Photo: TikTok
They have to use a child-sized cup, and if they disobey any of the rules, their free meals will be taken away for a month.
By Ethan Cotler — Written on May 06, 2023
Most people would agree that water should not be a privilege but a right for everyone. However, there are examples of some bosses setting rules that limit even basic needs—cough, cough Jeff Bezos.
But, who would’ve thought you’d have to ask for a drink of water? Well, one company set that standard, and people are calling it out.
A company sent workers strict rules on how they should ask for water.
Rich is a job recruiter with 22 years of H.R. experience who posts resume advice to the video-sharing app TikTok. In a recent video, he shared a text a manager sent employees on how to get a drink of water while on the job. The manager labeled the message with the number five, which Rich assumes is the fifth point of a long list of rules that they sent to employees. Hopefully, this one was the worst of it!
“The procedure for getting water during your shift is as follows: YOU MUST ASK A MANAGER IF YOU CAN GO GET A WATER,” the manager wrote.
The rest of the message is in all caps as if the policy wasn’t demeaning enough! But there’s a caveat to getting a refreshment. Before employees can even ask permission, they must have fulfilled all of their orders, and their area must be clean—insinuating that their workplace is at a restaurant. The manager clarified again that their water breaks were not up to them.
“WITH THIS BEING SAID, YOU WON’T BE ALLOWED TO GO GET WATER WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE IT,” they wrote.
Even the amount of water they get is restricted. They must get a child-size cup without a lid and straw. And they have to scarf it down quickly and return to work. In addition, the manager explained that if they filled their cup with a drink besides water, there would be harsh consequences.
“ANYONE TAKING ANYTHING BUT WATER WILL LOSE THEIR FREE MEAL PRIVILEGES FOR 1 MONTH,” they wrote. “THINK ABOUT THAT. PROBABLY NOT WORTH LOSING YOUR FREE MEALS.”
After reading the message, Rich gave a word of advice that the manager should not have sent it in all caps because it “sets the wrong tone.” In addition, he recommended that a boss should never send out a policy at work while frustrated, which can clearly be seen in this message. And if they must, they should send it to a friend or even have an A.I. rewrite it.
“It goes to show you how vitally important having a human resource company is in stuff like this,” Rich said.
Besides addressing the manager’s poor conduct, people questioned the policy’s legality.
“That is literally against every single employment standards act,” one person commented.
“That can’t be legal, right?” another added.
Rich replied, saying it’s illegal not to provide access to free water, but he’s unsure of the legality of restricting it. To fulfill the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OHSA) drinking water requirements, safe-to-drink water must be "readily accessible to all employees" for drinking, washing, food-related hygiene, and other personal use.
But it doesn’t specify if water intake can be limited unless they work in a hot environment where employees should consume water every twenty minutes. Regardless of the legality, no one should worry about getting a drink of water at any point in their life. It’s a basic necessity that this manager should understand is not something to restrict.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. His writing covers entertainment, news and human interest stories.