Entries Tagged as 'raging against the machine'
September 12th, 2013 · 49 Comments
Earlier this week, on her usual walk to work across the UChicago campus, Lauren noticed a board topped by a cement block covering an open manhole. Then other day, however, she walked past the same spot to find this ingenious work of civic protest/prankery.

Adds Lauren: “I’m most impressed by the obvious work involved in the sign’s construction, but bonus points are due for capturing the speaking style of our salty mayor.” (And yes, Lauren says: Chicago’s city seal really does include the image of a baby floating on a cloud.)

related: Governor of California to State Senate: “Get Stuffed.”
Tags: Chicago · most popular notes of 2013 · raging against the machine · smartass
David in California says that construction has been going on in his neighborhood for the past couple weeks — and apparently not everyone is thrilled with what the city is trying to accomplish. (David managed to document all of these notes when his leaving his house in the morning; they were all gone by the time he returned home that evening.)






related: The Gateway to Contractor Hell
Tags: blitzkrieg approach · money · raging against the machine
“From what I know,” says our submitter in Dayton, “the owner of this building wanted to open a used tire store, but city officials denied his paperwork. He eventually opened the business in a neighboring town,” leaving behind this monument to ‘Murica.


related: Do you hate America?
Tags: crazypants · Dayton · raging against the machine
September 19th, 2011 · 68 Comments
While on vacation in New York City, Christine came across this sad little sign in the window of an indie cafe in the East Village.
Luckily for the shop’s current/future proprietors, this year’s G20 summit is in France. So don’t worry, passively-anti-corporate New Yorkers: soon you’ll almost certainly be free to fret over your Frappuccinos without fear of finding shards of broken glass in your whipped cream.

related: Remember that the cheese loved you more than you loved it!
related: Raging against the little guy
Tags: raging against the machine · restaurant · Starbucks
When he first moved in, says our submitter in Melbourne, the apartment across the way already had the two big handmade nuclear posts in the window. Two months later, up went the note at the left about unneighborly acts like obscene “jestures” (which makes me envision of motley crew of courtyard jugglers giving the finger to nosy busybodies in the apartments above.) The cigarette notice is the latest addition.
Says our submitter: “I’m tempted to strut about without trousers and see if I can get a mention, too!”
![If you have problems with residents of the apartment blocs e.g. antisocial behaviour, laundry on balcony, noise, music, mobile phone conversations, shouting, obscene jestures [sic] Contact: [redacted]. NO Nuclear AUSTRALIA! BAN URANIUM MINING and EXPORTS! First floor flat opposite throwing cigarette butts into the street. Ground floor flat likewise. If you have problems with residents of the apartment blocs e.g. antisocial behaviour, laundry on balcony, noise, music, mobile phone conversations, shouting, obscene jestures [sic] Contact: [redacted]. NO Nuclear AUSTRALIA! BAN URANIUM MINING and EXPORTS! First floor flat opposite throwing cigarette butts into the street. Ground floor flat likewise.](https://farm6.static.flickr.com/5018/5433085088_ca1da538ac_b.jpg)
In the meantime, his other neighbors seem to already be getting in on the act.

(As always, just click on the images to enlarge them.)
related: WiFi for Passive-Aggressives
Tags: "helpful" advice · Melbourne · neighbors · note wars · raging against the machine · smoking
According to reports we’re receiving here at PAN headquarters, it appears that proletarians with a predilection for the chocolate-cookie-caramel confection known as Twix are battling Soviet-like conditions in order to procure their precious candy bars.
In some areas, workers are forced to pay a hefty premium (unlike the bosses and bigwigs upstairs).

Even then, what remains for the masses is likely to be rejected, bottom-of-the-carton stock.

And in the hardest hit areas, shortages have led hungry Twix lovers to beg for mercy from The Man himself.

(Thanks to informants Sean in Philadelphia, Rachel in Salt Lake City, and Mark in Buffalo.)
related: Comrades, take notice!
extra credit: Twix bars unfairly taxed in Colorado? [WSJ.com]
Tags: candy · chocolate · office · raging against the machine · vending machine drama
…the proprietors of this Toronto bar will leave you pondering some different questions instead.
![TONITE: SUNDAY 25th BANGBANG BAR IS CLOSED DUE TO FEMALE TEMPERMENT [sic] ISSUES TONITE: SUNDAY 25th BANGBANG BAR IS CLOSED DUE TO FEMALE TEMPERMENT [sic] ISSUES](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/4559213104_200d70cfe3.jpg)
Meanwhile, as Will observed, a Shell station in Austin apparently abides by a similar “honesty is the best” policy.
![Due To Tonyas drug habbit [sic] store will be Closed Due To Tonyas drug habbit [sic] store will be Closed](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4573635768_509b167ecf.jpg)
…as does a shopping center in Tyler, Texas, where Erin spotted this explanation (on a 100-degree July day).

Similar venting was on display at a store in Ironton, Ohio. (“For the record, I cannot validate whether or not the ‘oner’ was an in fact an asshole,” says submitter Meagan.)
![CLOSED FOREVER DUE TO ASSHOLE ONER [sic] CLOSED FOREVER DUE TO ASSHOLE ONER [sic]](https://farm3.static.flickr.com/2716/4139144865_6efd76c5fc.jpg)
And smetimes, of course, brutal honesty isn’t enough.

So really, why bother with an explanation at all?


related: Closed for good! Remember that the cheese loved you more than you loved it.
Tags: "customer service" · bar · don't blame us · drugs · most popular notes of 2010 · Norway · Ohio · raging against the machine · restaurant · retail hell · spelling and grammar police · Texas · Toronto
“Our department head thought we should be be bringing in doughnuts more often,” says our anonymous submitter in Illinois. One of the department’s “severely underpaid” underlings, meanwhile, thought otherwise.
![...If we were paid COMPETATIVE [sic] WAGES We could afford doughnuts! ...If we were paid COMPETATIVE [sic] WAGES We could afford doughnuts!](https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4290615665_e3de15f360.jpg)
UPDATE: For those of you asking “But where’s the ridiculous clip art?!” I bring you this rather dashing toreador/sheriff (as spotted by Mel in the break room of her Ithaca, New York office).
While Mel doesn’t disagree with the sentiment behind the note, “It’s a bit off-putting to be presumed guilty of theft before the fact,” she says. “Also, there seems to be a degree of randomness to the number of exclamation points at the end of each line.” (And of course, that dandy of a sheriff.)

related: Straight out of the Michael Scott Playbook
Tags: bold underlined italics · bullet points · coffee · exclamation-point happy!!!! · food · Illinois · now that's management · office · raging against the machine · rebuttals · spelling and grammar police
A parable of the state of the “hot dot-com” workplace in 2009: The story goes, according to our anonymous submitter in California:
Some executive-level person decided to put a pinball machine into our break area. After several months, someone must have complained about the noise, because a note went up telling us it was not to be played. When some employees decided to play the machine at 7 AM (assuming nobody in the building was in), the note was replaced by a new (more specific) note.

After that, “the machine was unplugged and left to gather dust,” our submitter says…and to silently taunt all of the office’s embittered would-be pinball wizards. Until, one day…multiball!

related: “Popcorn Thursday”
Tags: California · note wars · now that's management · office · raging against the machine · rebuttals
Kellye from Huntsville, Alabama spotted these notes posted on boarded-up diner during last month’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
Explains Kellye: “The broken windows were caused by a few rowdy anarchists/drunk college kids from Oakland who apparently missed the mark in their defiance of the man. Since the vandals represented only a very small cross-section of protesters involved, other more local-friendly civil disobedients apparently saw fit to apologize for in their stead and offer their respectful patronage.”

related: silent protest
Tags: heart · note wars · Pittsburgh · raging against the machine · spelling and grammar police · Starbucks