LADIES! Get a grip!

(A classic example of Ladies Not Getting Along. Jacqueline Susann and Judy Garland were not fond of each other.)

Actually, my "shout-out" (as the kids say) to the fairer sex is not addressed to you female readers of The Good Taste Chronicles, as you are community paradigms of taste and breeding, but I would be interested in your feedback.

What is it with all these women who don't like other women?

This came to my attention when I was unfortunate enough to hear a woman (distinctly NOT a lady) who called into the Rush Limbaugh Show (How your correspondent came to the point where he had to listen to Rush Limbaugh is another, quite unfortunate story. Suffice to say that some trades people think they can do ANYTHING when they are at your house) This woman maintained that other women couldn't be trusted to hold office. Indeed, she said she "hated" other women, and didn't trust any of them.

I, of course, wrote her off as the kind of disturbed individual who would listen to that drug-addled windbag. But then, being the type who notices things, I started to hear other, seemingly rational women espousing the same sort of opinions. Not all women mind you, but a fair cross section.

Having been an office drone throughout most of my career, I have been witness to the occasional intra-sex conflict, and it does tend to happen between women. While I can honestly say that it never happens at Today's World Magazine, it was quite common in other workplaces. I remember a particularly acute case of it when I was working as a secretary for a woman at one of Our Finer Hotels: A female client simply did not like my boss - who was a sterling woman, by the way - and she would only listen to me. It doubtless had something to do with my well-modulated, tastefully masculine voice and my masterful command of the English language, but it finally got to the point where I had to tell her, point blank, "I am Beverly's Secretary. You will have to talk to Beverly about that" (editorial note: the name were changed to protect the innocent)

I even have a close female relative (let's call her Sissy) who has an absolute genius for going into any situation where there is more than one other woman present and taking an instant dislike for one of them. She's an otherwise pleasant woman - not quite up to the level of the average Good Taste Chronicle reader, but few are, after all - but this is her Achilles heal.

If the entire female population consisted of women like Ann Coulter, Paris Hilton, Barbara Bush, Nancy Reagan and the ilk, I could understand this bias. But most women are perfectly acceptable individuals. Unless I'm missing something.

So what's up?