‘What are some rules that exist because one person was an idiot?’ – 19 examples of game-changing stupidity

Ever noticed a bit of small print or legalese that seemed out of place or blindingly obvious? Well, there’s probably a reason it exists, and you’re not alone in being confused by it.

That’s if the replies to this question set by r/AskReddit user seequelbeepwell are anything to go by, as they asked:

What are some rules that exist because one person was an idiot?

Here are some of the funniest examples of rules you would never have thought needed to be spelled out, but someone, somewhere, made them a reality…

1.
‘On almost every clothes iron in the United States there is a warning label to “not iron your clothes while wearing them.” I assume there’s a few stories behind that warning.’
-zeebious

2.
‘I worked in an office where one numb nut decided to take his lunch break at 4pm everyday so he could leave early.

‘Manager said to stop doing that. So he quit taking a lunch break Monday-Thursday. On Friday, he took all 5 lunch breaks at once and went home at noon. After that the manager assigned everyone a lunch break time. If you didn’t take it during your assigned hour you did not get a lunch break.

‘It felt like the most Mickey Mouse middle school rule ever. Magically, that rule went away after numb nut was fired a couple of months later.’
-RhondaTheHonda

3.
‘I worked in a place where post it notes were banned. Because a person once wrote something important, and stuck it on another persons desk but it fell off.’
-ribbediguana

4.
‘Label on engine oil: “not safe for human consumption.” Thanks, Fast and the Furious.’
-Wal-Mart_Toilet

5.
‘Taking off shoes in American airports.’
-nextact

6.
‘My Alma mater now has a line in the student handbook that charcoal grills are not permitted in the dorm rooms. ’
-xeryon3772

7.
‘A classic example is the “Do not use in the shower” warning on hair dryers, which exists because someone once tried to use one while in the shower and got injured.’
-BRDshadow

8.
‘Driving blindfolded in Alabama: It’s illegal to drive while blindfolded in Alabama.’
-No-Relation9653

9.
‘There was a rule against hanging off pipes at an old job because someone tried doing chin-ups on them. Pulled the pipes out of their bracketing and flooded the entire building.’
-No-Bad5781

10.
‘How overtime was bid for.

‘A coworker figured out a way to game the system so he could maximize the available overtime, leading to complaints that there was very little left over for others to sign up for. The rules were changed 4 or 5 times and each time he found a way around the rules.

‘Eventually they just started skipping over every other of his OT requests and put in a maximum number of OT hours someone could work in a calendar month and boy did he cry about that for months that he wasn’t getting 20 hours a week of OT.’
-wetwater