It was my first real job after leaving school and I really wanted to make a success of it. I had a nice little certificate that said I had a degree in Business Management and a nice new job to go with it. Mind you, parental influence with the owner got me the position, but the owner made it very clear that it was up to me to prove myself. I was only the Girl Friday, doing all the bits and pieces that no-one else wanted to do, but I had an official title - Assistant to the Assistant Office Manager, or something like that.
Now I have to admit that the job wasn't all plain sailing. There was a learning curve, and the environment was nothing like being at school. Still, taking all things together, I thought I was doing OK, although I did have a couple of problem areas. One was the filing. I very quickly found out why I got stuck with the filing. It was tedious, boring, irritating, and thankless work, and it never seemed to end. Another little problem I had was daydreaming. I've always had that bad little habit. I found that my immediate boss wasn't too enthralled to have to come looking for me and then to find me standing in the file room, a piece of paper in my hand, and me staring blankly into space as I painted some unlikely scenario in my head - something like me being his boss and telling him to do his own damn filing.
The combination of three things that got me into my first real bit of trouble at work was that brand new degree in Business Management, my day-dreaming, and that filing. I was in the file room, refiling the same stupid folder for the umpteenth time, thinking about how nice it would be to have a more modern filing system, and how I knew how to set one up and why not do it?
I mean, why not? I knew all about filing systems and which ones worked best and I was the only one who did any filing so why not just re-arrange the filing system to suit myself? I wouldn't have to do it all at once. There were several empty filing cabinets. I could start my new system using those and the things I had to file on a daily basis, expanding to incorporate the older files when I had more time. So I started doing that.
All went well for a couple of days, then I got back from lunch to find my boss throwing fits. He'd wanted the Anderson file and couldn't find it. What had I done with it?
"I filed it," I told him. "I was told to. I'll get it for you."
I went into the file room, extracted the file and handed it to him. Easy to do, as he'd followed me into the room.
"Why was the file there instead of in the correct place?" he demanded to know.
"I'm setting up a new filing system," I explained proudly. "It will be so much easier to use when I've finished."
He looked at me as though I was bonkers.
"A new filing system?" he asked.
I nodded. I was about to start explaining the advantages of this new system but he interrupted me. Rude of him, but he is the boss so I guess I can excuse it.
"So you want all the staff to learn your new system rather than you learning the old?"
"It's very simple," I assured him. "Everyone will pick it up in no time, and I'll be here to help."
"Unless you're on leave, or at lunch, or running an errand, or visiting another branch," he pointed out.
"Um, I don't think I've ever been to another branch," I told him.
"Not yet, but surely you'll have to visit all the other branches to redo their filing systems, seeing that we all use the same system. It's called consistency of work practices. It means people can transfer between branches with a minimum of fuss as they already know how things will be done."
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that," I admitted. "I guess I could go around and fix the filing systems for the other branches."
I have to admit I wasn't too sure how I felt about having to do that.
"That's a great idea," said my boss enthusiastically, "or, there again, maybe you can restore our system to the way it was, including catching up on all the filing you haven't done by the old system, before you go home tonight."
It was starting to register on me that my boss didn't appreciate my new system. A quick look at his face and self-preservation kicked in. I agreed that it would be a fine idea if I set everything back to a boring old normal. Not that I said a boring old normal. That self-preservation bit, remember. All I said was, "Yes, sir."
So I spent the rest of the day refiling the last two days of filing. Boring squared, if you ask me. Not helped by a couple of staff members who came in and asked me to find files that they thought had been mislaid. It was being driven home rather forcefully that while I might do all the boring filing, a lot of people helped themselves to files. I should have guessed that from all the files I always had to put away. It wasn't as though I got them all out in the first place.
You may well guess that by the time knock-off came I was feeling well and truly disgruntled. Did you know gruntled is a proper word? It means pleased, satisfied, and contented. All the things that I wasn't. I was going to quit and go home, but my boss had said finish it today and I figured I could complete it in another hour, so I decided to keep at it. I did not want to come in the next day and have to start the day by doing filing.
I was just putting away the very last file, feeling happy and triumphant, when 'The Manager' walked into the filing room. Notice the quotation marks and the capital letters. The Managing Director wasn't my boss, but my boss's, boss's boss. He was the big cheese, too big to even notice me, or so I had thought.
"Melanie," he said, nodding to me. "I hear I have you to thank for finding the Anderson file this afternoon."
I was smirking and patting myself on the back when he added, "And for losing it," in a very dry voice.
My flush of gratitude promptly switched to a blush of embarrassment. I said something like, "I, um, er, ah," and he waved my reply aside.
"The company actually has a suggestions scheme," he told me. "We don't want to discourage the staff if they think they can do things better, but we do want to think things through carefully before making a change. We are quite willing to pay bonuses for good ideas, especially if they work out and make the company money. Feel free to put forward your proposal for a new filing system. I know the existing one is a bit cumbersome and you may have an idea worth considering."
My mind promptly flashed to a scenario where we implemented my filing system and my boss had to prevent me with a nice cheque as a bonus. From there I naturally moved on to what I'd buy with the money, the size of the cheque growing with every second.
I snapped out of a happy little shopping spree when the MD clapped his hands. He'd still been talking and I'd tuned him out. Oops.
"I also heard that you have this ability to drift off into your own little world occasionally," he remarked. "How does Jonesy get you to listen to him? Do I have to threaten to spank you or something?"
Spank me? I bridled over that. I wasn't a child, to have my bottom smacked. I was an adult. How dare he suggest such a thing? I glanced at his hands. They were rather large hands. Understandable, as the MD was rather a large man. I wondered what it would be like to have one of those hands land a spank on my bottom. They were large enough to just about cover my entire bottom.
It occurred to me that the MD was really rather a hunk, although a bit old. He had to be in his thirties, at least. I felt a little hot and squirmy over the idea of him putting me over his knee. Would he want to pull my panties down when he spanked or just spank me through them. There again, my panties were a little on the skimpy side. He'd just about be spanking a bare bottom without taking them off. Still, I couldn't help wondering. Oh, god. Thinking about him pulling down my panties was making me hotter and squirmier. I had to stop thinking about that.
"Earth to Melanie. Come in, Melanie," said a loud voice and I started. Oh, god, I'd got side-tracked again.
"Sorry. I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I just got side-tracked by something I was thinking of."
"I see. And what were you thinking of that took your attention away from me?"
"Oh, no. I was thinking about you," I assured him, hating him to think I was being rude and ignoring him. "I was just wondering if you were going to pull down my panties when you spanked me."
I did not say that. Please tell me I did not say that. From the look on his face I had indeed said that. Now I was really blushing.
"Ah, that was a rhetorical question, Melanie," he said softly. "I wasn't really intending to spank you."
"Oh. Ah, I knew that," I said hastily. "It was just that my mind wanders off on tangents sometimes. I didn't actually mean that I thought you were going to spank me. Of course you're not."
"Good. Naturally, if I was going to spank you your panties would have to come off, but I think I'd make you take them off yourself."
"Wh-what? Why would I have to take them off?"
"Builds the anticipation of what is coming. Why don't you think about it for a moment?"
What, think about myself sliding down my panties so that I had a bare bottom for him to spank? And I'd have to roll down my pantihose. God, it would be terrible. I could just see him watching me as I slid my panties down, trying not to lift my dress too high while I did so. Not that it would make any difference. He'd see everything once I was bent over his knee. Oh my god. Would he just stop at spanking me? What if he tried to touch me up as well? I was feeling all hot and squirmy again. This was terrible.
"Would it make it easier for you if I was to take them down after you're bent over my knee?" His voice broke into my musings. Well, not broke in so much as sent them on a different track.
I could see myself bent over his knee. He lifts my dress up and away from my bottom and starts rolling down my panties and pantihose. Would he do them one at a time, or both together. Oh god, he'd have me half naked. Would clamping my legs together stop him seeing anything? I had a nasty feeling that it wouldn't. Oh gosh, what if he didn't stop with my panties. What would I do if he tried to push up my dress and undo my bra? I had nice breasts, but I don't think I wanted to show them to him.
"Are you naked yet," he asked and my hands flew to my breast, reassuring myself that my dress was still in place.
"What do you mean? I haven't taken anything off," I protested.
"Not physically, but what about mentally? How much clothing had you lost?"
"None," I said, feeling flushed and hot. And I was breathing hard, I noticed. I just hope he didn't.
"Uh-huh. So why are your nipples pointing at me?"
I glanced down, just knowing he wasn't lying. I only had on a very light bra and my dress was rather thin as well. My nipples were very pronounced, forming two little tents in my dress. I couldn't help but start thinking of what they would look like without the bra and dress, which seemed to make them stand out even more.