8:00 AM, and she said that if they were going to provide coffee they should also provide Diet Coke. They don't provide coffee anymore.

ThrowAwy6678 , Andrew Neel Report

Final score:

186points

POST

Lauren Caswell 2 years ago (edited)

Boo. I worked at an investment firm that provided drinks (alcohol) on Fridays. I couldn't drink due to meds but sat with them anyway. They started buying cokes for me :) Very nice of them. I didn't mind buying my own: I was free to leave early instead of partaking with the others, but it was like an office bonding thing 🤷‍♀️

98points

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered A company I worked for had free feminine products in the bathrooms. They stopped stocking them because someone would take every single pad and tampon. An email was sent warning that the products wouldnt be stocked if the theft continued. And some f****r still stole them.

analyticalscience11 , Natracare Report

Final score:

186points

POST

Sushi Gurl 2 years ago

SAME THING HAPPENS AT MY HIGH SCHOOL

58points

clover-the-clever , Acton Crawford Report

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered TD Bank used to have a free “Penny Arcade” for customers, that would count all of your change, and give you a slip to get cash from the teller. It was so convenient. And fun for the kids, as they made a guessing game out of it.

Some guy said he was shorted a few pennies, and filed a lawsuit against the bank. And poof, all the penny arcades in all of the banks got closed down.

Even if they missed a few pennies here and there, it’s still way cheaper than the ones in the supermarket that charge for use.

So long story short, f**k that guy.

Final score:

174points

POST

TheDivineMsM 2 years ago

So he sued, which costs hundreds of dollars, over missing like 3 cents, 5 cents.... what a douche.

71points

Kayjunmoon 2 years ago

I thought a penny arcade was the sort of place you get on a pier at the seaside. Sort of old game machines.

13points

ezPZ 2 years ago

What is a penny arcade?

10points

Yoga Kitty 2 years ago

It is explained in the text - a device that counts and keeps your small change and gives you a receipt for the cashier...

23points

Troy Parr 2 years ago

I wonder if people like that guy go through life spoiling things for others time and time again? What would happen if people remembered them and gave out warnings? In this case not only did the customers lose the machines. The manufacturers lost the business and maybe their workers lost jobs? And to think that guy might just have been wrong (or lying) to start with.

6points

Nimues Child 2 years ago

It's like the kid at the back of the class who acts up just to get attention...

0points

Kevin Hickey 2 years ago

Part of the problem is that companies cave in to these people without putting up a fight.

5points

Pronostico Tormentas 2 years ago

That piece of s**t

5points

T J 2 years ago

So that why. I used to take my change to my TD bank every so often. Cabron

4points

Ashley Lynne 2 years ago

OMG ridiculous

3points

Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)

D******d was probably either lying, or was the one who miscounted. They should’ve put an age limit on it, if it was actually meant for kids. Otherwise, banks will either have a coin counter on site, or will put your change in a bag to be sent to a branch that does, then deposit the amount in your account once the amount is confirmed.

1point

Stephen Lyford 2 years ago

Except that the machines were undercounting for thousands of customers. Sure, maybe individual people were only losing a very very small amount, but multiply that by the # of users, you get the idea. Just count your change at home, wrap it, take it to the bank. Don't ever use CoinStar machines, they take like 7% or something as a fee.

1point

Bec 2 years ago

You almost have to though, most banks won't count it for free anymore

1point

Chancey 2 years ago

I was so mad about this!

1point

Untamed Snark 2 years ago

Why was he using a counting machine for his change if he knew the exact amount?

0points

CanadianaKa 2 years ago

Is THAT why they disappeared? They were so damned convenient. Now I have gone back to rolling change and getting the roller papers from the tellers, which is totally a 1st world problem but I loved watching the counters go up as I poured bags in... :D

0points

pat hayes 2 years ago

yeah...f**k that guy!!

0points

AK to LV 2 years ago

It couldn't possibly be that he miscounted! Oh no! Let's go straight to suing the bank🙄🤦🏻‍♀️ Is there a sarcasm emoji?

0points

Micah 2 years ago

I never knew that was the reason why. I used to go to a TD bank branch years ago to use their machine, but then one day it just wasn't there.

0points

Gina Babe 2 years ago

I remember this story. They were so convenient. It wasn't perfect but who cares? It was so convenient

0points

v 2 years ago

"So long story short, f**k that guy." This really is a short story. On top of that it's linguistically efficient in that it can be used for damn near all situations.

0points

However, the education system is not the only place where group punishment is used. In a workplace, group (or collective) punishment may look like less flexibility, more accountability or additional restrictions placed on when and how employees can work, Thomas argues.

“The aim, like in schools, is to rely on individual members of the team to pressure the less productive members into being more diligent and therefore more profitable. The problem is that this approach is unlikely to work in the long term for the underperformer, and is probably going to damage the performance of the other team members,” the professor explained.

The way that punishments produce compliance is by making the person afraid of being caught doing the wrong thing. “This leads to either modifying future behavior through shame and guilt – or being better at not being caught!”

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered I worked for a company that micromanaged the s**t out of its employees. About 8 of us were in a large section together, with individual work stations where we did our jobs, but could see, interact and talk with everyone else. It was a mind numbing job, so socialization is the only way the clock went by faster. If someone was too far away, you’d usually just walk over and talk with them and head back to your work station. As long as we weren’t disruptive, management didn’t care.

Well one lady gets hired that couldn’t understand the concept of an “indoor voice” so she would shout at coworkers from across the room. She also liked to take 20-25 minute breaks instead of 15, thinking nobody noticed. Eventually, management got tired of it and changed the rules. We were no longer allowed to leave our work station, even if the place was empty of customers and we now had to have a timer with us when we went to breaks. If the time read longer than 15 minutes, we would be written up. If we left our work station or spoke too loudly, we’d get written up.

A lot of us ended up quitting shortly afterwards.

anon , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

Final score:

170points

POST

Debra McGeorge 2 years ago

That's the perfect example of how to mis-manage a company. Their loss.

65points

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered I worked at a graphic design and website company, and we had an in-house photography studio too. Nobody there was over 40, and the atmosphere was really relaxed. Almost every member of the team had visible tattoos and we wore jeans/whatever to work every day.

Then an educational software company looking to diversify bought us and put in a corporate dress code stating that we all had to have collared shirts, no visible tattoos, dress shoes, and if I was wearing a skirt it had to be longer than knee length.

We just ignored the rule until the IT guy from corporate stopped in unannounced and snitched on us.

F**k you Mike.

internetdiscocat , JESHOOTS.COM Report

Final score:

163points

POST

Wolfe 2 years ago

eat dirt, mike

68points

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered I work for a company in Massachusetts. We have gps's in our vans now because someone called and asked for a quote to put in a security system in their commerical building. One of our people asked them how they found us (we like to find what ways reach people the best for advertising) and they said they saw one of our company vans........on the strip in Vegas.

anon , grassrootsgroundswell Report

Final score:

159points

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Kamie Jones 2 years ago

🤣

47points

However, the result of group punishment may be exactly the opposite. “In a group punishment situation, the unidentified culprit is doing his or her best to not be caught by not taking responsibility for the behavior – which demonstrates that the initial threat of punishment was ineffective at modifying future behavior – and that culprit has no regard for the class or team.”

According to Thomas, the only mechanism left for being an effective strategy is that the group imposes its own punishment on the culprit. “In a school, this might look like social exclusion or even violence (no one likes their lunchtime taken away!) and can lead to a ‘toxic’ work environment,” he added.

#10

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered One dumb s***head year seven decided to burn their mouth on the coffee they bought at school. Their mother decided to try and sue the school and now we don’t have hot drinks anymore. Hate that kid

anon , Steffan Mitchell Report

Final score:

151points

POST

Pumpkin Spice 2 years ago

Waterboarding is the answer here. Bonus points if it's hot...

46points

#11

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered In my office, we used to have free candy bars (the small / bite size) at the exec admin's desk. Someone demanded a certain candy bar or complained that there was too much of one kind of candy, not sure which was the issue. The EA got really annoyed at their brattiness and got rid of the free candy. No more afternoon snackies.

GorditoCat , Juushika Redgrave Report

Final score:

132points

POST

NannyChachi 2 years ago

When I was working as a paper nurse at a clinic I kept a big jar of candy on my desk. Never had any complaints, but sure got alot of smiles.

31points

#12

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered One of my coworkers was snooping around and opening people's pay stub letters. He managed to keep his job (union...) but now all paystubs are sent through email.

But that's not the kicker. This same guy complained that the part time staff where getting paid to much. As a result, the full time staff didn't get a wage increase, but they cut the rate for part time staff. This resulted in a $10 per hour difference gap now. He was no better off, he just made life worse for all the part time staff.

Over time, they have closed the gap a little, but wow.

IceBear14 , Andy Nguyen Report

Final score:

129points

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Joe Blowe 2 years ago

Full time staff get benefits, part time staff do not. That could have been part of the reason for the difference in pay.

33points

In addition to being unlikely to change the culprit’s behavior, group punishment is likely to create worse behaviour in the rest of the group, the professor argues. “Being punished for something you did not do causes resentment towards the authority (teacher or manager), which in turn will lead to less productive behavior in the workplace or classroom. We know that students who have a good relationship with their teachers are much more likely to exhibit positive classroom behavior, and group punishment is a perfect way to destroy that relationship,” he commented and added that “similarly, a workplace wants to create a culture where the team is intrinsically motivated to be the best.”

#13

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Well, at my work we’re on the verge of losing the privilege of being able to listen to our own music/podcasts/audiobooks because one guy thought it would be okay to loudly listen to a podcast about pornstars and the making of porn.

TonyDanzer , Alvaro Felipe Report

Final score:

126points

POST

JK Rowling 2 years ago

For some reason, the only people that ever listen to things out loud are the ones that listen to obnoxious rap or weird podcasts like this. You never hear lo-fi or classic music in public because the types of people to listen to those things are the ones that respectfully wear headphones and sit in the corner.

77points

TuesDazeGone , Nenad StojkovicFollow Report

#14

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered I work in healthcare. On Fridays we used to be able to dress casual instead of our usual color assigned scrubs (colors are based on title ex: CNAs purple, housekeeping blue, etc). One day a CNA showed up in a cleavage baring belly shirt, mini skirt, knee high boots and heavy make up. I don't know what the hell she was thinking, but ever since we're only allowed to wear different colored scrubs on Fridays. Even more annoying because she hasn't worked there in years but the rule stuck.

Final score:

120points

POST

Wolfe 2 years ago

during the height of covid, my dad's job decided to allow only one person in the break room a time. sounds great on paper, but when you have, say 8 people, with a half hour lunch break, that's a 4 hour lunch window. one person has lunch at 10, and is starving by 7, while another starves til 1:30. Luckily, my dad set them straight

40points

SydneyHalifax , Samuel Regan-Asante Report

#15

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered People can’t bring their dogs into work because one person brought in their puppy who had an accident and she wouldn’t clean up after it because the cleaner should do it. Awful

Final score:

119points

POST

Wolfe 2 years ago

This person doesn't deserve a dog

145points

For these reasons, group punishment is not the most ideal way to deal with problematic behavior. Thomas argues that instead, the best way to do so, whether it be in the school or in the workplace, is to address the underlying cause of the behavior.

He explained: “A teacher or manager can only do this if they understand the reasons why the individual is acting the way they do. Is the student acting out because they have no friends? Is the employee not productive because they are unsure of the task? When these underlying causes are known, then a solution can be implemented that is likely to benefit the whole group.”

#16

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Local swimming lessons my daughter goes to requires any child 4 or younger to wear a swimming diaper. It used to be a “heavily encouraged” kind of rule. Now it’s reusable swim diaper over disposable diaper, mandatory.

This is because of one mother. They asked her to put a diaper on her 3.5 year old, she swore she was potty trained and made a big fuss about it. Kid pooped within like 5 minutes of getting in the pool. So pool was shut down. Next lesson same thing, a couple of us parents even offered to give her diapers for her child. Nope she refused, saying her kid will never poop in the pool again. 10 minutes later pool was shut down.

After that they made it mandatory and got very strict about it. My daughter was a month away from turning 4 but they said she has to wear a diaper. My kid was pissed about it but I understood.

anon , Alexandr Podvalny Report

Final score:

116points

POST

Pumpkin Spice 2 years ago

Damn, what a shitty mother.....:)

97points

#17

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered My fourth grade teacher allowed us to chew gum in class. He said that if he found evidence of misuse, like sticking it under desktop, he would ban chewing gum. One kid stuck it on a window sill and ruined it for all of us.

markko79 , Matthew Brodeur Report

Final score:

114points

POST

Wolfe 2 years ago

he should have banned it for that one particular student

38points

#18

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered This happened earlier this week. I work in a kindergarten and a standard practice, for years. was to reward kids with stickers. Well, earlier this week one little angel decided that a sticker is edible and ate it. The sticker, living up to it's name, got stuck and lodged in the throat.... Hospital, angry parents and no more stickers

StoppedListeningToMe , Janine Report

Final score:

113points

POST

Max M 2 years ago

Sounds strange. It worked for years. Her kid is on the brat and brainless scale. And that changes a rule?

51points

Moreover, Thomas added that addressing problematic or unproductive behavior is part of a teacher or manager’s job. “They need to be equipped with the knowledge and strategies that will produce long-term gains rather than short-term compliance.”

“Group punishment may look like it is working when it is applied – students and employees will appear to be doing the right thing for a while – but without addressing the underlying cause of the problem, leaders who impose this strategy should expect an increase in undesirable behavior in the future,” the professor concluded.

#19

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Any time work had a company-wide meeting, they'd buy large cases of soda and have a lot left over. They'd put them in the various fridges around the office and you were free to take one or two a day if you wanted it. Some a*****e loaded up a dufflebag with full cans one Friday as he left, and the next week or so later the sodas were all locked in the supply closet. Now they buy much smaller cases so that there's almost no left overs.

Arch27 , Dan Keck Report

Final score:

109points

POST

Happy Blue Panda 2 years ago

All it takes is that one a*****e. This is why it's some times difficult for an employer to want to provide free items because there is always someone like this.

69points

#20

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Worked for large company. When we hired contract workers, we let them go to company BBQs and picnics.

Then when we didn't renew one's contract, they claimed "we treated them like employees" and sued us for unemployment benefits.

No more BBQs and picnics for contract workers.

catdude142 , Lee Myungseong Report

Final score:

109points

POST

Happy Blue Panda 2 years ago

No good deed goes unpunished is corporate law.

50points

#21

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered We are not allowed to wear trash bags as rain coats since someone forgot to cut arm holes and couldn't catch themselves when they fell down.

kelpfrog , Simone Daino Report

Final score:

104points

POST

Lazy Panda 2 years ago

I'm surprised they remembered breathing holes!

60points

Dutch Swimmer Goes Viral For Super Revealing Trunks During 2024 Olympics: “Is This Legal?”

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Thrill-Seeking Diver Jumps Down Extreme Waterslide, Ignoring The Strict Ban For Women

#22

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered We used to play our own music at the store. Well, someone plays explicit music with customers on the floor. No more music at work.

the_vent , @felipepelaquim Report

Final score:

104points

POST

Snowfoxrox 2 years ago

I work in a childrens hospital. I listen exclusively to Disney music. I know it's 100% safe, the kids get a kick and my coworkers think its great.

54points

#23

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Worked for a pub that didn't have a specific rule about not drinking (alcohol) on shift, but it was well known that you didn't do it. After an event, when we cleaning down, the boss would buy us a drink and we would drink it whilst finishing up.
Then one day one of the younger staff members (above legal drinking age, but still young enough to be stupid), decided to drink on shift, get hammered, and f**k up at his job. Boss tries to discipline him, but the fact there was no rule about not drinking on shift meant co worker got away with it. Cue new rule being added to say drinking on shift was forbidden, and there goes our 'reward' drinks from our boss. And due to the staff member betraying his trust, the boss became a lot more stand-offish and the whole atmosphere of the place changed.

anon , Jonas Jacobsson Report

Final score:

100points

POST

Ross Warren 2 years ago

They should be in trouble for messing up the job. Alcohol is no excuse.

37points

Woman Put A Water Fountain With A Camera In Her Yard, Here Are 24 Photos Of Regular Visitors (New Pics)

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“Ma’am I Live Here”: Woman Refuses To Back Out Of Driveway, Learns A Lesson The Hard Way

#24

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered I worked as an English teacher in South Korea for a few years. It used to be that if school was off, you didn't have to go in. It made sense. What happened was a vocal person decided it was not fair that certain people didn't have to go in because their school's calendar was different. They started complaining about it and the result was that everyone has a set number of vacation days and you have to schedule your days off. That person was not very popular and ended up leaving before long. They ruined it for future teachers though.

Vlaed , Estée Janssens Report

Final score:

95points

POST

and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 1 year ago

Yup. Even just a one person vocal minority can ruin it for everyone.

1point

#25

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered This happened before I joined the company but dress rules were very relaxed, including shorts (which if I could I would wear shorts ALL THE TIME, even in blizzard conditions).

So one idiot comes in on Friday with his bike and his racing bike gear including those nylon biker shorts which show off his junk and a*s. He was surprised when he was sent home to change and the rules got a lot stiffer after that. So now we don't even get regular shorts for casual fridays (They allowed it one month during the summer when sales were amazing).

jaytrade21 , David Dvořáček Report

Final score:

95points

POST

Nightshade1972 2 years ago (edited)

My family moved from Chicago to Houston when I was 12. In Chicago, if you wanted to wear shorts to school during the warmer months, nobody cared. In Houston, gasp! You can only wear shorts during gym class! The rest of the time, no matter how hot/humid it is, you must wear long pants! That rule didn't change until the student council president broke his leg so high up that the cast went all the way up to his thigh. The school tried to insist he wear sweatpants over the cast, instead of shorts. His parents had to threaten to sue before they backed down and finally got rid of the "no shorts" rule for everyone, not just him.

26points

50 Of The Most Incredible Shots That Were Submitted To The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

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#26

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered We used to have little wine and food mixers in the office every month.

Then f*****g Jessica had to bring vodka. Next thing you knows she’s running around the office with no shoes trying to play tag, flirting with bosses, calling a female co-worked a b***h, eventually passing out in her cubicle and we had to call her husband to collect her.

No more wine and appetizers :-(

Hiredgun77 , sk Report

Final score:

91points

POST

Vasana Phong 2 years ago

Hopefully no more Jessica as well

46points

KnitBrewTimeTravel , Giovanna Gomes Report

#27

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered A restaurant I worked at changed a policy just weeks after I started.

Old rule: Employees may drink up to 2 alcoholic beverages after their shift, provided they change out of work clothes.

New Rule: No employee of 'Hoover Street Cafe' may drink ANY alcohol at ANY location. Period. EVER. Or you're fired.

What happened? A soon-to-be ex-GM came in after serving hours, made a sh*t-ton of drinks for her, her husband, and her friends and then comped the tab.

Yep, that'll do it.

Final score:

86points

POST

Dav Carro-Ripalda 2 years ago (edited)

The problem with some of these is the lack of sindicates to protect the employees. Here, some of these would have not been able to get rid of so easily, as they are "gained rights", and the sindicates representatives and layers would have fought and won. I am talking about my country, obviously. In Europe.

10points

Woman Moves Out Of Parents' Home After They Asked Her To Give Her Space To Brother, They Freak Out

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Mom Leaves $250k Inheritance To Son, Throws A Fit When Daughter Stops Looking After Her

#28

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Phones were removed from break rooms in the building because one guy decided to use them to call his family overseas.

Zero tolerance on being late for work because several people decided that because there was a 15 minute buffer before being considered late then they actually didn't have to be there until 15 minutes after the hour, and some of them couldn't even handle that...

Ryokurin , LinkedIn Sales Solutions Report

Final score:

85points

POST

Nightshade1972 2 years ago

I'm reminded of a guy who, for years, managed to make it to work on time every day (M-F 8-5). Suddenly, he starts showing up 15 minutes late every day--but he still leaves promptly at 5. Turned out he'd moved to a new apartment, that was 15 minutes further away than his old place was. Absolutely could not understand the concept of needing to get up 15 minutes earlier now that he's in the new place. His employers even tried changing his schedule so that he could do 8:15-5:15 every day, and he *still* showed up late. When they let him go for chronic tardiness, he whined. Oh well...

24points

Zorkeldschorken , Edgar Castrejon Report

#29

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered We had a cube farm at work. Many people had things like cup warmers and coffee pots in their cubes. I myself had a coffee grinder and coffee maker. I'd fresh grind the beans and set the timer on my coffee maker, and have fresh coffee waiting for me when I arrived in the morning.

Then one guy left a crock pot on when he went home. It smoked out the whole building. Fire department was called, building was evacuated, etc.

Suddenly we were not allowed to have anything other than normal office stuff plugged in.

Final score:

84points

POST

Kamie Jones 2 years ago (edited)

Lol, this happened at my old employer but a girl brought a hair straightener and was doing her hair while on the clock at her desk 🤣

42points

Woman Refuses To Chip In For Babysitting Because She Doesn’t Even Have Kids, Asks If She’s A Jerk

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“This Breaks My Heart”: People Stunned—And Angry—After Woman Buys Lost Luggage From Airport

#30

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered I used to work at a therapy farm for people with mental health issues/learning difficulties. Never had any problem until we had an open day for the general public when, after a panicked rush to the hospital, we had to put up huge signs telling people not to put their whole hands into the pigs mouth when feeding them.

(These were BIG pigs with enormous tusks, most of our clients were wary even going near them not sure what that lady was thinking. She was lucky she kept all her fingers!)

Svg47 , Hans Splinter Report

Final score:

81points

POST

Keller Worthen 2 years ago

She kept all her fingers... just not the hand they were attached to.

35points

#31

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered Used to work in car sales that sold all kinds of second hand cars. If you needed to take a car to another branch in a different town you used to be able to take the car home that night and have it ready at your house in the morning to head straight there without going into work and swapping over. One guy at another branch faked a move request on a high end Range Rover so he could use it that night on a date which would have been fine really but he got drunk and wrote it off on the high street by rolling it over.. goes without saying no one was ever allowed to take cars home again after that

djzedcarter , Sourav Mishra Report

Final score:

79points

POST

Tina B 2 years ago

"Wrote it off on the high street"?

10points

"I Didn't Start The Dryer": Karen Gets Taught A Lesson After Throwing Out Neighbor's Wet Clothes

See Also on Bored Panda

College Student Does Exactly As Told After Roommates Demand They Keep Their Stuff In Their Room

#32

Some dumbass burned up a bag of microwave popcorn and set off the fire alarm in the state psych hospital, on 3rd shift (around 2-3 am). The entire building had to be evacuated, which involved about 15-20 staff and 150 psych patients being herded out in the middle of the night. After that, there was a ban on microwave popcorn.

Edit: Also, the city fire department showed up. They weren't happy.

brutalethyl Report

Final score:

78points

POST

Snowfoxrox 2 years ago

I have to wonder if this was in Atascadero...lol... Another hospital in that area also had a popcorn ban.

10points

#33

At my undergrad university TAs are no longer allowed to answer questions about the problems during exams if medical students are taking the exam. Apparently somebody complained that answering questions during the exam gives some students an unfair advantage. I have to add, though, that the questions that are answered by TAs during an exam are usually about unclarities/ambiguities/missing information in the exam problems. They will not give the students hints on how to solve the problem.

rpfflgt Report

Final score:

72points

POST

Tim 2 years ago

I had a strong dislike for all the premed people while I was in school. Grade grubbing was bad enough among the general population, but they took it to a whole new level. Apparently, if you don't ace all your classes, they just throw your med school application in the garbage.

5points

#34

Our company had to buy all office staff steel toecap shoes as one woman in the office decided to wear flip flops to work and dropped a full box of paper on her foot. Everyone else already wore sensible shoes and carried one ream at a time because it was safer.

Kittpie Report

Final score:

69points

POST

Amy Taylor 2 years ago

They did that in the film industry. I'm in CA and summers are brutal here so I would wear sandals to work when we were outside on location. In retrospect, it probably wasn't smart because there's too much heavy equipment being moved around, so you can't wear open toed shoes of any kind now.

13points

Guy Divorced 3 Years Ago Drops Off 3 Y.O. With His Ex-Wife Completely Out Of The Blue

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“All Three Shot Out Pink”: Triplets' Baby Shower Turns Sour, Pregnant Wife Wants A Divorce

#35

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered One year in high school they instituted a "no dunking" rule.

It was because some guy dunked and decided to hang on the rim like he was Shaq, and that might have been okay, but dude did chin ups on it and wriggled around as he swung like he was being tasered.

A rain of 'glass' or fibreglass or whatever the hell the backboard was made of came down as the guy screamed louder.

So of course, game was over, and the bused us back to our school and we were all pissed at the guy.

Then next day in praise, they tell us our league - high school basketball for a large region - decided just 'f**k this' and immediately there was a rule that dunks weren't allowed, were a technical and immediately disqualification and suspension.

Thanks Ben!

billbapapa , LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR Report

Final score:

68points

POST

Lauren Caswell 2 years ago

'Praise'? what?

22points

#36

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered This one guy in my school got into 4 wrecks in the parking lot. They implemented a 5 mph speed limit. Everyone was angry and the guy got into a another wreck 2 weeks later anyway.

Hetaliafan1 , Andy Arthur Report

Final score:

66points

POST

CosmicWolf1031 2 years ago

Does this dude have a drivers license?

42points

#37

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered We were given work from home access so we can login and work, in case of emergencies. However, management didn't bat an eye if one day a week we logged in from home instead of coming to the office.

One idiot, when working from Home, was clearly stating "I'll work on it when i'm back in the office." during email and IMs. They immediately stopped all work at home requests and all work had to be done in the office.

It was clear that nobody was really "working" from home, but work was reasonable enough where as long as we showed face and addressed issues as they came up, we were fine. They didnt expect somebody to be that stupid....

lFalseShepardl , Thought Catalog Report

Final score:

63points

POST

Random Panda 2 years ago

I mean if people weren't actually working when at home, I get why it was banned. I've had several jobs that let you work from home a few days a week and we were in fact expected to work.

30points

#38

We weren’t allowed to play dodgeball at school anymore because some kid was domed in the head and bitched to his parents. They suspended the game, so being supportive young kids, we threw those hard leathered basketballs at him the next day.

SqueezedPlacenta Report

Final score:

62points

POST

Pumpkin Spice 2 years ago

Not the kid's fault. It's the parents' and the school's. Throw balls at them!

15points

#39

At a store i used to work at there is a no employees under 18 can use a ladder without supervision due to a ladder jousting tournament i hosted while working there involving all 6 under 18 employees

anon Report

Final score:

58points

POST

Sue Denham 2 years ago

Ladder jousting? I'm trying to imagine it.

24points

#40

Someone Asked, "What Rule Was Changed Because Of One Stupid Person?", 40 Delivered We're doing 12 hour nightshifts in China, and normally we would sneak off to our empty office and take a 40 minute nap. It was great and left us refreshed until our moron coworker kept falling asleep in the control room loudly snoring. Now we have received some very stern warnings about sleeping on the job.

ooo-ooo-oooyea , Peijia Li Report

Final score:

52points

POST

Pumpkin Spice 2 years ago

12 hour nightshifts with no breaks. Damn.

21points

Note: this post originally had 51 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.

Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus.

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Rasa is a photo editor at Bored Panda, they have a college degree in photography and are currently studying sewing. Ever since childhood Rasa was interested in visual arts, including painting, photography, knitting and so on. When not at work or studying they like to knitting, cooking and spending quality time with their cats.

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What do you think ?

POST

The Queen Of Upper Butt Crack 2 years ago

Worked in an office for 5 years and a new employee spilled her drink on her keyboard 3 different times. After that no one was allowed drinks at their desks Get a sippy cup Veronica, you suck !

18points

notnow 2 years ago

Yeah, you suck!

2points

Powerful Katrinka 2 years ago

I think I was about nine years old when I dropped the "It isn't fair!" mindset. I'm always amazed when I come across an adult who still thinks this way. What a miserable way to live.

9points

Freya the Wanderer 2 years ago

How come it takes only one @s$hole to ruin everything for everybody? One person tries to get on a plane with a bomb in his shoe, and ever since then EVERYBODY boarding a plane at a US airport has to take off his/her shoes.

8points

Zelda Blue 2 years ago

I worked at a large bank and one co-worker who we nicknamed "Anita-tention" her favorite thing to say "that's not fair" and we would have to change whatever we were doing. One of our other co-worker's dog died. My friend and I were going to get her a stepping stone for her garden in memory of her dog. Of course Anita-tention yelled that's not fair, no one got me anything when my dog died. I'd had enough and told her (rather loudly) it was because no one liked her. Needless to say I had to have a chat with HR. I hated Anita with a passion.

6points

marianne eliza 2 years ago

Open floor plan office. 100 people, all with their own cubicles but all the cubicle walls are 40 inches so no privacy. Desks chosen by seniority. High seniority person chooses window desk. Then requires all the blinds to be completely closed all day, in case the sunlight gives her a migraine. So no one can get daylight or look outside. There were plenty of desks far from windows but she had seniority and the mgmt were afraid of a complaint for not accommodating her disability. She did this d**k move 3 different times when our offices were moved to a new building or a different floor. She was the A.

4points

Lara Verne 2 years ago (edited)

We had soft, lightweigh and comfortable shoes at work. There was new employee, and he started very loudly complain about how our shoes are not safe enough, what if pallet jack roll over his leg (there was not any pallet jacks at our segment), blah blah blah. The leader assured him that our shoes are safe. This idiot still wasn't satisfied and went to complain to our leader's superior. As a result, we had to wear, heavy, uncomfortable shoes that bruised our feet. F**k you, Karel.

4points

Troux 2 years ago

Worked in an office with a 5-peso coffee machine. It seemed like such an insignificant amount of money, why can't the company just offer it for free? Well they used to, until they noticed a few people would grab 5 cups to take home at the end of their shift. 5 pesos is significant enough to stop the abuse, i guess.

4points

Mistiekim 2 years ago

Work in healthcare and we are no longer allowed to have our cell phones with us in the department. If your family member needs to talk to you they have to call using a work line. This is because someone on another shift was listening to a podcast and made a semi-serious mistake on a patient result. I don’t like people.

4points

Memere 2 years ago

Not sorry for you at all. Read your own comment: "semi-serious mistake on a patient result". If you are working directly with patients &/or their charts, you should never be listening to a podcast, texting, or even talking to someone on your personal cell phone. Never. You're holding people's lives in your hands & that needs to be the #1 focus while you're on the clock.

4points

notnow 2 years ago

Misanthrope here.

1point

Sleepy_Child 2 years ago

What mistake did they make? I understand if you can't tell bc of confidentiality or whatever.

1point

Batman 2 years ago

It wasn't because of stupidity, but I know someone who was the reason for a lot of rules at the college he went to. Every semester he would go through the rule book and find all the rules that were added because of him. It wasn't that he was doing anything wrong, the people in charge just hadn't thought of things and he changed that.

4points

Id row 2 years ago

I'm still so mad that The Simpsons caved to one bored SJW a**hole and now we don't get Apu anymore. Or Dr. Hibbert. I'm so disappointed they caved.

2points

Phil Rubin 2 years ago

The saying I heard was "one person sh!t$ everyone wears diapers".

1point

Jespren Ray 2 years ago

Office I worked for used to have broad allowance for checking news or such sites on work computers, until someone started downloading a bunch of chat programs, frequenting a bunch of online social groups, and signing up for a bunch of emails to his work address and got a bunch of viruses in the office network. Didn’t punish the fella who did it, didn’t clarify the rule to specify no downloading or chat site, nope, just blocked the internet from all work computers. Better they didn’t even inform us before they did it. Most of us spent the first day wondering why we couldn’t get our fav news sites or data sites to load before they sent around an email saying “due to misuse” the internet was now blocked.

1point

Full English 2 years ago

All of these clearly show stupidity but it is worth considering that sometimes one person doing something that upsets the majority is an act of progression, enter Rosa Parks, Emmeline Pankhurst etc :)

0points

Juan Ghote 2 years ago

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nalit15 2 years ago

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Lisa Dickerson 2 years ago

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POST

The Queen Of Upper Butt Crack 2 years ago

Worked in an office for 5 years and a new employee spilled her drink on her keyboard 3 different times. After that no one was allowed drinks at their desks Get a sippy cup Veronica, you suck !

18points

notnow 2 years ago

Yeah, you suck!

2points

Powerful Katrinka 2 years ago

I think I was about nine years old when I dropped the "It isn't fair!" mindset. I'm always amazed when I come across an adult who still thinks this way. What a miserable way to live.

9points

Freya the Wanderer 2 years ago

8points

Zelda Blue 2 years ago

6points

marianne eliza 2 years ago

4points

Lara Verne 2 years ago (edited)

4points

Troux 2 years ago

4points

Mistiekim 2 years ago

4points

Memere 2 years ago

4points