Blarticle: Meme-bombing

There’s a new kind of graffiti art on the block, people. By ‘the block’, of course I mean the giant void of cyberspace in which we are all linked and more personally involved than we are with the elderly neighbours that have been living across the street for thirty years. With the internet as the No 1. port of call for those who feel in their hearts that they must procrastinate, it was inevitable that the more subversive types of humour would slowly start to creep out of the screen and into the third dimension, taking the form of little signs and quips in all manner of inappropriate places and contexts - the best of which is, of course, the world of work.

A meme, for those of you blissfully unaware, is a little internet trend (usually stupid) that is used to express a humorous idea and often has its origins in some other, greater type of media; the ever popular ‘The Cake is a Lie’ reference comes from the hit video game Portal and has driven those of us with more wit than a teaspoon to insanity with its repetition. Such as it is, any original or creative use of an old idea is much appreciated, as are instances where they are taken out of context and used in situations anything remotely amusing could be considered inappropriate. Thus, the use of meme in the work place not only lifts the tedium and depression of a Monday, but also provides a bursting rush of adrenaline; for this is rebellion for a class of people from whom rebellion is neither expected nor accepted. Not really subversive or activist at all, Meme-bombing (as I have dubbed it) is perfect for shy and retiring cubicle-workers wanting to vent their nerdy frustration.

Websites such as MthruF, with its tagline ‘Workers of the World, Unite in Hilarity!’, have been providing me and my fellow nerds with much amusement for many months now. It sports fantastic examples of people in office jobs having a bit of fun, largely using office supplies. I expect the bill for post-it notes is stacking up in such areas, as people dedicate their copious procrastination time to sticking giant replicas of the Nyan cat to the windows. Alternatively, if you have a very artistic streak, a sculpture made of out discarded (or else, hated) electrical appliances like desktop hard drives or CD ROMS may make the perfect centrepiece for your Mecca of boredom.

If your white collar is beginning to itch, try this timetable of meme to keep your days fresh with the same thrill that comes with pilfering paper clips from the desk of that guy that you suspect keeps stealing other peoples’ yogurt.

Day 1       

Start harmless. Express a personal frustration. Perhaps your umbrella didn’t open this morning, or someone on the train elbowed you. This is the one I made and put in the fridge, after discovering that my banana, which I had gone to such lengths to protect, had been cruelly squashed on the journey in:

A popular meme, the Y U NO Fallow is used for expressing exasperation over the world and its contents, particularly the malodorous creatures that you have to share office space with. Memes like this one are so popular that if you Google them, the first result is a meme generator that allows you to make you own by just changing the text at the top or bottom. Typically, the Y U NO Fallow overacts a bit, so he’s perfect for showing disgruntlement over first world problems.

Day 2

Now it’s time to get more general. If you’re the only meme bomber in the office, your first attempt will have been met with general befuddlement. Most people will have completely ignored it. To stay undercover, you must not raise the subject but if it is raised, you must not express appreciation even if it is indicated that the person with whom you are speaking enjoyed the joke. You must express only confusion and respond to any speculations about the person responsible with “I don’t know anyone with a sense of humour like that…” I would also advise not meme bombing every day. If you have a day off sick and nothing appears, people will twig. It’s more fun if its anonymous and there is another benefit, which we’ll cover later. Keep your bombing inconsistent.

For your second attempt, a light frustration of the work space can be expressed. Does someone keep leaving the lights on? Does someone drink all the coffee? In my office, all the forks instantly went missing the moment the clock struck one. There were tons of knives, but not one fork. I considered this unacceptable, as my lunch choice was incompatible with the available cutlery. This called for the Rage Guy:

Day 3:

A rule of bombing: once it’s out there, it can’t be recalled. You must not return to the scene of the crime. Think of it as out of your hands once it’s posted. It will be easier for you to distance yourself from your work and thusly evade capture. It is also more fun to see if someone gets round to removing it and if they leave a note. You can assume that you are irritating somebody if your memes start to go missing within a few short hours of you putting them up.

Today’s work should be something sillier and more abstract. Try putting eyes on the plates or on the coffee machine. Anthropomorphising the office wear is a good way to make everyone’s working environment less cold and austere. See how many pairs of eyes you can put up while no one’s looking.

Day 4:

It’s time to take your vampire’s teeth to the establishment itself. Every office has notices asking you politely to do this, or to kindly not do that. These boring little bastards are just asking for defacing, or revamping altogether. In order to maximise affect, make you alteration not as obvious; my preferred choice is to remake the entire notice in the same font with the same words, bar just a few. Instead of “please do not put paper towels down the toilet; they block the drains”, you could have “please do not put alligators down the toilet; they eat the friendly toilet fairies.”

Anything that can make your co-workers do a double take is a success! This sign may stay up longer than the others, as people tend to stop reading these signs after a while and your art may go undetected by the big boss for many days (particularly if you place it in the bathroom that is the opposite sex to your boss).

Day 5:

Wouldn’t you know it, it’s Friday already! Didn’t the mischievousness help the time fly by?

If your boss or someone in a high place is a humourless git, by now you may have received a warning. This is where anonymity is your friend, because you cannot be asked directly. You are a mysterious subversive in the office, which is much more threatening to the authority of a megalomaniac than just some weirdo with a meme fetish who can be fired. Who’s doing it? They may wonder. It could be one person, or it could be the lot of them! Such insubordination!

It will probably be a polite notice again. Obviously, you must deface this polite notice. The best thing to use in this circumstance is the trollface. The trollface is used much the same way as a middle finger without the confrontational aspect. If on the bottom of a sign saying “please do not deface the office space”, you put the trollface, you are making a very effective statement about your lack of co-operation. If you can think of a quip, more power to you, but sometimes an obnoxiously leering face is worth a thousand well chosen words.

See what I mean?

After this, your boss or superior has a few options. He or she can either persist with their anti-terrorist meme-banning propaganda or they can ignore it like a boss. Be assured that either way, they’re mad as a mad dog. No one takes kindly to having their words openly mocked; not when they took so much trouble to choose them. Hell, that’s the basis for every pointless internet argument in existence. Your boss will be forced to send out a polite email, asking staff to please not deface the premises. Hopefully this will capture heart of other closeted artists and you can start a little competition for who can post the silliest memes. You might be tempted to use one of the many, many Star Wars or ninja gags, or try your hand at something original. Go on, try your hand! Even if you do get fired, you have to admit it would be a hilarious thing to get fired for.


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