Ask HN: What's the weirdest rule your workplace ever had?
3 jamessmithe 3 9/12/2025, 10:30:33 AM
I want to know some of the very awkward and weird rules at your workplace which irritated you. For me, at my old office, we weren’t allowed to drink water at our desks. Had to walk to a hydration corner like it was a video game quest. What is it like for you?
* After 9/11 in the European office we were not allowed to open windows facing the street for a couple of weeks. A terrorist could throw a grenade. That was the stated reason. Requests for bulletproof glass or any other window protection were denied though.
* One of the smaller datacenters was so secret the security guy at the front wouldn't disclose I was at the correct address, even after showing my company badge. No signs or hints. I was a "need to know basis and obviously you don't know" situation.
To me that sounds more like a form of Submission, Domination and Humiliation being enforced on employees. a.k.a. sexual harassment as a policy unless your desk is something like a circuit board fab and there is a legit reason not to have water at that location.