I worked at the Ministry of Transport
those days,
a mere employee in a workforce of
three thousand
barked at and moved about
by bureaucrats and faceless executives
but we the meek had our ways
to assert our power some days

that day the drab announcement
came over the PA system
a speaker above each corner
snapping an order at you:
“Will all personnel
parked at Sector 4
remove your vehicles
to Sector 5 immediately”

And half an hour later
while I was having a smoke
with my friends and they with theirs
came an order from the speakers above:
*“Will all staff who went to remove their cars
return to work without any delay…”