While at work, it is important to follow company policies in order to ensure things get done properly.

Of course, some policies are outdated and no longer enforced, even if they are on the books.

The department in this story, however, had a manager who demanded that every policy is followed, so they complied.

Check it out.

Follow policy? Okay!

A few years back, I worked in a corporate office where things ran pretty smoothly until our new boss, Mr. Micromanage (Mr. M), arrived.

Mr. M was obsessed with one thing: following company policies.

He didn’t care if policies were outdated, inefficient, or outright absurd—if the rule existed, you had to follow it perfectly.

And he loved catching people not complying.

Some people are real sticklers for policy.

One Monday morning, he called a meeting to lecture us on “policy adherence.”

He ended his speech with, “If it’s in the manual, you follow it. No exceptions.”

I’m not a fan of being micromanaged, but hey, rules are rules, right?

I knew that our company’s policy manual hadn’t been updated in years, and some policies were… questionable.

So, I decided to have a little fun.

One of the most outdated rules was about how to handle printed documents.

According to this gem, any printed company document—no matter how minor—needed to be reviewed and stamped by our “Document Compliance Officer” before being distributed.

Of course.

Oh, and guess what? That position had been eliminated in a round of budget cuts two years ago.

But hey, Mr. M said no exceptions.

The next day, I printed out a standard quarterly report that everyone in the office needed.

When people asked for it, I told them, “Sorry, I can’t distribute it until it’s been reviewed and stamped.”

I sent an email to Mr. M asking where I could find the nonexistent Document Compliance Officer.

He came storming over to my desk, confused.

Mr. M: “Just send out the report!” Me: “I’d love to, but as per company policy, it needs to be reviewed and stamped first. Where should I send it?”

But Mr. M, how?

Mr. M: Pauses and glares “Just… follow the policy.”

I nodded enthusiastically and let it be.

Word spread quickly, and soon everyone in the office was “complying” with every arcane policy in the manual.

Karen from HR? She started enforcing the dress code policy that required all employees to wear “business formal attire” at all times.

Suddenly, everyone was showing up in suits and ties, and people in accounting were running spreadsheets in cocktail dresses.

This would get old real quick.

Jake from Marketing? He made sure to send a request to Mr. Micromanage every time he needed to make a 10-cent photocopy, as per the ancient policy that “all expenditures, no matter how minor, must be approved by management.”

By the end of the week, the entire office was a disaster.

People were wasting time and resources, projects were delayed, and everyone was cranky from wearing stiff, formal clothes.

Mr. M tried to reprimand us, but we just kept saying, “Sorry, sir. Just following the policies, like you said!”

I’m surprised it even took a week.

It only took one week of chaos for Mr. M to call another meeting, where he begrudgingly told us to “use common sense” instead of following every single policy.

He even promised to update the manual.

And that, my friends, is how our office turned into a temporary circus of hilarious compliance—until our boss finally learned that some rules are meant to be bent.

How did this guy ever make it into management?

Let’s look at what some of the people in the comments had to say.

Exactly. Like how about you just let people work.

This commenter says Mr. M needs to update every policy.

Yup, he better do it right.

This is a great story!

Yeah, he learned his lesson.

This manager learned real quick that not all policies should be followed.

He should have known already, though.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.