while (my $message = $event->dequeue ) {
        print "IN HERE\n";
        return 1 if $message eq 'STOP';

##</code><code>##

$self->{queue}->enqueue('STOP');
    
# insert a small Wx time delay here, or use a conditional in the join like:
do 1 until $self->{worker}->join;

#or code to wait for the thread count to change       
}