The Little Grill is a diner in a working-class and POC neighborhood of Harrisonburg Virginia, originated in the 1930s. Since the 80s this diner has been a hangout for the social fringes and left-wing counterculture of Harrisonburg.
In the 1980s, the diner was ruled by the Bob Driver regime, which had a standard neo-liberal policy, but enjoyed popular success among the Little Grill's working-class due to the regime's tolerance towards restaurant workers drinking and smoking weed on the premises of the establishment past closing time into the early morning, and also for a variety of delicious breakfast sandwiches. In the 90s the Grill came under the control of the social-Christian Ron Copeland regime, and the Grill's working-class enjoyed social programs such as soup kitchens and free coffee and telephone usage for the homeless in exchange for conservative social policies such as restrictions on tarot readings and Dungeons & Dragons.
In recent history the Grill has come under the control of a new, supposedly collective, management system, and was renamed the Little Grill Collective. One would think that this would mean more freedom and control for the workers of the Little Grill, but in fact the progressive social programs of past regimes have been phased out, much like the austerity measures of European social-democracies.
Furthermore, the "collective" system has failed to liberate the workers of the Little Grill from wage slavery and other forms of economic exploitation, in fact this new "collective" system has reoriented the workers and given them a personal incentive to succeed in the capitalist market, therefore distracting from the cultivation of class-consciousness and the creation of a truly worker-controlled system.
Another facet we cannot ignore is the role the Little Grill has played in gentrifying the impoverished Harrisonburg neighborhood where the restaurant resides since the "collectivizing" process. Prices of food entrees have increased steadily, and the customer-basis has shifted towards mostly-white middle-income professionals, instead of the poor people of color who toil away in nearby housing projects and slum-apartments.
A good example of this overall attitude of acute social, economic, and political repression can be found in the men's bathroom of the Little Grill, where subversive and anti-establishment graffiti was tolerated, if not encouraged, by past regimes. The "collective" (informally ruled over by a few male charismatic personalities) chose to end this practice and unsuccessfully tried to shift away the workers' instinctual desire to rupture with the capitalist property system by vandalizing the bathroom walls. This unsuccessful attempt involved the creation of a small blackboard on the bathroom door for the creation of sidewalk chalk graffiti, in tandem with a ban on traditional methods of pen and Magic Marker™ graffiti once commonly found all over all four walls and the ceiling of the bathroom.
In a daring act of illegal and non-violent direct action, an anonymous comrade decided to take a stand. Using copious amounts of Gorilla Glue™ (the strongest glue on planet earth™), this courageous anonymous comrade adhered a copy of the South Park: Chef's Luv Shack PlayStation video disc to the wall of the Little Grill Collective men's bathroom, right above the chalk blackboard. (This was in part a reference to past owner and head chef Bob Driver who used to woo his lady friends in the men's bathroom of the Little Grill, a man after my own heart!)
As a consequence of this very daring and bold action, the management of the Little Grill "collective" has now been forced to once again allow graffiti on the bathroom walls. This should be a lesson to everyone toiling under the daily political repression of capitalism; Another world is possible as long as we are prepared to take risks and stand up to forces of tyranny and exploitation. Direct action gets the goods!
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