Belinda Clarke stepped out of her office, intent on heading to another floor. She saw bare flesh towards the back of the room and realised that she should investigate.
Belinda came over. “Hi June, is it a virus?” she asked, like a good boss.
June was working quickly into her role. “No thanks, I’m feeling perfectly okay,” she replied brightly.
Belinda set an emotional distance. “I have to ask are you a mailgirl or what? We have rules about office attire.”
June backed away a little uncertain. “I’m not sure,” she wavered. “I think I start tomorrow, on probation.”
Belinda shook her head, not happy. “My job gets more difficult. I guess I’ll have to speak to Lindsay and sort it out.” Belinda even rolled her eyes. “If this is happening, I’ll bet she didn’t even think of a replacement.”
Of course June had no idea of that. Belinda returned to her office no doubt trying to work out what do about this latest situation.
Seeing no alternative, June went back to the work that she was doing on her computer. After some moments of uninterrupted working, she realised that Martin was trying to attract her attention. She looked away from her computer, over at him.
Martin made eye contact with a concerned look on his face. “I have to ask,” he started then hesitated, “um, are you all right with, uh, this?”
‘Uh, this’ was obviously the fact that she was there at her desk completely nude and supposedly trying to decide whether to become a mailgirl and be this way in the office every day. She realised that her breasts were openly on display to Martin and anyone else in the office who cared to look. She glanced down. She felt proud that they hung nicely, not at all drooping, her small pink nipples pointing out just so.
“Actually, yes I’m all right,” she smiled back at Martin. Although she had not made up her mind yet. But her body was signalling that this was a buzz, a thrill, a dare, something she had never imagined doing herself. Martin went back to his work. June barely thought about it as she reached down to stroke herself, below the desk where he couldn’t see even if he was looking. It felt good, she felt good. Maybe she could face the mezzanine. She knew, she was going to be a mailgirl.
*
Jackson strode into Mitch’s office. She knew that she should knock but she did not expect that she would be interrupting anything urgent. Which was the case. Mitch looked up at her sheepishly.
“You called me to deliver a message?” she stated blandly. Something in the air suggested to her there was some distance between them.
Mitch looked befuddled. “I did?” What was this sheepishness? He looked to his app and then realised. After the engineers’ audit the mailgirls had reduced the number of calls they organised via their hack. But they did still use it occasionally. Mitch finally clicked. “Oh, so they didn’t find the hack?” he realised.
“No,” Jackson smiled. “Or if they did they haven’t done anything about it.” She sat down opposite Mitch deliberately hitching one leg over the armrest of her chair and stretching out the other, she planted a foot on his desk. The effect was to totally expose herself to her former boss and mentor. However, she refrained from any stimulation. Just making sure that Mitch could see everything.
Despite her provocative pose Jackson gave Mitch a serious look. “It’s getting worse,” she told him.
“Lindsay?” Mitch asked although he knew that was the answer. Jackson nodded. “What has she done now?” he asked, the crux of the matter.
Jackson sighed. She decided to list everything to test on Mitch how bad it was. To see what he thought about it. She wondered if there was a chance that she was overreacting. “You know that she has stopped the incentives scheme. She’s now saying that there is a technical hitch in our bonus accounting that needs to be fixed. So no credits to our bonuses. Jan went into the system and looked at it but she reckons it’s all okay and is working as it should. But of course the bonus money was icing on our very rich cake, so it is hard to get too bolshie about that. We can’t forget that we are well paid. Plus there’s the hiring freeze for the rest of the staff…”
Mitch nodded. “There has been muttering that the only new hires are mailgirls,” he added. “And the staff — Lauryn, Annette, Jan, Heather, Kimiko — who became mailgirls still have not been replaced.” Mitch knew he hesitated when he said Kimiko’s name. Did Jackson notice?
Apparently not. “She was clever with the chairs,” Jackson continued. “Using the excuse of ergonomics, easier use of our laptops and all that. But we weren’t consulted or warned of the change, so in the current climate it seems like a punishment of sorts — or at least a backwards step. The exposure we can live with…” Jackson ran a finger along her slit to remind Mitch that she was as exposed to him right there as they were in the chairs to anyone who cared to look down to the mezzanine from the other floors.
“I noticed that it separates you,” Mitch provided. “Previously you could slouch on the benches while you were on your laptops and you could chat in groups. Now you can only really talk to the person next to you.”
Jackson thought about that for a short moment. “I wonder if she planned that?” she pondered out loud. Put the way that Mitch had, it certainly seemed so.
“What else is new?” he asked. Sensing that she wanted to fill him in on further outrages. That was just the way that things were heading at the moment.
Jackson sighed. “Lindsay interviewed one of the staff about becoming a mailgirl. Then sent her back to her desk naked.”
“June?” Mitch asked.
“You knew?” Jackson was surprised into being careful. How did he know?
Mitch leaned forward. “Don’t worry. She came to talk to me before she evidently saw Lindsay. She was thinking about it and I discussed it with her. Didn’t Annette tell you?”
The penny dropped. Jackson smiled. “Annette told me that you and her had some fun with someone who was wondering about mailgirls. Ah, she didn’t tell me who. And she did not tell me exactly what you got up to?” Almost without thinking about what she was doing, Jackson began to stroke herself in front of Mitch. Well she was facing him. But she got the sense that he was trying not to focus on her doing that. “Mitch,” she asked, hoping for his expert assistance.
However, he seemed distant. “I have a better idea.” He went to the app then looked over at Jackson who gave up, put her feet on the floor, and sat back down relatively demurely. “While we’re waiting,” Mitch continued, “let’s get these issues down on paper and decided which are the most critical.”
Jan came in while they were grading the importance of the issues. Mitch looked up at her and smiled warmly. “Can you see if you can get Lindsay up here urgently?” he asked her. “I… uh, we have an issue.”
Jan agreed. Just as she was about to leave she stopped. “Do you want me to come back with her?” she asked.
Mitch thought about that for a short moment. “Why not?” he agreed. And looked to Jackson who agreed.
Jan returned with Lindsay. The office boss strode in, ahead of the mailgirl giving Jackson and Mitch the impression that she had marched in front of Jan the whole way. “What is urgent?” she asked Mitch, having stopped a short distance from his desk and remained standing in a spot where Jackson had to swivel around to see her. Jan looked apprehensive and stayed back well behind Lindsay.