Over the years, I have worked in many offices, and each one had its Queen B. This would be the woman who ran the show, the long term know-it-all who had been there since Eisenhower was in the White House, the Office Manager, the Lead Secretary, the Division Chief, the personal assistant to the CEO, the behind the scenes bully, all variations on the same theme. She would always be the quintessential bureaucrat, the functionary with a passion for her function, and let no one question her authority on matters relating to how the office ought to operate.
One attempted to intrude new ideas into her bailiwick at one’s own risk. This is the woman who invented the response, “That’s not the way we do it†and “We’ve always done it that way,†usually articulated with a supercilious sneer and a superior sniff. The office Queen B. would be most merciless when dealing with (a) men generally, (b) new employees, (c) interns, and (d) professional staff. The latter two categories were people with more formal education than her, as she typically has no schooling beyond her high school diploma. Whether it is simple jealousy or a desire to magnify the preference for practical experience over book learning, the Queen B. shows no mercy for anyone who might make the mistake of thinking their education put them ahead of her in handling office matters. As lead bureaucrat, the Queen B. defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.
In many offices, professional staff come and go, moving on to other companies or bigger jobs or new opportunities, but the Queen B. remains, forever in charge of things, watching over the day-to-day operation, not afraid to put in long hours, not afraid to tell some smartass young lawyer or accountant or draftsman how things are supposed to be done. She thrives in her arrogance, a company gal, loyal to a fault, ever ready to defend the tried-and-true over the new-and-unproven. She is the backbone of the organization, even as she steps haughtily upon so many well-polished toes.