For many years I was a member of a public employee union. In 1998 I was told by the local President that my job description didn’t entitle me to display license plates on my car that support the memorial for members that die in the line of duty.
I asked him if he was sure that this was how nitpicky he wanted to get. He said, “we all need to follow the rules.”
I did a little research and found a clause in the contract that allowed me to opt out of paying dues if I made a notification 30 days before the end of the contract, which happened to be about 3 months after I removed the plates.
When the local President found out that I was no longer paying dues, he approached me with all of the board members and asked why I wasn’t being a team player.
I told them “the local President told me to follow the rules, so I decided to follow ALL of them.” Those license plates cost the Union $4000 before they did away with that contract clause.
I saw a lot of powerful people in my 35 years who had their own rules and then used the rules for others when it suited them.