We look forward to meeting with you to finalize our plans.
Sincerely,
Jason Walkraft
There it was done, last letter finished and soon she could head home. She only had one item left to deal with and for that it would be best if she had no company. After placing the correspondence in mail bin she quietly walked through the deserted offices. Sure enough every office was dark and there were no other sounds other than the low rustle of the A/C cooling the building.
As she returned to her desk she took the notepad that she had been keeping her tally of typos on and looked it over.
Only five today, not too bad but...
She hesitantly open her lower drawer and removed the small journal from the behind the folders. She opened it to the marker and set it on her desk. Five typos on official documents 5, she thought back over the day and added,
Treated Linda from Marketing in a rude manner without cause 5, Did not have Jason's coffee ready when he arrived.
She looked at the last and placed a 3 next to it after a moment's consideration. She then began adding up the numbers and gave a sob as she saw the final tally, 64. With trembling hands she placed the journal in the middle of her desk and took out the MP3 player and her ear buds and placed it on top of the book as she tidied her desk. Taking the player and the book she turned out her light and headed down the hall towards the elevator.
Tonight she did not press the button to take her to the ground floor but instead she carefully pressed the button marked B2. As the elevator descended she went over in her mind the events that had brought her to this point. She had always been a good student through school but that was more due to her father keeping her focused on her studies. Her teachers referred to her as bright but easily distracted and her father had told her he was not going to allow her to fail. His loving but stern guidance had seen her through high school. Fate had smiled on her at the business school There she had roomed with Lysell who understood what she needed and applied it with a firm merciless hand. After all that she had graduated with top honors and in short order had landed her dream job, Executive Assistant to Jason Walkraft, the founder and CEO of Walkraft Automation. She had started well enough but before long she found herself making mistakes that would have embarrassed her instructors and only long hours of proofreading had prevented her sloppy work from coming to the attention of Mr. Walkraft. She decided that only the tried and true methods of discipline would keep her on track but she had yet to meet anyone who she trusted enough or who cared enough for her to do the job for her. She knew from trial and a lot of errors that she did not have the ability to strike herself with the necessary force to achieve the proper effect. She had feared she would eventually fail but a chance discovery while touring the plant with Jason had provided her with a solution.
With a ding the doors of the elevator slide open and she found herself peering into the dark hall of the sub-basement. With effort she forced herself to step out of the car and waited while the doors slide shut behind her. As usual the basement was deserted at this time of the day, the maintenance staff having long since headed home to enjoy the weekend. With a slow stride she walked to the end of the hall and stopped at a door that said simply STORAGE. She stood and gazed at the sign for a moment then with slow deliberation she removed the key she had made and unlocked the door. On the far side of the space was a small room that had once been used as an office when this space had been used for something else long ago. As she approached it she could see the old oak desk and the equipment she had moved next to it several months ago, for all the world looking like its placement had simply been a matter of convenience rather than careful deliberation.
The paperwork she had found on the machine had identified it as part of a conveyor system that had been designed to move parts a precise increment along an assembly line. It had been returned to the plant for warranty repairs but had been mothballed when it was decided that a less expensive model would be used to replace it rather than fix it. From the work request the only problem with it was the fact it would no longer accept signals from the controller unit even though it could still be cycled manually. With a little work she had rigged an activator switch that she could place it on the desk and a carefully worded request to one of the engineers produced the final piece she needed for her solution. Placing her book and player on the desk she opened the bottom drawer of the desk and took out a 2' long web strap with a metal fitting on the end. She carefully placed the fitting over the shaft of the unit and then plugged the unit into a nearby socket. Standing out of the way she pressed the heavy button on the desk and with a loud swish the strap was sent quickly through a full rotation. Her hands trembled with the thought of what came next.
Removing her jacket and hanging it carefully on a hook by the door she emptied her pockets and picking up the player she clipped it to the collar of her blouse and placed the earbud into her ears. With tears in her eyes she pressed the play button.
"Sarah, you know why you are here. Once again it is time to assess your performance for the week and apply the motivation you know you need to keep your performance at a level that will allow you to continue to succeed and live to your full potential. This should not be necessary but your stubborn lazy attitude makes this inevitable." Sarah heard her own voice lecturing her just as her father and Lysell had done so many times. She needed the ritual of this as much as the actual discipline itself. She feared this but she knew that on the other end she would feel the rightness and reassurance that she was safe from her own failings. The only thing she missed with a deep ache was someone to hold her afterwards to bring her back and let her know she was loved and cared for.
"Assume your position Sarah," With a sigh she positioned herself at the edge of the desk in the center of the flight path of the strap. "We will begin with twenty strokes over your skirt, as always you will count them out loud. Begin!" With a sob she reached forward a depressed the large button.
Whish, Crack!
