To Queen Bee or Not To Queen Bee, that is the question

Yesterday, I escaped the doldrums of my office for an hour and had lunch with my extremely, just walked off the cover of GQ, well dressed and fashionable friend Justin. It was a belated birthday lunch for him. "Belated" birthday is quite right. You see, Justin, who is only a year or two older than me, appears younger and younger every time I see him. It's more than just, what's your secret- Oil of Olay, kind of thing. It's more like he's held off aging, time for that matter, made a pact with someone or something, to stay young forever... sort of like Dorian Grey. How fitting that there is a new version of the classic Oscar Wilde story coming to theatres soon, starring the delicious Colin Firth, who by the way is not portraying Dorian, and well, I digress, again. But, I believe now I should mention Colin First in all my future blogs.
Seriously, I think Justin has a portrait of himself somewhere in his immaculate downtown condo, perhaps concealed behind the murphy bed (?), that is slowly aging while the real life Justin remains youthful. He is walking perfection every time. I always feel like a frumpy old lady when I see him. So I try not to stand too close! But perhaps I should and some of that anti aging, look fabulousness may rub off on me. Or maybe I should just paint myself a self portrait. I actually do have a self portrait drawing in my storage locker... hmm, doesn't seem to be working but perhaps I should check out the drawing to see how it's fairing.

But on to my other rant. Today I am ranting not only for myself but for Justin too. With his birthday just past, he too felt the bitter sting of no one at work remembering or acknowledging his birthday. A coworker of mine who is currently on maternity leave, came by the office just to help celebrate my birthday a few months back- very sweet of her. But no one in the office acknowledged it, probably because no one else knew. I know, I can't complain if no one else knew. But the fact is the celebration of birthdays was outlawed at my office the year before I started working there. A cause for celebration at the office is not the proper place and people were having too much fun and using up 15 minutes of the work day not working but having fun, god forbid, which he apparently did. NO birthday cake for you! I guess this was the same time they decided we are only to listen to the radio at the lowest sound level, a level only dogs could hear, and only if it's the worst radio station too.
Anyway, Justin's boss, whom he has worked for several years, chooses not to acknowledge his birthday, nor anyone's for that matter. Is this an office trend? She did give him a birthday "hug" though. Still, more than what I got but really, wtf? Justin is very generous and thoughtful. He showers his coworkers and his boss on their birthdays with cards, pots of orchids and gifts just to say, hey, I care about you and I'm glad to have you in my life. What's wrong with a little appreciation in the work place so that the worker bees or drones can feel like the queen bee for 15 minutes on their day??? I don't know alot about the social bee society but I do know the workers and drones only live to service their queen. I don't want to be a worker bee for the rest of my life!
We complained how our workplaces don't put enough value into their workers. We were depreciating rather than being appreciated. Oddly, on the day I decided to take Justin out for lunch, I turned down lunch with my co-workers. This was the one day, with the exception of a few (that would be me and one other) the entire office and even the "queen bee" decided to go for dim sum, and guess what? The Queen Bee paid. After just complaining with Justin about the lack of apprciation the worker bees get, how undervalued we are, this happens. But I value spending quality time with someone I want to spend time with rather than spend 2 uncomortable hours with people I don't even like spending my working hours with. And one lunch, once a year, free or not does not a happy worker bee make. It should be a continuous process, don't you agree? How about bbq days, an expresso machine in the lunch room or better yet a raise!?

That's the way the world of the hard working worker bee turns. One day we shall all be Queen Bee. But what am I complaining about? I drafted this blog while I was at work! That was my "free" lunch.