Ants have variable life spans. A queen may live for decades. But the numerous, diligent, worker ants – for whom it is all work and no play – live for a few weeks, sometimes for a few months. What do most ants think of that? To get some idea, it helps to listen in on a conversation between two workers…
– Boy, was I working hard. Somehow the Queen started laying eggs in a floor covering business.
– Floor covering?
– You got it. A real mess. It was tiles and carpet remnants.
– You think you have it bad?
– It was no fun, I tell you. But I guess it’s better to be a worker ant out there than someone actually working in a floor covering place.
– It’s not that bad.
– What’d you mean?
– I was picking up crumbs from a guy who spent all day doing data entry.
– My God, data entry.
– You know, I may live for another 2 to 3 weeks, working all the time gathering crumbs. But can you imagine working all that time doing data entry…