Manager forbid me to listen to music today

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He just came up to me and said "turn off your headphones". I said "what?". He said "your headphones. Turn them off". And walks away.

I came up to him a few minutes later, and said "Are you saying that you can hear my headphones over there?"
He said "Yes".
I said "Okay, then what if I buy enclosed headphones which completely block the music from outside world? Surely that way it won't disturb anyone!"

He said, "Sure, you can wear those headphones, as long as you don't play music in them."
I was at a loss of words.
He said "We don't come here to listen to music. Music is distracting and you need to focus."

I said, "As long as we're moving in this direction, what if I put a photo on my cubicle wall, and then you find it distracting and tell me to take it off? Maybe I should also be chained to my chair and only let out for lunch and bathroom breaks?"
He said, deadpan: "Sure, if that makes you more efficient at your job, go for it".

He's been doing s**t like this to me for the past 4 years. I worked under him for the past 8.

I went to Human Resources and reported him for forbidding me to listen to music. I explained the situation to them, which made me stop shaking, at least.

He is lucky, because if there was no one at Human Resources, I could've come back and strangled him with my bare hands. I'm at the snapping point. It's Friday night, I took Monday off too, but I know that his smug smirk will follow me around and poison my extended weekend. I fear coming to work on Tuesday because I don't know what other way he'll come up with to suffocate me.

He's removing years from my lifespan, and I find myself sunk into darkness to the point where I pray to God that a Good Samaritan runs him over with a SUV.

I wonder if this is only one of many reasons
why I kept getting fired.

Good luck/fortune in the future.

Ugh, that guy sounds like he enjoys being "the boss" way too much. My first boss was like that. It was never really about music or distractions or whatever trivial thing he was being critical about -- it was always him making people (employees) feel like crap just because he get away with it. After a while, I thought of him like a dog humping my leg -- just a ball of stupid, aggressive instincts, with little to no self-awareness or foresight. A lot of people like power and domination/humiliation way more than they should.

Is this just you or are there other people where you work?
If they can have head phones then you have a legitimate complaint with HR against what he did.

It depends on the job, in some you need to not be cut off from other people, and it would be legitimate for them not to let you but in some jobs it's no problem. I don't listen to music but sometimes I put headphones on so it looks like I am listening to something so that people will stop bugging me!

Honestly I would have just fired you myself for such insubordination.

I could never study in the library at school because people would wear their headphones and listen to music. I could always hear the music no matter what headphones they used, and most of the time they would start tapping their pencil along to it and singing the words to themselves..which was perfectly audible to everyone else.

My supervisor did the same thing to me, in February. The boss said that nobody is to bring their music to work, anyways. I've been rebelling against that, by wearing my Kinks T-shirts to work, all this time. I haven't gotten in touble...yet.

My supervisor did the same thing to me, in February. The boss said that nobody is to bring their music to work, anyways. I've been rebelling against that, by wearing my Kinks T-shirts to work, all this time. I haven't gotten in touble...yet.

I don't suggest that you wear band shirts to work. Your job might be more with the public.

Sorry - I know what you mean, music helps me focus and I get more efficient. If others can't hear it and you do your job well it shouldn't be a problem...

i wish i could listen to music! but... i work in a call centre.

what kind of job do you have, that music would be a problem?

I work as a software engineer. I don't interact with customers or pick up phone calls.

The MAIN reason I was listening to music is to BLOCK his loud coughing that he does every 20 seconds!

I actually opened our exchange with asking him if he sees a solution for the problem he created. He forced me to turn off my headphones, but I cannot turn off his coughing. He offered no solution, after which exchange escalated.

And YES HIS VERY MANAGER, in cubicle ACROSS FROM HIM had headphones on his desk that he listens to. Later on I also took it up with him, and he ruled in my favor and gave me his headphones (against my wishes).

What this means is that my manager lost this battle, but now he'll come up with another way to f**k with me. That's how he operates.

@Apple_in_my_Eye & Sallamandrina: Thanks for understanding.

@sufi: ... and that's what I did.

@CockneyRebel: I bet he loves Resident Evil T-shirt I put on sometimes

@Chronos: FYI I don't tap pencils, and this guy is separated from me by a cubicle. Chances are he just lied about the audio in the first place, and even if he didn't, enclosing headphones would fix the problem, because HIS manager used such, and they didn't "bother him".

Hey monsterland I've seen and experienced this sort of thing before, an inadequate manager will start to pick on largely irrelevant things in order to try and put things 'in order' the way they think it should be as a reaction to their own stress, or to assert their authority and make themselves feel in control of others and thus their own circumstances.
Definately that person is stressed in some way. I had a similar situation, and I decided to show no reaction to give him any satisfaction even though I was getting to the point of fantisising about pushing him out a 2nd story window, eventually he retired with major depression, anxiety attacks etc.

Best thing you can do is just continue doing your job well and comply..for now, outlast him, there will always be work for competant technical people, managers are expendable.

There are many clever and unique methods of dealing with management who don't allow you to pass away the drudgery at work.

During a meeting a few months back, management made it clear that having MP3 players during working hours was detrimental and that we needed to have our ears open. I was always miffed about that because the way I listen to my music and podcasts, I can generally hear all but the most soft spoken individuals. Sure enough, after a while more and more people began caving in and the amount of earbuds I spotted increased, until I finally joined the fray.

I've actually seen one manager use his MP3 player during work as well, so now I have an alibi.

Furthermore, there's one coworker who gloated to me that she was listening to music as well, and indeed she did have a very unique manner of tackling the rule. Something along the lines of putting on her headphones backwards so that her hair covered the buds, and the wire ran down her neck into a shirt where she made a tiny hole for the wire to go through...along those lines. Completely discreet.

holy s**t. You people can listen to music and work? What kind of sweet jobs do you have? You seem a little spoiled.

This kind of thing is why I stay away from office jobs; too much power tripping and too much politics. I've got two part time jobs right now, slinging pies and metal fabrication; both of my bosses are really laid back and respect me, we talk guns and cigars when we're not slapping dough or welding steel depending upon what workplace I'm at. I make decent money and my stress level is zero, I certainly wouldn't trade that for a corporate job even if it was a bit more lucrative.