Mulled Whine

I worked with a group of women in a non-traditional environment once . I thought that other women who wanted to work there would be a lot like me, that it would be fun. What a joke! I have never seen so many back biting, sneaky, catty, self absorbed, competitive women in my life. I was shocked, it reminded me of high school. "Oh no, Susan sits here," I was told by Laura, though the lunch room was not assigned seating, and Susan didn't actually work there yet, but once she did... oh it was exciting! Lunch time was like being in the change room with cheerleaders. "Really? Oh my god, well," Laura pauses to smile scandalously at the married manager, then leans forward to whisper in Susan's ear. The juicy tidbit was rewarded with an awed gasp, "You know, everyone of those children has a different father, and she wonders where her daughter gets it from!" Susan reported to the entire table. And later, Susan clucks her tongue with disgust to hear that pretty young Tanya admitted to flashing her husband out the front window when he left for work. Laura then proceeds to tell us all about her daughter's job in electronics sales, informing us with a giggle that if she was having trouble making a sale, she just had to show a little more cleavage and viola! It really made me wonder, as I sat, day after day, trying not to choke on my cheese sandwich, where did it start. Did teenage girls mimic their mother's attitude in highschool to feel mature? Or did mother's start acting like their teenage daughters to feel young again?