Just say "S'il Vous Plait"!

Hello my darlings,
I hope you are both well.  I am so sorry for my latest disappearing act.  Between fashion week and the fabulous soirees with ma chere Flora, I haven't had much time to write. Well, I am back and I promise to be better at keeping in touch.  So what's new in the world of Ophelia?  Well, ladies, I have been working like a fiend.  It is lovely being back at the fashion mag but things sure are different in the fashion department.  To put it nicely, it's a lot more work with a lot less thanks.

I know I have touched on manners before, but I was raised with the idea that manners in the workplace are just as important as manners in the real world.  Don't get me wrong, almost everyone is lovely and easy to handle, but the arrival of Victoire, the new assistant has definitely made Please and Thank You a thing of the past.  Here's the back story:  Victoire is replacing Hortense, a lovely, charming and beautiful woman who was promoted to Responsable Shopping of the company's newest publication.  Good news for Hortense but a defeat for those stuck with Victoire.  She is mean, disagreeable and worst of all... the least fashionable person I have ever encountered!  How, you ask did such a creature score such a sweet job?  Le mystere du jour!

Just this morning, Cruella Deville tore into the office (20 minutes late, no less!) and in reply to my very sweet (and sincere) "Bonjour Victoire," she snapped "Is it?"!  Yes, Victoire, it was a good morning until you arrived!  I called my mother (the Queen of good manners) for a much needed vent-session and she reminded me not to forget my manners in the face of such rudeness.  I can't see myself ever being as impolie as mademoiselle V, but I can't help but wonder how a girl with a dream job, living in a lovely pied de terrre in the 7th arrondissement of Paris could be so stingy with the "S'il Vous Plaits" and the "Mercis"!  La politesse costs you absolutely nothing, but as the darling Hortense proved, it can take you oh so far!  So, I'm left with just one question:  Why the sour mood, Victoire?

Yours truly,

Ophelia x x x