Workplace rules are meant to keep things running smoothly, but when someone starts acting like the office police, it can get really annoying really fast.

What would you do if a coworker took a company policy way too seriously and started targeting people over it?

Would you just let them have their power trip?

Or would you find a way to have a little fun at their expense?

In the following story, several coworkers find themselves dealing with this very scenario.

Here’s what they did.

No scent policy gone awry

I work for a large multinational firm that introduced a no-strong-scent policy about a year ago to prevent discomfort from strong perfumes and colognes.

I’m fine adhering to it.

However, there’s an administrator in the office who acts as if she’s everyone’s boss.

She’s a bit overzealous, like Rolf from The Sound of Music – eager to enforce rules, even unnecessarily.

Months after the policy was announced, she started targeting colleagues, including two of my friends, accusing them of violating the scent rule.

They decided to have a little fun with her.

Her approach annoyed many of us, so a few coworkers and I decided on some harmless revenge: wearing subtle perfumes or colognes when we’re in the office a few times a week.

It’s just for fun, and we’d gladly stop if anyone genuinely felt discomfort, but no one else has ever complained, and none of us wear strong scents.

So she’s gone from one or two people who wear cologne to about 20.

We find the situation amusing.

Too funny! This probably drives her crazy!

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit have to say about this story.

This person is not impressed.

Here are some great thoughts.

As this person points out, someone in the office could be suffering due to the smells.

As this comment points out, it may be more effective to turn it around on her.

They should rethink this.

There must be a good way to target her and spare the person with the sensitivity to smells.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.