This story is the twenty-second in a series. While twenty-two seems an excessive number of stories written off of one basic premise, I'm gratified that some people seem to enjoy these stories. This story can, I hope, be read enjoyably by itself. However, the prior installments provide context and character background. All persons and groups mentioned in this story are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to any real person or group is unintended and coincidental. Please do not rely on these stories for any legal advice.
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Cassie, Ervin, Wendy, Dr. John, Suzanne, and Rob stayed the night with us after the pageant. With nine nude people together, we did not get around to reading the Sunday paper the next day. Our guests left in the mid-afternoon. Erin, Carla, and I basically lazed all day, made dinner, and went to bed together early.
After we reached the office on Monday morning, someone called to say that we had been in the Sunday paper. I got dressed and went to the newsstand around the corner to pick up a copy. On an inside page in the local section was a short story headlined "Lawyers Parade Nude." The article gave the basics about our pageant. It was only three paragraphs long and included no quotes (not unusual for our local paper). What it did have was a photograph of the six winners when we were standing onstage together. Naturally, the picture had been cropped so that you only saw bare shoulders and faces, but it accurately conveyed the impression that the six of us were standing together naked.
Since we were open about our nudism, Carla and I really didn't care about the article. Likewise, I doubted that Wendy, Suzanne, Rob, or Ervin cared much. However, the article had major consequences for Cassie.
Apparently, the powers in the firm where Cassie worked still read the paper. We found out after-the-fact that Cassie was called into a meeting with her department chair and the managing partner on Wednesday morning. Cassie was told, in rather insulting terms, that public nudity was not acceptable for lawyers in that firm. As I heard the story, the term "slut" was used. She had until 5:00 p.m. on Friday to get all of her work in shape to be re-assigned and to get her office cleaned out. The firm "graciously" agreed to pay Cassie through the end of the current pay period which was the following Friday.
Word of Cassie's firing hit the nude lawyers' telegraph by mid-day Wednesday. Carla, Erin, and I talked. We felt somewhat guilty as we had contributed to creating an environment in which Cassie had felt that public nudity was safe. Carla and I both had experience with large law firms. We should have discouraged Cassie from participating in the pageant and warned her of the risk. We wanted to offer her a job with us, but our real estate work had dried up quickly after Mala left. While it seemed impolite to ask directly, it also seemed highly unlikely that Cassie had enough "portable business" to cover her salary and allocable expenses.
Erin is, of course, grossly over-qualified for her job with us. Erin is both brilliant and creative. While her undergraduate work was not in business or finance, she is a natural business person. I suppose some of that was acquired from her father who teaches finance.
An hour or so after we had concluded that we couldn't afford to help Cassie, Erin asked Carla and me to sit down with her again.
"I've been doing some research," Erin said. "You may be surprised to learn that there are 13 landed nude or clothing optional clubs in the state. There are also four non-landed clubs. Surely, those clubs and their members need a real estate lawyer from time to time. We are the only openly nude law firm in the state. Business from those clubs and their members should be ours."
"Ok, what are you thinking?" Carla asked.
"I've been over our numbers," Erin responded. "Even if she didn't generate a dime in collectible billings, we can afford to bring Erin in as an employee at $40,000 per year. It isn't great for her, but it beats nothing. BUT, I think that we can build a book of business for her. We can direct market to the nudist clubs in the state. If Cassie can add estate planning, I think we can generate enough business to support her as an eventual partner and make more money for the firm."
We talked over the idea for another hour. The downside was that it would take a fair amount of time and some significant cost to try the marketing effort and any payoff would be realized slowly over time. On the other hand, it might help Cassie and, if it worked, we should dominate the niche for nude legal services statewide. We decided to give it a try.
Carla called Cassie and invited her to lunch at our office the following Monday (we wanted to give her time to get her office cleaned out at her current firm and we wanted the reality of not getting up and going to work to have hit her). Cassie showed up for our luncheon in the traditional woman lawyer outfit: pin-stripe jacket and matching long skirt, high-necked top, and "sensible" heels (how are high heels ever sensible?). We had a good, but not extravagant, lunch catered in. When Cassie arrived, Carla, Erin, and I were waiting for her nude.
After the initial greetings, we led Cassie into our main conference room. Carla explained to Cassie that "we ordered lunch in so that we didn't have to get dressed to go out. Please feel free to undress too if you like."
Cassie looked somewhat confused and uncertain for a moment. Then, she smiled and said, "thank you." It was, I must admit, somewhat exciting to watch Cassie strip off her pin-striped uniform. After her bra and panties were off and set on top of the credenza, I was reminded that Cassie had a really nice body.
We all loaded our plates and sat down. I let Carla explain our idea. Erin followed with her thoughts about a target market and how we could reach it. Cassie asked some fairly astute questions. Carla and Erin also talked about what it is like to work at our firm.
After Carla and Erin had made our sales pitch to Cassie, it fell to me to throw a bit of cold water. "Cassie," I said, "I realize that $40,000 gross salary is nothing like what you were making and may not be enough for you to live. We hope to take that up significantly and quickly, but that depends upon whether this marketing effort brings in new business. If we do the marketing effort, you are going to be featured in it. That means that we'd need a commitment from you to stay with us and not leave in a few months if someone offers you a lot more money sooner than we can."
"Another thing to think about," I continued, "is that, as you've learned, we are in a pretty conservative profession. Everyone out there who has heard of us knows that we work nude. God knows what they think we do besides work. You need to consider the risk that, if you join us, the fact that you've worked here may stigmatize you and make it very difficult for you to move to a more traditional legal job if you were to decide that you want to move on."
I went on. "Yet another thing to think about is that we'd bring you in as an employee. As an employee, we cannot insist that you work nude. Carla and I have a partnership agreement that obligates us to work nude. Erin is an employee but voluntarily works nude all of the time. While we cannot require you to work nude, it would probably be an uncomfortable relationship if you chose to work here clothed."
Cassie took a deep breath. "First, I really appreciate what you are willing to do to help me. I should have waited until I worked in a more open-minded environment before I tried something like the pageant. I didn't. I made a bad judgment and I have to live with the consequences. Second, if I came here, I would, of course, work nude. I like the three of you and would not want to set myself apart from you. The opportunity to work nude is one of the biggest positives about your firm. My issue is, frankly, money. The money you are offering would make things very, very tight for me. None of us know what your marketing plan would produce. It could be a very long time before you would be in position to give me a raise. On the other hand, given why I was fired, I'm probably 'damaged goods' and I don't know whether I can get another job at all much less a good paying one. I understand that you need a long-term commitment from me to do what you propose."
Cassie stopped talking. She was frowning. We had put her in a dilemma. What we were offering her was no sure thing. If she took our offer and it didn't work out, she probably would not have many options to leave. She might well be able to find a job in a few weeks that paid more than double what we could start her at. Then again, she might not find a job at all.
