It only takes one clueless dude or dudette to do something so silly others have to pay for it. You probably remember it from the early school days when the teacher would give the whole class extra homework if that one little daredevil was disturbing the class. No wonder they’d be the least liked person in the entire school, and that’s something you don’t just get rid of easily.
Such cases of group punishment, whether by establishing a new rule or by giving a task, are unsurprisingly a very relatable experience. So we looked at a couple of Reddit threads where people shared their frustration with that one person who made things go downhill for a bunch of people, so scroll down through the stories below. Also, make sure to share your own similar experiences in the comment section below!
#1
My high school choir allowed the seniors (in choir) to vote on a song to perform at graduation. We would spend a day sorting nominated songs to narrow down to a couple which would have a brief defense of the song and why it should be chosen put before the group and then we’d all vote. Simple democratic process. It was usually some moderately popular pop song, no big deal. My senior year, several of us are huge Freddie Mercury / Queen fans so we grouped together to nominate Bohemian Rhapsody, which won the vote by a huge (over 95% margin). We were happy, the choir was happy, the director and administration were happy. Life was good.
Then… The next week… One senior girl approached the director in tears about how “this song about DRUGS is going to ruin MY graduation!” (she didn’t understand the line “so you think you can stone me and spit in my eye.” She literally thought it was about getting stoned…)
Anyway, the director tells is all what happened, we laugh at how ridiculous it is, until she says that because of this, we will have to change the song.
Wut…
No f*****g way, we selected it democratically and it was voted for by a massive margin. So we were forced to go before the choir AGAIN, opposite little miss still crying dumbass, and argue for the song again and she gets to argue her case as well. Her only words to the class were how “if this song is picked I REFUSE to participate in graduation, because I don’t believe in drugs!”
There was no vote this time. The director decided we would not sing the song. And substituted it with an African freedom song, which we neither picked nor voted on at any stage. We threatened to not sing at graduation if that was the case and she just told is to “not cause any additional drama.”. The administration tried to offer is a compromise by playing the song as we exited at the end, which we begrudgingly accepted.
Graduation comes, little Miss Priss stands in the top row with a s**t eating grin on her face, and proudly sings the African freedom song, while a bunch of us stand and refuse to open our mouths but it’s moot at that point.
And as one final f**k you to us, it seemed, we get to the end of the ceremony and instead of Bohemian Rhapsody playing, they put on Bittersweet Symphony… I heard that the next year they had a “banned songs” list that we’re not allowed for the senior vote. It was full of random rap and pop songs (like someone googled a top 40 list) and right there at the top was Bohemian Rhapsody.
I don’t know what that girl’s problem really was, but she somehow bested a 400 person graduating class and effectively banned a modern masterpiece purely because she was too stupid to understand the lyrics… This was 15 years ago and I’m still bitter…
Image source: closetothesilence, Oregon City High School
#2
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.
Image source: disqeau, Clay Banks
#3
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.
Image source: StalinsPerfectHair, Erik Mclean
#4
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.
Image source: ThrowAwy6678, Andrew Neel
#5
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.
Image source: analyticalscience11, Natracare
#6
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.
Image source: clover-the-clever, Acton Crawford
#7
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.
Image source: anon, Tima Miroshnichenko
#8
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.
Image source: internetdiscocat, JESHOOTS.COM
#9
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.
Image source: anon, grassrootsgroundswell
#10
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
Image source: anon, Steffan Mitchell
#11
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.
Image source: GorditoCat, Juushika Redgrave
#12
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.
Image source: IceBear14, Andy Nguyen
#13
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.
Image source: TonyDanzer, Alvaro Felipe
#14
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.
Image source: TuesDazeGone, Nenad StojkovicFollow
#15
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
Image source: SydneyHalifax, Samuel Regan-Asante
#16
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.
Image source: anon, Alexandr Podvalny
#17
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.
Image source: markko79, Matthew Brodeur
#18
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
Image source: StoppedListeningToMe, Janine
#19
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.
Image source: Arch27, Dan Keck
#20
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.
Image source: catdude142, Lee Myungseong
#21
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.
Image source: kelpfrog, Simone Daino
#22
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.
Image source: the_vent, @felipepelaquim
#23
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.
Image source: anon, Jonas Jacobsson
#24
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.
Image source: Vlaed, Estée Janssens
#25
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).
Image source: jaytrade21, David Dvořáček
#26
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 :-(
Image source: Hiredgun77, sk
#27
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.
Image source: KnitBrewTimeTravel, Giovanna Gomes
#28
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…
Image source: Ryokurin, LinkedIn Sales Solutions
#29
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.
Image source: Zorkeldschorken, Edgar Castrejon
#30
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!)
Image source: Svg47, Hans Splinter
#31
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
Image source: djzedcarter, Sourav Mishra
#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.
Image source: brutalethyl
#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.
Image source: rpfflgt
#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.
Image source: Kittpie
#35
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!
Image source: billbapapa, LOGAN WEAVER | @LGNWVR
#36
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.
Image source: Hetaliafan1, Andy Arthur
#37
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….
Image source: lFalseShepardl, Thought Catalog
#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.
Image source: SqueezedPlacenta
#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
Image source: anon
#40
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.
Image source: ooo-ooo-oooyea, Peijia Li
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