I was recently struck by the notion that modern technology workers have a role in many ways comparable to that of free weavers in medieval western Europe†.
Anyway, whilst exploring that to see if it has legs, I came upon this (possibly apocryphal) story from 1107 in the records of the Benedictine monastery of Sint Truiden in Brabant (Belgium).
This has pretty much nothing to do with my idea for an analogy, but it is peak medieval weirdness, social compulsion, and the awkward fit of free labourers into a system that is still largely feudal in nature.
A rustic of Villa Inda, with the complicity of local judges, devises a trick to play on free weavers working in the town, "to diminish their haughtiness and pride and to avenge a personal injury," wherein they are compelled to haul a ship on wheels from place to place.
When it reaches the town of Sint Truiden, the authorities of that place order the weavers there to watch over it day and night, to the great amusement of all and sundry, whilst other villagers engage in bacchanals around the ship beneath their gaze.
The weavers are subject to this by legal bans placed upon them by the justices and the text states that "they are generally regarded as more impudent and haughtier than other hired persons".
Because they're free (i.e. not bound to lord and land, unlike serfs), they hold a distinct social status, and one that is likely less integrated into the local bonds that underpinned reputation and law in much of 12th century Europe.
†I'm not about to start comparing furries to Cathars or anything but if you give me a run-up, I could probably make a spirited attempt