Fred was working late one Friday night in April, trying to finish several projects before he left on two weeks of vacation. He thought he was the last one in the office, so was startled when he heard a knock on the frame of his office door. Alexandra, a recent hire, was standing in the opening with some papers in her hand.
"Could you help me with something? I have to get this release out tonight, and Ellen and the others have all left. This is my first time trying this on my own."
Alexandra had been working in media relations for a few months and was still finding her ways through the intricacies of getting out medical news to the world at large.
Fred was feeling tired and a little silly, so he said, "Sure, but it'll cost you."
"You want me to pay you?" Alexandra looked startled. While new, she was not without an assertive edge to her personality.
"No, just toss your shoes over there." Fred said, pointing to the corner of his office.
Alexandra rolled her eyes and kicked off her shoes. Fred then took the papers and read them over. After a couple minutes, he said, "You take two paragraphs to get to the main point. I know the doctors want us to tell everybody how wonderful they are with their long academic titles, but we should put the important information first." He circled a couple paragraphs with a pencil. "This is what will sell the story, get people interested. If the first thing the reporter reads is the doctor's name, it'll go in the trash."
She took the papers and started to reach for her shoes. "No, leave them there till we're finished." She rolled her eyes again and walked back to her cubicle.
He completed one project and was starting to work on another when she came back. "I've done what you said. What do you think?"
"How about your socks?"
Another eye-roll, and she took her socks off and tossed them into the same corner with her shoes. Fred read through the revised release and made a few edits along the way. After getting to the end, he went back and read another section closely. "These two paragraphs need some clarification. Do you have this doctor's number? You should be able to reach him. Give him a call, and just say you need some help explaining his work. He's a decent guy and shouldn't give you a hard time."
Alexandra headed back to her cubicle, and Fred could hear her on the phone. He got deeply involved in his project update, so was surprised again when she knocked on his door. "So, I talked to the doctor, and he gave me a lot of background information, and I repeated it back to him to make sure I understood it. I wrote some of the paragraphs down, but I'm not sure how to put it into the story."
Fred leaned back in his chair and grinned at her. "That sounds pretty complicated," he said lightly. "I think that's worth at least a pair of slacks."
Alexandra was puzzled for a moment, then her eyes bugged out in surprise that quickly turned to outrage. "You've got to be kidding me. You think I'm going to play this game with you any further?"
Fred shrugged and leaned back into his work. Alexandra stood there for a few moments, then broke the silence. "Look, this is my first release that I've done on my own. I want to make sure I get it right."
"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Fred said, still bent over his desk. Nearly a minute went by in silence, then Alexandra sighed and put her papers on his desk. "Fine," she said in exasperation. Fred turned his head slightly so he would appear to continue working and watched her hands unbutton and unzip her pants, then lower the slacks off her legs. She was wearing purple panties that were slightly skewed, revealing a little bit more of her pubic hair and mound than she would have liked.
She tossed her slacks onto the chair in the corner of his office. "Okay?"
Fred reached for her papers that she had dropped on his desk, seemingly paying no attention to this young woman in her panties and shirt. "Sit down. What have you got here?"
She explained that she had written two paragraphs based on the doctor's explanation and read them back to him for his approval. He had also agreed with her general understanding of his work. "I'm just not sure how to put it together with the rest of the release."
Fred read over her notes and asked her some questions, then began reviewing different approaches. He didn't so much tell her how to arrange the information as he tried to help her understand the logic of the developing information and how she could arrange the information to help the reader follow a path of learning.
"Thanks, that helps a lot," she said as she gathered the papers. "And it should help me with later work." She stood up and headed out. As they had talked, she must have shifted around in her seat, because one side of her panties had slid into her butt crack, and he got a clear view of her bare right butt cheek as she left his office. He bent back over his work with a smile of satisfaction.
A few minutes later, he was surprised to hear the door to the office open and called out a greeting. Karen, an older woman in the media relations area, stuck her head in.
"What are you doing here so late?"
"Finishing up some work before I leave for vacation."
"Yeah, that's right," she said. "Where are you going again?" She stepped into his office and sat down. He reminded her that he was off to the Bahamas with stop on three islands, and she talked about some of the time she had spent there on vacation. After a few minutes, she spotted the female clothes piled in the corner. "What's with these?"
"I'm having a little fun with Alexandra. She's working on a release and asked for some help."
"So you're trading help for clothes?"
Fred shrugged and smiled. Karen scowled at him for a moment, then shrugged. "You get your fun where you can, I guess."
Just then, the phone rang. It was Alexandra. "Is that Karen in your office?"