randompersonrandom said:
At work I belong to a women's chat on Teams. It pulls in 1 or 2 sharp, warm, enjoyable, reliable women from a whole lot of departments. We trade details about our lives, pitch in when somebody needs a contact in one of our areas who has membership, and occasionally team up on projects. The name is "the cat group," and the reason is that it began as a 3-way chat where 3 friends who were women shared cat photos. After that, additional women with cats were brought in, then we opened it up to women with dogs, then any pet, then any pet OR kids, then a plant was enough, and in the end women with no pets, plants, or kids.
By now it has turned into a secret sorority. Plenty of people think it's out there, but if you mention it, every member will respond, flatly, "there is no cat group." which a few people treat as proof that the cat group IS real.
Entry works like this: a current member has to nominate you and a second has to back it, then you send a few photos of your cat, pet, child, or plant, with names attached. Once we began inviting women who had none of those, we simply had them sign an attestation that they would enjoy seeing pics of OTHER people's. Next the group inspects your pet or child to decide if they are cute enough for your application to move forward.
After that you have to swear solemnly that while in the cat group you will not join an MLM, and if you do, you can never try to recruit members or market MLM garbage in the group, with a ban as the penalty. THEN we hold a vote on letting the new member in.
Because the group is secret yet invented, with well-documented but invented bylaws, we rewrite them constantly whenever boredom hits, yet the MLM attestation has never been altered and never will be for as long as I remain a member.
