People Recount The Most Oddly Specific Rules They've Encountered That Someone Was Directly Responsible For

Swabs

"In rehab our cottons swabs were taken away because a guy decided to jam one into his eardrum to get sent to the hospital and get painkillers. Every seemingly dumb rule we had in there had a backstory to it."

– itsvic27

When On Zoom

"Since Covid and things going digital, we now have a 'You must wear clothes' rule...and we already had a pretty casual dress code."

– NarrowSeaworthiness8

Just In Case

"Last year's company Christmas party email specifically stated to bring an extra pair of pants if you will be urinating in the first pair."

– aiyahhjoeychow

Because Of Drunk Roommates

"I had the same Biology professor for Bio I and II."

"Because of me, the Bio II power point included a new excuse that wouldn't be accepted for missing/late work: 'My drunk room mates threw it out while cleaning!'"

– Strive_to_Thrive

No More Makeshift Roller Derby

"Absolutely no roller skates in the lab"

"My husband worked for a private lab startup and half the women there did roller derby. The lab was (as many are) a repurposed warehouse with nice smooth concrete floors. One of the women thought it would be fun to skate between machines. She got a lot done but the boss figured osha wouldn't be too thrilled so the sign went up a few days later."

"You could still wear your skates in the break room."

– TheBrontosaurus

No More Kitchens In The Sky

"On an AirFrance flight from Morocco to Mauritania, the flight attendant gave the safety brief in French at first. My french is not good but my ears pricked up when I heard the words 'feu de camp.' I obviously discounted my translation as misunderstanding the brief until she went into the brief in English."

"We were given the standard safety brief on all aircraft, but at the end we were specifically reminded that there are to be no cooking or camp fires lit on the plane at any time."

"Can you imagine your seat mate getting hungry and deciding to start a fire on an airplane to cook up some snacks?!?!?"

– Filthy_rags_am_I

Fright Mare

"No bouncing balls on city sidewalks .. it scares horses."

– MagicMushroomFungi

No Butts About It

"Pharmacy worker here. We have to specify to unwrap suppositories BEFORE insertion. Apparently someone thought the foil was part of it."

– macyxpress17

Dough-Not Think About It

"My father's hometown, Marion, Ohio, had a rule that you couldn't eat a donut while walking backwards. If I remember correctly, it had something to do with attracting police horses to lure them away from the police."

– cakeishsnake

Not A Plug

"'Do not put 14 rolls of toilet paper in the toilet -Walmart 2019"

– SteveCorpGuy4

Used Tampon Warning

"In my lease, I had a clause to properly dispose of my used tampons."

"I asked why and apparently my landlord had a tenant that caused $50,000 of damage because she threw her used tampons into the cabinet under the sink. She rented the apartment for years and there were 3+ years worth of used, bloody tampons in there."

"The, uh, blood caused a bunch of damage akin to water damage to the bathoom. The floor under the cabinet was rotted through. From bloody tampon storage."

– salty-MA-student