What if you took an anarchist approach to compliance?
- Claire Baker
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
When you spend all day looking out for compliance violations, you start to see them everywhere.
I went to the hardware store for a spare key a few weeks ago. The sound of the key cutting machine was intolerable.
“Don’t they give you protective headphones for that thing?” I asked the Gen Z dude behind the counter.
“Eh, probably,” he shrugged.
“YOU HAVE RIGHTS!” I wanted to scream. “SOMEONE CALL THE COPS TO PROTECT THIS FINE YOUNG GENTLEMAN'S HEARING.”
“Can I take my lunch after Suzie?” the barista asks as she rings up my order.
“Darrin’s up next. You can take yours after him,” the manager says.
“Nah. It’s cool. I only have an hour left in my shift anyway.”
“HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING WITHOUT A BREAK?” I want to howl over the noise of the espresso machine. “YOU HAVE RIGHTS! AND GET ALL THESE FINE YOUNG PEOPLE EAR PROTECTION FOR THAT ESPRESSO MACHINE.”
“Ma’am. Why are you yelling?” they ask.
“BECAUSE I’M OLD AND MY HEARING IS DAMAGED FROM TOO MUCH STEAMED MILK! IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD LET ME KNOW ABOUT MY RIGHTS!”
On the way home, I was behind a Tesla. It had a “I bought it before he went crazy” sticker.
I stopped for gas. There was a “I did that” Trump sticker at the pump.
On the overpass, someone hung a sheet with a No Kings slogan.
On the underpass, someone had spray painted “F*** ICE”
It got me thinking about the power of memes.
What would happen if you combined the gonzo journalism ethos to labor posters?
What if someone went around posting rogue meal and rest break posters in Walmart bathrooms?
What if you snuck into construction sites at night to plant lawn signs of OSHA Cares?
What if you snuck into hotel laundry rooms to post minimum wage posters in Spanish?
I could be… like… the Banksy of labor posters!























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