1. What does a vigilante do? And a workplace vigilante?
2. What irritating behaviour do you notice at your place of work? Do any of these behaviours transgress company policy?
3. Order the following according to seriousness:
a) returning from break two minutes late
b) leaving food in the office fridge too long
c) failing to refill the photocopier
d) not putting things back in the right place
e) swiping company property
f) eating someone else's food
g) defrauding the company of money
4. Is there anyone who attempts to deal with the above issues? Does your place of work have a self-appointed enforcer?
Read article here: Workplace Vigilante
5. What is your reaction?
6. According to the article, workplace vigilantes are most likely to be found in large organisations. Do you think this is true? If so, why?
7. What motivates a workplace vigilante? Is it company loyalty? Why would anyone want to monitor the temperature in the office, recycling, and food ordering (See comments section below article).
8. What downsides are there to being a vigilante? If you knew that a colleague was a workplace vigilante, how would you behave around them?
9. Do bosses welcome the presence of vigilantes in the workforce? In your experience, are vigilantes disruptive, or useful lieutenants for management?
10. What are the alternatives to reporting a colleague to management?
11. Does your company have a complaints procedure? Is the procedure set up to deal with small transgressions?
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Situation
Your office has bacon sandwiches delivered on Wednesday mornings. A colleague has made a list of names and ticks them off when they receive a sandwich - she does this as she believes some people are having two sandwiches. Confide in another colleague (your teacher) about whether this should be happening and why.
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Discuss quotes
“When the law fails to serve us, we must serve as the law.”
― Kenneth Eade
“One thing I learned as a journalist is that there is at least one disgruntled person in every workplace in America -- and at least double that number with a conscience. Hard as they try, they simply can't turn their heads away from an injustice when they see one taking place.”
― Michael Moore
"A lot of these types of films - the vigilante or revenge drama - were so popular in the '70s because there was a feeling in the culture of loss of control."
- James Wan
"The purpose of whistleblowing is to expose secret and wrongful acts by those in power in order to enable reform."
- Glenn Greenwald
"It's not everyday that a whistleblower is actually willing to be identified."
-Laura Poitras
Student Handout PDF: Office Vigilante
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