I broke the rules and I liked it

Rules as we all know play a vital role in the world as they provide structure and guidance, helping society to function properly. Rules exist in all aspects of life, from our homes to schools, to churches, to the roads, and everywhere. They are there to maintain peace and order, just imagine how chaotic the world would be if certain rules didn't exist. But in addition to this, certain rules are simply ridiculous and are just begging to be broken.

An example of this can be seen when I did my industrial training at the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR). My entire class went together and the institute provided accommodation for all of us. We all stayed in one building with several rooms and the coordinator demarcated the house into 2; one side for males and the other side for females. And what did she use to demarcate both sides? Nothing!
The entire house is linked via passageways and corridors

She simply said, "The boys' rooms are this way, why girls' rooms are over here. Everybody should remain on their respective sides and no entering of the opposite gender's room". Well, the rule was ridiculous because if they didn't want us to mingle, they should have provided separate buildings, with high electric fences surrounding them, and big dogs to prevent the opposite gender from getting access, so we would just know we were in prison.

To cut the long story short, everyone eventually broke that rule and it started as soon as the coordinator left 😂. But enough of that story, since it's a "group rule breaking", let me now get into a more personal experience. Towards the end of 2021, my faculty at the university suddenly came up with a dress code rule and it was very absurd to most of us but the management was hell-bent on enforcing it and they even set up a committee to do that.

I was fine with some of the things they prohibited but I wasn't OK when I saw that they banned slides and flip-flops. In fact, the only footwear that was allowed were sandals, sneakers, and formal shoes. That rule was ridiculous for a couple of reasons. First of all, my faculty is Agriculture and most of us especially from 300 level are mostly on the field doing one activity or the other. It's even more ridiculous for me because my department is aquaculture; I mostly deal with water.

I don't see the point of wearing shoes when I'm eventually going to enter fish ponds and tanks. Besides, I don't like shoes because my toes get cramped up in shoes and I rather wear slides to allow them to breathe. The rules were implemented but was I going to follow them? Nope, I continued wearing slides to school but I always look over my shoulders when walking around the Faculty just to avoid the committee enforcing the rules.

But one day, I was caught and as punishment, they seized one pair of my slides. It would have been very embarrassing to be walking around with one pair of slides or totally barefooted but luckily for me, a pair of slides were lying idly in my department's fish farm. The next day, I wore another slides to the Faculty and I continued the cat-and-mouse game with the committee. I was caught again after a week and one pair of my slides was seized (again!).

I bought another one 😂 I got caught again after two weeks and the man recognized me and was like "You again?!" At that point I gave up, I had to get my sandals from my parents' house (it isn't far from the university). I still bought another pair of slides and I wear it when leaving the house but when I'm getting close to my faculty, I switch to the sandals and when I'm done with lectures for the day, I switch back to the slides.

But one day, I forgot to switch to my sandals because I was late for a lecture and I was in a hurry. After the lecture, I was caught by the same committee member, he just laughed and shook his head. I guess he eventually pitied me and just let me go that day. After a few months, the rules were relaxed a bit and people started to wear all sorts of footwear again. These days, nobody even bothers to follow the dress code anymore and no staff care about enforcing it, well, unless you wear something that's beyond crazy.

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