Boss shares toxic sign urging staff not to ‘make friends at work’

A boss has issued a stinging memo to staff instructing them not to make friends with colleagues during work hours, in move that has outraged social media users.

Carla Mascarenhas

less than 2 min read

April 25, 2023 - 11:37AM

Should you make friends at work? Picture: iStock

A boss has issued a stinging memo to staff instructing them not to make friends with colleagues during work hours, in move that has outraged social media users.

The terse memo was posted on Reddit by an anonymous employee who invited other users to comment on their boss’ tyrannical behaviour.

Printed on a piece of A4 paper, the memo opens with the statement: “WORK IS NOT MEANT TO BE FUN.”

The note posted on social media site Reddit.

Typed in capital letters, it then reads: “This is your job. Do not dedicate work time to discussion of non-work topics,” before instructing employees not to build friendships at work.

“Do not facilitate friendships during work hours, exchange phone numbers and/or hang out after work is complete,” it continued.

The boss then bizarrely urges employees to report colleagues who have “non-work discussions on company time”.

In a failed attempt to inject humour the ‘toxic’ boss signed off with a photo of a Minion from the Despicable Me franchise.

The post has garnered over 24,000 comment in just 24 hours with many branding the boss “toxic” and lambasting the company.

One person wrote the company must be “horrible” to work for, and questioned whether there was a “revolving” door of staff.

A manager on Reddit described the memo as ‘toxic'. Picture: iStock

Another said that it was their boss who initiated “non-work related conversations more than anyone” in their office.

A manager described the memo as “toxic”.

“I am a leader at my work and I buy snacks for my crew pretty often and do my best to make sure they feel like they’re in a safe and caring environment,” the manager said.