[pauldun170]

Elementary school..eh?

Here's the issue with using "Common Sense"

It exposes you to a thing called "Accountability".

As long as you stick the book\process\"whatever else has been codified and signed off by a bunch of people who have referred to the legal department", no matter what the cluster fuck is you can say "Well I followed the book\process\procedure!! So it's not my fault!!!".

This is a societal thing and is present everywhere you look.
In order to weed out risk (aka lawsuits) we have become a society that loves process.

We pound this mindset into students from grade school all the way up to graduate programs. It's found in every corporate and public institution worth a damn.

Follow the process
Mitigate risk
Protect yourself from legal action

On the other side of the coin, it easy for people on the sidelines to cry "Pussy PC bullshit!!"...after all they've never had to deal with multi million dollar lawsuits being brought to their desks on a yearly basis. Threats of multi million dollar lawsuits on a weekly basis..

After awhile, I'm sure it just wears on you and it's just easier to have blanket non negotiable policies (thoroughly reviewed and approved by lawyers of course)