If there’s one thing the world will never run short of, it’s human stupidity. Spend just a few minutes online and you’ll find plenty of evidence, but this recent Reddit thread might be the best example yet.
Here, people gathered to share the most ridiculous rules they’ve encountered, all of which exist because someone once made a shockingly dumb decision. Scroll down to enjoy these hilarious precedents, and don’t forget to upvote your favorites—they deserve some credit for making us all feel a little smarter!
#1
My Alma mater now has a line in the student handbook that charcoal grills are not permitted in the dorm rooms.
Image credits: xeryon3772
#2
The “no drinking allowed at work” rule at my job is because of me back when I was an alcoholic.
Before that it wasn’t an official rule because they just assumed everyone would realize it wasn’t allowed.
Got it written in the handbook and everything! I’m a bringer of change.
Image credits: SomethingClever42068
#3
I worked in a place where post it notes were banned. Because a person once wrote something important, and stuck it on another persons desk but it fell off.
Image credits: ribbediguana
#4
There was a rule against hanging off pipes at an old job because someone tried doing chin-ups on them. Pulled the pipes out of their bracketing and flooded the entire building.
Image credits: No-Bad5781
#5
Employees must wear appropriate undergarments. As the manager at the time, I was involved in too many conversations that were part of what eventually led to this policy. No underwear with see through pants, bras showing, visibly lacking bras, underwear visible through clothes, strings pretending to be underwear that were visible above pants. I feel like I’ve seen it all. I counseled many an employee on professional attire.
Image credits: HotMess1909
#6
We have to keep the loading dock doors closed at work because somebody decided it was a short cut. We have a long loading bay where the trucks back all the way inside by a couple truck lengths and some lady tried to drive all the way through. She hit the dock and destroyed her car and the dock plate, which was impressive because its a huge steel plate. So now we have to keep the doors closed no matter how hot it gets.
Image credits: One-Permission-1811
#7
Doritos have rounded edges due to some peoples’ insufficient chewing habits.
Image credits: DopeCharma
#8
I know a country that had full face covering bike helmets banned because shop breakers created a trend of using them to mask their face.
Image credits: Just-a-naughty_boy01
#9
On almost every clothes iron in the United States there is a warning label to “not iron your clothes while wearing them.” I assume there’s a few stories behind that warning.
Image credits: zeebious
#10
I worked in an office where one numb nut decided to take his lunch break at 4pm everyday so he could leave early. Manager said to stop doing that. So he quit taking a lunch break Monday-Thursday. On Friday, he took all 5 lunch breaks at once and went home at noon. After that the manager assigned everyone a lunch break time. If you didn’t take it during your assigned hour you did not get a lunch break. It felt like the most Mickey Mouse middle school rule ever. Magically, that rule went away after numb nut was fired a couple of months later.
ETA: We were a customer-facing department. We had to ensure coverage for walk ins, appointments, phone calls, etc. if this wasn’t the case I doubt manager would have cared when we took lunch.
#11
Label on engine oil: “not safe for human consumption.” Thanks, Fast and the Furious.
Image credits: Wal-Mart_Toilet
#12
Climbing on the rail on a cruise ship can get you banned for life.
Image credits: LeoMarius
#13
At my local KPOT place, you have to verbally order your broth instead of on the tablet because someone managed to order 10 soups at once.
Image credits: knockoutcharlie
#14
When you buy a car most dealers have a tire chain disclosure informing you to check your owners manual to see what kind of chains or traction devices your vehicle takes. This is due to someone in the 90’s putting the wrong kind on their car and suing the dealer into the oblivion. Literally 1000’s of forms from one lawsuit.
Image credits: silversum1
#15
The ‘Do Not Put Your Hand Underneath The Lawn Mower When Running’. Some knucklehead back in the 90’s wanted to trim his hedges and thought that his lawn mower would do the trick. So he fired it up and was going to lift it up by the deck and lost all of his fingers from the middle knuckle up. He successfully sued Toro Co. for not warning people not to put there body parts by a sharp metal blade spinning at 100’s of rpm.
Image credits: 76yankee20
#16
The place I worked at posted instructions on how to go number 2. Because people were squatting on the toilet rim breaking the porcelain and injuring themselves.
Image credits: Scared_Crazy_6842
#17
In our theater, we had to make the “no throwing tools” rule. Which you would think that’d be OBVIOUS, but no. Apparently common sense isn’t that common anymore
Image credits: TheGummyCandyStars
#18
One guy poisons his kids Halloween candy, now every parent has to confiscate their kids Halloween candy and go through it for razor blades that aren’t there .
#19
The abolishment of last meal requests in Texas because one guy had such a massive meal request.
Image credits: Oyster_-
#20
You can’t take pictures in the ossuary at Kutna Hora anymore because someone took pictures of themselves kissing and whatever else to the bones.
Image credits: JojenCopyPaste
#21
My old job banned headphones/earbuds for anyone who worked on the warehouse floor, because some moron had both earbuds in and walked in front of a forklift without looking.
I had a cubicle job inside the warehouse and the ban still applied to us. A few of us argued with management and they said they had to make it “fair” for everyone. It was the last straw after lots of s****y treatment (like remodeling the building and removing the windows for weeks in the dead of winter) so I peaced out.
Image credits: undercover_ravioli
#22
One rule that stands out is the “no food in the computer lab” policy—thankfully, I wasn’t the one who spilled a soda all over the equipment! Sometimes, one person’s mistake leads to valuable lessons for everyone.
Image credits: AffiliateJourney101
#23
How overtime was bid for.
A coworker figured out a way to game the system so he could maximize the available overtime, leading to complaints that there was very little left over for others to sign up for. The rules were changed 4 or 5 times and each time he found a way around the rules. Eventually they just started skipping over every other of his OT requests and put in a maximum number of OT hours someone could work in a calendar month and boy did he cry about that for months that he wasn’t getting 20 hours a week of OT.
#24
Man it makes my stomach hurt thinking about this – but all those signs at the Hoover Dam that tell you not to put your dog on the railing… How many puppies fell in the Hoover Damn for this sign to exist?!
#25
Warning tags on Halloween costumes “this cape does not give the wearer the ability to fly”.
#26
At my work we can’t take a powered pallet jack out on the sales floor without an escort because somebody somewhere else in the company hit someone. Certainly lugging around a one+ ton pallet with a manual jack that needs at least a few feet to stop with people who don’t look where they’re going because they’re glued to their phones at all times is so much safer.
#27
An operator in the control room of a power plant was caught sleeping during his shift. The resulting rule was outlawing any napping/sleeping anywhere on site at any time. Not at breaks or lunchtime, at your desk, in your office or in your car in the parking lot at lunch. And to top it off, keep your office door open at all times to show that you’re working at your desk. They could have just said not to sleep in the control room, but that would be singling a person out.
#28
We nearly have to dynamite our way into a bottle of Motrin. All because some m**********r thought it would be a good idea to poison a few Tylenol bottles in 1982.
#29
Don’t put Animals in microwaves after a lady gave her cat a bath and then tried to dry him in the microwave. She sued and won because there was no warning then.
#30
Taking your shoes off going through airport security because one guy had a sneaker that contained a small explosive. Thank god he didn’t hide a bomb up his a*s.
#31
Flash photography in museums because someone damaged artwork with their camera flash.
#32
There are a ton of state and federal regulations in the senior living facility business (and it is very much a business, but that’s a whole ‘nother topic) that are in place and enforced because of “one bad apple.” SNFs are scared to use bladder catheters because it may look like they are used for the convenience of staff. Assisted living facilities ban side rails because 2 people out of several million have gotten their heads stuck in them. Psychotropic medications often cannot be used because it may seem like a chemical restraint. There are many other examples. All of these things can be very useful for enhancing quality of life for the residents, but a few “bad apples” have ruined it for everyone.
#33
Remote jobs requiring clocking out for every single step away from the keyboard. Even if it’s 1 min to refill coffee or grab water. Takes longer to log out and back in than I would have been gone.
#34
We just had a mandate come down about our dress policy, we wear badge reels and because some idiot at one of the other hospitals had one that was inappropriate- instead of telling them to change it, they changed the policy that we can ONLY wear badges with the system name on it. Never mind that 99.9% of us wear cute, fun, and appropriate ones, we’re all punished because one dips**t displayed their dark humor where patients can see it. They should know the dark humor is for lockers outside of the public view LOL
#35
Oh I have a good one. Worked at an aircraft manufacturer that’s well known in the pacific Northwest part of USA. there is a sealant used that is flash frozen, so needs to be thawed at room temperature. In the specs it literally says you cant microwave the sealant because a guy absolutely destroyed a microwave AND sealant by doing just that. This stuff stains and is incredibly hard to remove from hair/skin. .
#36
Horses are forbidden to eat fire hydrants in Marshalltown, Iowa. I love to know WHY IN THE HELL IS THAT A LAW.
#37
The “Not suitable for flying” label on Halloween Superman costumes.
#38
Decades ago, I was shopping at a toy store, looking for a Lego table. I found a flat Lego table box, picture of two kids sitting at the table (fully constructed). The label read, I s**t you not, “children not included” .
#39
I used to work for a school district in the cafeteria. We got 10 days of PTO per year.
One year, a coworker decided that she was going to take an 8 day cruise the second to last week of the school year.
The following year? No taking time off except in medical emergencies the last month of school.
#40
You know those warnings on hand sanitizer that say “do not drink”?
#41
I stayed at a hotel where the ‘house rules’ included ‘No ATVs in Lobby’!
#42
In the UK there aren’t power outlets in bathrooms.
Which means you have to dry your hair with your dryer plugged in the corridor or something. Because of some idiot.
#43
I am a photographer. One of my new event photography clients gave me a list of instructions that included “Do not photograph close-ups of our employees’s low cut shirts” and I wondered which photographer had done this previously. Yikes.
#44
Work: don’t wear ragged jeans and a boob tube to a board meeting.
#45
Where I used to work they sent round a company wide email (50 odd stores) banning carrier bags from the warehouse because someone slipped on one and broke their leg. She actually broke it because we were roller skating in the warehouse and put slipped on a bag in the accident book because we didn’t know what else to say.