work to rule
n.— «Teachers are now following the existing contract to the letter, a practice called “work to rule.” Teachers begin and end the work day specified in the contract and no earlier or later.» —“Westborough teacher contract talks heat up” by John Fenuccio MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, Massachusetts) Apr. 23, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people disagreed over the best word to use when answering the phone. Alexander Graham Bell suggested answering with ahoy! but Thomas Edison was partial to hello! A fascinating new book about...
One way to make your new business look trendy is to use two nouns separated by an ampersand, like Peach & Creature or Rainstorm & Egg or … just about any other two-word combination. A tongue-in-cheek website will generate names like...
This has been used, in England at least, for decades — at least since the 1950s when I first heard it, and I suspect much earlier. The derivation is from the union rule book.
I haven’t looked up any references yet, but I am sure they will be easy to find.