* After 9/11 in the European office we were not allowed to open windows facing the street for a couple of weeks. A terrorist could throw a grenade. That was the stated reason. Requests for bulletproof glass or any other window protection were denied though.

* One of the smaller datacenters was so secret the security guy at the front wouldn't disclose I was at the correct address, even after showing my company badge. No signs or hints. I was a "need to know basis and obviously you don't know" situation.

To me that sounds more like a form of Submission, Domination and Humiliation being enforced on employees. a.k.a. sexual harassment as a policy unless your desk is something like a circuit board fab and there is a legit reason not to have water at that location.