Once there was a little worker bee. Actually, there were several worker bees, and not just once. This worker bee in question was a loyal little worker bee. He had a very strong work ethic. He never asked for a lot of money, but what he wanted was a little appreciation for his efforts and dedication.

At first, things were going really well in the hive. The Queen Bee and her assistants were willing to do their share of the work. Over time, however, the little worker bee began to notice that the better he became at building honeycombs, the less the Assistant Queen Bees contributed to the production of the hive. At first, this was no concern. After time, though, the little worker bee was doing his share of the work in addition to that of the assistant bees. Now, whenever the Queen Bee flew off of her throne to inspect the royal hive, her assistants became very nervous, as was exemplified by a waggle dance known as an expression of anxiety among all bees. Her assistants were on the clock, as bees are known to have throughout their hives, for twelve hours per day. But the assistant bees thought it unfair that they should have to work all twelve hours. Having the Queen Bee discover how little they contributed would be a shame.

What this meant was that one of the bees was going to have to pick up the slack. That bee, of course, was the little worker bee. He was known by the Queen Bee and her personal assistant bees to take great pride in his work. "Well, why not let little worker bee do some of my work so I don't have to work all twelve hours?", reasoned assistant bees. "After all, worker bee only works in the hive part time. Let's give him some of our work." At first, worker bee thought this was eminently fair. After all, what bee can work nonstop twelve hours?

Things went well for awhile, but one day worker bee noticed that he had been working much harder lately than he ever had. Additionally, summer was in full swing and it was very warm. In fact, it was over one hundred degrees in the labor division of the hive. worker bee began to feel dizzy and close to fainting, but the assistant bees, afraid that he might have to go rest, thereby leaving them to have to do some work again, began pushing worker bee harder. Now, while this was happening there were other worker bees who, like the assistant bees, got away with not working as much as they were being paid to work. This meant that, in addition to doing his own work, he now was also required to do much of the work of the assistant bees and his fellow worker bees.

This made worker bee very sad. "I'm being paid to do the work of one bee, but now, because I have become so good at my little job, the assistant bees now make me do work that they should be doing. Worse, now I also must perform the tasks of two of my fellow worker bees, who don't seem to want to work as much as they did."

Worker bee began to experience heat sickness and soon sought the air conditioned comfort of that of the assistant bees, but before long the assistants saw what he was doing, and chased him back to work. Worker bee, feeling very faint, then sought the air conditioned comfort of the office bees. But that didn't last long, for the office bees wanted no part of a sweaty, filthy worker bee in their pristine midst. worker bee soon realized that while his productivity was valued at first, soon it was merely taken for granted by those bees who had long forgotten what hard work it is to run a hive.

This took a very bad toll on worker bee. First, he became faint almost every day. Then, he became very, very dehydrated. His soaking wet work shirt was seen by other bees as a disgusting sight rather than as a symbol of a strong work ethic. Worker bee had kept his chin up as long as he could, but after a few seasons of working in the hive, he began to feel very, very sad. Before long, a tear -a very small tear at first- formed in his eye, then fell down his cheek. He finally realized that his purpose in the hive was not to treated as an equal, or even with any appreciation at all. It was simply to serve as a bee taken for granted, much like a comfortable breeze on a hot summer day. Worker bee's spirit was broken, and now he performs less than he once did, for now he has lost sight of the goal of the hive.

The end.