New Manager Enforces Ridiculous Dress Code, Is Shocked When Employee Decides To Quit
While uniforms are mandatory in some workplaces, the actual policies have to make sense. If your boss micromanages every tiny detail about your outfit and uses the dress code as an excuse to punish the people they don’t like, then you’re only going to see tension and frustration at work.
Redditor u/whyme191 went viral after sharing how his manager forced him to travel hours back home to change his outfit, which made him decide to quit. Read on for the full story. Bored Panda has reached out to the author via Reddit, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from him.
Dress code policies have to make sense in the context of the job. Your boss should not use those rules to lash out at the staff they don’t like
Image credits: LightFieldStudios / envatoelements (not the actual photo)
One worker opened up about how his manager’s toxic behavior finally made him decide to quit for good
Image credits: drazenphoto / envatoelements (not the actual photo)
Image credits: whyme191
The clearer businesses are with their expectations, the better it is for everyone
Image credits: Rebrand Cities / pexels (not the actual photo)
Dress codes can vary wildly from company to company. They usually embody the corporation’s values and functions, so you’ll find some businesses that are very lenient when it comes to work clothes, while others have very strict regulations.
But broadly speaking, the more contact you have with clients and customers, the more likely it is that you’ll need to wear a uniform as specified in the company’s guidebook.
The idea is that you want your employees to create the best positive first impression. You want them to be professional and to represent the business with grace.
Meanwhile, if you happen to work a trade job, it only makes sense that you wear protective gear that ensures your safety. In these cases, your uniform has a different function than someone whose job mainly revolves around speaking with other people.
According to Indeed, when creating a dress code policy, you want to clearly outline the company’s expectations for its employees.
There also needs to be complete transparency about who this policy does and does not affect and what any potential exceptions might be.
Management ought to be open to discussing any concerns that their employees have
Image credits: Christina Morillo / pexels (not the actual photo)
It also helps if the policy is clear about the general expectations it has for all of its staff, from hygiene to wearing jewelry. Of course, no policy is going to be ‘perfect.’
There will always be unique situations that the guidebook fails to address because of how niche they are.
In those cases, employees who feel like the rules are unfair or fail to account for certain exceptions will need to raise any issues with their superiors or their representatives in human resources.
Any reasonable employer is going to take the time to listen to those concerns. Especially if they’re reasonable and presented in a calm, friendly, and logical way. (More often than not, your manager will value how you say things, not just what you say.)
However, no worker should suffer at the hands of their manager just because they don’t like them as a person. If anything like that occurs, it’s best to talk to HR or your manager’s boss about the situation.
It helps if you have proof of their abuse of power. The more documentation you have, the more you can back up your claims.
Alternatively, if you work in a truly toxic environment, it may be best to quietly look for better positions elsewhere. Hopefully, at companies that have positive workplace cultures.
Many internet users who read the story were very happy for the worker. Here’s what they said
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I saw something like this in an IT department for a Fortune 100 company. Massive AH Manager that everyone hated. She'd take over a department, p**s off everyone. When so many people quit, they'd move her to another. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Finally she got fired. Everyone figured she'd screwed up one time too many. Nope. Turns out, Senior Management was using her to do all the things they didn't have the guts to do themselves.
I’m sure this happened, except for the part where you got a new job during your commute home and they begged you to stay.
Some specialty skills did a LOT better than others a few years back, like insurance people for example. Plus this doesn't sound like it was written by an american.
Load More Replies...
Companies have to learn to value the labour their workers give, or they're going to keep losing them. After I left my last job (after months of telling them the workload was untenable and things needed changing, only to be brushed off as lazy), even my supervisors couldn't handle working my shifts. One even needed to call the police. They ended up having to restructure that part of the organization because they could not find anyone to do the job I'd been doing. It cost them a fortune. And I don't care.
Ah, dress codes, the favorite control mechanism of people who can't find anything substantive for why they don't like you.
WFH and self-employed from 2015... life is much better. And I was a manager.
I worked in a day nursery manily with the out of school club which was split shifts during school time and full time in the holidays.. We all wore trousers or very long skirts. My co worker in the out of school club always wore denims and had for the past 6 years. A member of staff was promoted as superviser. Neither of us liked each other very much but kept it proffesional. This paticular day, I wore denims to work. Very rare I did. Up comes D and in her usual, condisending tone comes up and tells me denims weren't allowed at work. Bear in mind my co worker has worn them almost every day. I informed her that I wasn't going to work in my knickers. She went a bit huffy and said no but not to wear them again. A week past and still my co worker was wearing denims. I aasked her if D. had said anything to her about wearing them. Answer was no. So I wrote a formal letter of complaint to the manager. She of course weasled out of it by giving me an apology. She left soon after
Some small companies don't. But it doesn't matter. HR is mostly there to support the company.
Load More Replies...
If you work in a call center where management gets bonuses for people not quitting, you work for a company whose business plan is to take advantage of their employees. They are purposely walking the line to see the minimum they can do so you don't leave. Pay as little as possible, staff so you are just at the edge of burnout, and have goals that are almost reachable but they don't have to pay when you fail.
In most cases it's because they have a lease they can't get out of, so they can't stand the inefficiency of having an office that is empty, that they are paying for. I have sympathy for both sides. On one end, did people really think the pandemic would never end and made life decisions based on that? On the other, has productivity REALLY gone down since people are WFH? The latter just seems to be wanting to maintain control of the "serfs". Companies like that get what they deserve.
I have read that productivity actually went up during the WFH thing caught on but I can't attest to it myself as my job got axed due to loss of business in early 2020.
Load More Replies...
I think I would have asked her to show me in the employees manual where I wasn't in compliance with the dress code.
BS. You applied for a job on the bus on the way home, ended up getting a same day interview and hired?. Implaussible.
I love the poll answer, 'Yes, it's the future of work'! Fact is - there is no future for 99% of jobs.
Boss wanted to the get rid of you and found a way to make you quit. Oldest trick in the book and you fell for it.
The boss may have been committing constructive dismissal, but if the target gets a better job out of it, great. The OP avoids a difficult boss and a long commute and gets more time with family. You're free to stay in a job (or quit) just to spite someone, but my advice is this: how much will it actually hurt someone managing several employees vs how much will you hurt yourself (and family)?
Load More Replies... I saw something like this in an IT department for a Fortune 100 company. Massive AH Manager that everyone hated. She'd take over a department, p**s off everyone. When so many people quit, they'd move her to another. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Finally she got fired. Everyone figured she'd screwed up one time too many. Nope. Turns out, Senior Management was using her to do all the things they didn't have the guts to do themselves.
I’m sure this happened, except for the part where you got a new job during your commute home and they begged you to stay.
Some specialty skills did a LOT better than others a few years back, like insurance people for example. Plus this doesn't sound like it was written by an american.
Load More Replies... Companies have to learn to value the labour their workers give, or they're going to keep losing them. After I left my last job (after months of telling them the workload was untenable and things needed changing, only to be brushed off as lazy), even my supervisors couldn't handle working my shifts. One even needed to call the police. They ended up having to restructure that part of the organization because they could not find anyone to do the job I'd been doing. It cost them a fortune. And I don't care.
Ah, dress codes, the favorite control mechanism of people who can't find anything substantive for why they don't like you.
WFH and self-employed from 2015... life is much better. And I was a manager.
I worked in a day nursery manily with the out of school club which was split shifts during school time and full time in the holidays.. We all wore trousers or very long skirts. My co worker in the out of school club always wore denims and had for the past 6 years. A member of staff was promoted as superviser. Neither of us liked each other very much but kept it proffesional. This paticular day, I wore denims to work. Very rare I did. Up comes D and in her usual, condisending tone comes up and tells me denims weren't allowed at work. Bear in mind my co worker has worn them almost every day. I informed her that I wasn't going to work in my knickers. She went a bit huffy and said no but not to wear them again. A week past and still my co worker was wearing denims. I aasked her if D. had said anything to her about wearing them. Answer was no. So I wrote a formal letter of complaint to the manager. She of course weasled out of it by giving me an apology. She left soon after
Some small companies don't. But it doesn't matter. HR is mostly there to support the company.
Load More Replies... If you work in a call center where management gets bonuses for people not quitting, you work for a company whose business plan is to take advantage of their employees. They are purposely walking the line to see the minimum they can do so you don't leave. Pay as little as possible, staff so you are just at the edge of burnout, and have goals that are almost reachable but they don't have to pay when you fail.
In most cases it's because they have a lease they can't get out of, so they can't stand the inefficiency of having an office that is empty, that they are paying for. I have sympathy for both sides. On one end, did people really think the pandemic would never end and made life decisions based on that? On the other, has productivity REALLY gone down since people are WFH? The latter just seems to be wanting to maintain control of the "serfs". Companies like that get what they deserve.
I have read that productivity actually went up during the WFH thing caught on but I can't attest to it myself as my job got axed due to loss of business in early 2020.
Load More Replies... I think I would have asked her to show me in the employees manual where I wasn't in compliance with the dress code.
BS. You applied for a job on the bus on the way home, ended up getting a same day interview and hired?. Implaussible.
I love the poll answer, 'Yes, it's the future of work'! Fact is - there is no future for 99% of jobs.
Boss wanted to the get rid of you and found a way to make you quit. Oldest trick in the book and you fell for it.
The boss may have been committing constructive dismissal, but if the target gets a better job out of it, great. The OP avoids a difficult boss and a long commute and gets more time with family. You're free to stay in a job (or quit) just to spite someone, but my advice is this: how much will it actually hurt someone managing several employees vs how much will you hurt yourself (and family)?
Load More Replies...
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