I have a high-school reunion coming up this fall; I won't say what the number is. And although time is the great equalizer, I'm ambivalent about going because I still remember the annoying adolescent pecking order that existed.

Back in those days, the cliques pretty much fell into three categories: dupers, greasers and freaks. Today, dupers would be known as jocks: the sports and academic over-achievers who bled the school colors and dedicated their lives to their respective teams. Greasers aren't as easily translated to today's terminology. Greaser guys were concerned with cars, hard rock music and drinking or getting high; greaser girls had big, ratted hair, lots of makeup, and scared me. Freaks were the non-conformists, either brainy or not, who didn't fit in with either group. (Bonus points if you guess what group I was in.)

Imagine my surprise to learn that high-school cliques are alive and well in the American workplace.

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