I work at a restaurant as a host. We rely mostly on tourists, so things are slowing down now that it’s September. This means lots and lots of standing around at the host stand. During a particularly slow night I created a series of colorful abstract doodles on the back of some coasters, and they looked cool, so I taped them up on the inside of the host stand. They weren’t where customers could see them. They weren’t in the way. They weren’t offensive. And yet when I returned for my next shift, they’d been torn down and thrown away. I’m not at all surprised – I just find it interesting that management felt the need to dispose of them so abruptly, especially when the host stand is otherwise a disorganized, chaotic mess. So why then? As punishment for not finding something “productive” to do? Because it “sets a bad example”? Because self expression “isn’t professional?” The power-tripping over such small things that bring people a little shred joy in their day and cause no harm, is absolutely fucking wild to me.
I’m so tempted to keep creating and putting up my doodles out of spite.