Workplace injuries are frustrating enough without corporate red tape making them even worse.

When one analyst made a basic accommodation request for a wrist injury, HR managed to stretch it out into an ordeal that proved far more costly than common sense.

Keep reading for the full story.

Get the doctor’s referral to receive vertical mouse, sure thing HR

I worked for a large multinational company some years back in the logistics industry, and I did a lot of my work on the computer.

Due to that, I developed a small infection in a small joint in my wrist from using the normal mouse provided by IT.

The employee requested a reasonable accommodation for this, but it soon faced miles of red tape from HR.

I asked my boss if I could order a vertical mouse to relieve the pain in my wrist, and I thought the company would provide it.

My boss referred me to our local HR.

The manager of HR was called, behind her back, the Grim Reaper, and she surely lived up to the nickname.

HR was quick to inform the employee they couldn’t just give them the mouse.

I got a message from HR saying that the ONLY way to get another kind of mouse was to go through the company-mandated healthcare provider and get a referral from there.

I thought it was stupid because a vertical mouse costs like 20–50€, and going to healthcare would surely add costs to that.

But let’s do what HR tells you, since they know better and obviously don’t care about money.

Cue malicious compliance.

This quickly proved to be a much more expensive route.

I made a reservation to meet our doctor (200€).

She ordered some X-rays (300€) and sent me to get instructions and training exercises from the company’s dedicated physiotherapist (3 × 100€).

I went back to the doctor in a separate meeting (another 200€), and she forwarded me to a hand surgeon (450€) for another opinion.

The hand surgeon was kind enough to inject some cortisone (100€) into my aching wrist and gave me one day of sick leave (300€) to recuperate from the injection.

I spent that day fishing and enjoying the nice summer weather.

Once all these hoops were jumped through, it took months for the mouse to even arrive.

After going through all the hoops to get the referral for the mouse, it took HR about two months to instruct IT to deliver it to me.

The cortisone actually helped, and I didn’t have any use for the vertical mouse.

Otherwise, I would have ordered it myself.

But this employee still wouldn’t let up about it.

I just used those two months to remind my boss about the mouse on a regular basis and asked him to contact HR about it.

It took close to 2,000€ to go through the HR-mandated route to get a relatively cheap mouse.

But hey, everything has to be done by the book, right?

So when the mouse finally arrived, this employee was fed up.

Here’s the kicker: immediately after I received the mouse, I gave my two weeks’ notice.

My resignation and the mouse were totally unrelated, but I sure made HR and my boss think that it was all about the mouse.

I was one of the most valued employees in the company, so me leaving sure did sting them a bit.

It never fails to amaze me how stupid big corporations are when it comes to providing employees with the necessary tools to ease their job.

How wildly inefficient!

Reddit is sure to get a kick out of this one.

This user agrees this situation could have been handled a lot better.

Many companies are real sticklers about making every single dollar count — often at the expense of their employees.

An oversized ego is an expensive thing.

This company is glad their HR department isn’t as bad.

By the time the mouse finally arrived, the problem was gone and the damage was already done.

Turns out, following excessive red tape will get you nowhere fast!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.