Although I never heard this term while I was in the Navy I did this so many times I cannot count. Tape Zebra is the act of blocking off a passage way with tape so it can be cleaned, painted, or waxed without people walking through.

When this is done people can gain great pleasure from actually making senior people take detours around the taped off passage. The basic rule was not to tape off an area that had no other exit or way around. There were times when this was unavoidable and had to be done. Most of the time passageways were taped off at night as to impact foot traffic the least.

In my case I had was in charge of a passageway in between the Engineering log room and Main control. Since control had two exits I could tape off my side pretty much when I saw fit to give the floor a good coat of wax. Since this was also the main entry way into Main control I was told to keep that deck shiny by the CHENG. So in the slow hours of the night I would tape things off so I could keep things shiny. As ANY sailor knows, it is better to have it look clean and/or shiny than have it work.

The only time Tape Zebra maybe broken is when there is a GQ or Man overboard calls or drills. In these cases all you can do is hope nobody slips and falls on your wet wax or knocks over your 5 gallons of paint.