Mailgirls Down Under Pt 01

As this is an origin story it starts with the negotiations that led to Australian mailgirls evolving differently to those in other countries. So it takes a bit of time before the clothes come off. But be sure, they do.

To be clear, everyone in this story is over the age of eighteen.

I have been told that there are mailgirls in an office in a large Australian city, and I have been given certain details as to how the program is running there. As this has been based on a true story, names have been changed to those of famous sportspeople (except when they are not) to protect their privacy and the reputation of the company. I earnestly acknowledge all the mailgirls who have gone before in the stories of Cambridge Caine, Seahawk76, et al, and what they have been through. Without them and their experiences this run through the office would not have been possible.

We are occasionally accused of being upside down in Australia being south of the equator and all that. And so it was when mailgirls were introduced to one of our companies in Melbourne, the local subsidiary of the Japanese Harada Industries, a company that became internationally famous for its pioneering mailgirls programs in Japan and the US. But in Australia the authorities got involved and required a peculiar set of exclusively Australian conditions on their mailgirl program. This has led to some interesting variations to the experience in the company's other branches, particular to Australia. How would this affect mailgirls in other countries?

***

Mr Harada had come to Melbourne for a visit, and after a tour of the office and having sat through a briefing from his Australian management he was angry. He made his feelings utterly clear to them. He was appalled at the lack of respect that the workers had shown both to him and to the Australian managers during his floorwalk. He was concerned at the whole attitude of the Australian office. And he was concerned at their financial results too. He put Mitchell Johnson, the head of the Australian office, on notice. He had six months to turn things around and to bring it in line with the Japanese and American operations.

After Mr Harada left the office for a high level business lunch which he pointed did not invite the Australian boss to attend with him, Mitchell Johnson wryly confided to his number two Shane Crawford that Mr Harada may have overlooked the effect that the head office decision from three months prior to cut the Australian headcount by one-tenth had on his staff. One in ten desks in the office was still ostentatiously empty.

"That's what I'm talking about," Shane exclaimed.

"That's what you're always talking about," Mitch cautioned him.

At that moment, the boss's PA appeared at the doorway and Mitch ushered her in. "What do you think about Mr Harada's suggestion, Betty Cuthbert?" her boss asked her.

She stood rigid and glared at him. "I'm not going to work naked," she spat back.

"No one asked you to, and I'll make sure that it's not compulsory," Mitch assured her. "But you know the company's reputation overseas. You must have considered that it would come here one day?"

"I thought we were different in Australia," she retorted with some vehemence. "Isn't there something you can do about it?"

Mitch shook his head. "Mr Harada expects us to do it," he conceded. "All I can do is try to make sure that it is done as respectfully as possible."

"Respectful?" Betty fired back. "There will be naked women running around the office. How can that possibly be respectful?"

Shane nodded. "She's got a point."

Mitch gave them both his 'I have this under control' look. "I have some ideas. Some local variations. You will just have to trust me and wait and see." The other two looked unconvinced. "Just trust me," Mitch repeated. "And let's keep this under our hats. How many other people know about this?"

Betty Cuthbert grimaced. "Uh, everyone."

"What?!" Mitch demanded.

Betty shook her head. "Mr Harada spoke to the press. They asked him if they were coming here, and he said yes." Mitch slumped at his desk. In the silence of the realisation both Mitch and Shane noted that Betty being Betty would not even utter the word.

***

After his return to Japan, Mr Harada was in regular contact with Mitchel Johnson eager to know the progress of the introduction of mailgirls to the Melbourne office. Oblivious to the effects of the downsizing, he was convinced that the problem of respect for management -- and for him -- in the Australian division could be solved by introducing mailgirls as the bottom rung of the office hierarchy as they were in the US and Japan. He explained to Mitch that their introduction would push the rest of the workforce into happily accepting their own place in the company structure. He was deaf to Mitch Johnson's remonstrations that Australia did not work like that, that they were not very accepting of hierarchies. Mr Harada -- or his assistants -- sent Mitch videos of how the program ran in Japan and in the US to remind him what was expected.

He sent them to Shane too. Mitch knew this because Shane would visit his office and talk about the latest video he had seen. Mitch suspected that Mr Harada -- or whoever maintained his email account -- assumed that Mitch would not watch the videos but that Shane would and the message would get to Mitch that way. Especially when the videos would arrive on Fridays in time for their debrief sessions in the boardroom with the large screen that Shane somehow always projected the latest one on.

So Mitch got to watch the ever unsmiling, austere Mrs Ogawa discipline the mailgirls in Mr Harada's office, got to see the US mailgirls preparing themselves in the morning. Got to see the mailgirls nonchalantly walking through the offices completely naked, stopping at a desk to collect a message, getting on their knees to assume the position on the floor next to a worker who was busy at their work while the mailgirl patiently waited for their next assignment. Mitch wondered if the videos were made by experienced porn producers judging by the way that the cameras unnecessarily lingered on their tight buttocks, on their smooth crotches and on their impressive breasts for longer than was really needed. Like they were trying to get a rise out of the viewer.

In Friday's clip, Mrs Ogawa had two attractive, completely naked mailgirls kneeling in the centre of Mr Harada's dark wood panelled office. She held a whip, a black riding crop, as Shane informed Mitch as he narrated the action. Shane translated Mrs Ogawa's recitation that Mailgirl 7 had been more than five minutes late on two occasions during the week. And that Mailgirl 13 had looked a senior executive in the eye. Mr Harada sat impassive in the background, watching the action. Mrs Ogawa advised the number of strokes that each of the mailgirls was due and then with a dangerous smile gave the whip to Mailgirl 7 who gasped as she learned that she was to punish the other mailgirl herself. She swished casually with her first attempt, clearly not experienced in doing such a thing. Mrs Ogawa barked something obvious at her so she leant into the next lash and kept it brutal for the remainder of the sentence.

Then it was Mailgirl 7's turn to be punished. Mailgirl 13 had barely flinched as the whip bit on her thighs and on her smooth, shiny bottom, and she now took the whip and loomed over the other mailgirl, who trembled knowing what was coming. The camera closed in on Mailgirl 13's face as a single teardrop ran down her cheek. The camera then pulled back to show ten men, no doubt, Mr Harada's senior executives, sitting against the walls, watching the spectacle as impassively as Mr Harada at his desk, as impassively as Mrs Ogawa with her arms crossed, and as impassively as the two young naked women in the centre of the room.

Shane stopped his narration for a moment. "I can't see that happening here," he commented. Mitch shook his head in agreement.

The video closed in on Mr Harada's face while in the background the taller mailgirl punished her colleague. Mr Harada looked into the camera as if he was looking straight at Mitch with a look that said 'this will happen in your office.'

The camera pulled back for the end of the punishment. Mrs Ogawa walked up to the mailgirls so that Mailgirl 13 could return her the whip as they both stood straight and bowed to her. They then strode around the room together to bow to each of the executives before they exited the room. The camera lingered on their marked buttocks for a moment before they had fully departed. At which point the video suddenly ended.

It should have been no surprise to Mitch that subsequent videos clearly showed the red whip marks on the shiny white buttocks of the apparently unconcerned mailgirls as they strode between desks and up and down stairs. Mitch realised that he was becoming desensitised to the point where naked, whip marked mailgirls could seem like a normal aspect of a busy office. The videos clearly tried to demonstrate that the clothed office workers of both sexes worked hard and diligently while the mailgirls wove between them. Perhaps Mr Harada was right and they did serve as some sort of warning or cautionary lesson to the others.

Of course, Mitch knew that it did not always work out that way. The US office at least was open about some of the disciplinary issues that they had with their clothed workers, especially the ones who overstepped the don't touch boundaries. And Mitch wondered how tempting such overstepping would be in his case. He has the wary eyes of his wife Jessica on him and he had been faithful to her, well at least faithful enough over their more than twenty years together, so he hoped that naked mailgirls around him would not prove too much of a distraction.

And in general that was one dilemma that he constantly pondered. How with the ever present temptation of a group of beautiful nude women could an office actually improve its productivity. There was no payoff that Mitch could imagine that did not result in time spent away from the workers' tasks at hand. The speed or reliability of delivery of messages did not seem like a likely counter to that. The resistance that his PA Betty Cuthbert had shown did not bode well either. Especially if others felt that way.

And there was the cost. Shane prepared a budget that estimated employing and outfitting six mailgirls and having someone to manage them was going to cost upwards of a million dollars. Shane nonchalantly stated that that cost was not a problem. Since he had an idea that he would share with Mitch at the right time.

On Friday, Shane burst into Mitch's office. "Got an American vid for you, boss. Assuming you haven't watched it."

Mitch smiled. It was there unopened in an email from Mr Harada. And they both knew.

"Five o'clock in the meeting room," Shane gushed. "And I have a special new vintage Shiraz that you have to try. And you can't say no. I know you'll like it."

Mitch groaned, there was no getting out of that. But he stared at Shane. "You came down from the tenth to tell me that?"

Shane laughed. "Sensitive communications. We don't want any others finding out, do we? That's why we need mailgirls."

Mitch shook his head at the illogic of that. "How's the new office?" he asked. Shane had moved from the sixth floor to the tenth after the decimation to take advantage of a suddenly vacated larger office.

"Secluded," Shane smiled, like it was the best thing to happen. Maybe it was.

***

Typically the video started by piling on its production values. A pristine empty office, the dawn light diffusing artfully through the floor to roof windows. And from the side of the shot a heavenly proportioned naked woman flows across as she speeds down the aisle and out of shot. And then the heavenly woman flowed again in the same way only this time the desks are occupied with diligent workers. She wafts through on her mission as the office keeps buzzing, the workers keep working and the sun keeps shining. The camera lingers on the mailgirl to show that she is statuesque and fit, with a hard body, firm breasts, taut buttocks and a flowing mane of wavy blonde hair.

The next setup shows the mailgirls showering. We first watch them somewhat obscured by the steam from the showers because we are watching them from the foyer while they are frolicking on the mezzanine. The film seems to be slowed down to linger on the exquisite, nude bodies as the water cascades from the shower heads.

"It's a shampoo commercial, but you get to see everything," Shane gushed. Mitch nodded because he was right.

A confident male voiceover drones about American values and the best conditions in the world to the point where it became background noise. Office workers enter the foyer from the street, glance up at the showering mailgirls with smiles of recognition on their business-like way to the lifts. A middle aged male concierge in a showy uniform grins like he has won the lottery because he gets to spend all the time greeting workers and hoping that they have a nice day as well as keeping his eyes on the mailgirls in the change room on the level above. He keeps glancing up. They are now out of the showers and attending to themselves and preparing their bodies to meet their required standards.

And the camera is amongst them. There is laughter and razors and open crotches as they make sure that they are hair free below the neck and perfectly groomed for their role in the office.

And Shane says what Mitch is also thinking. "They all look the same."

Which was true. The American mailgirls are all wide straight toothed smiles, pert noses, bright eyes, long flowing hair tied in ponlytails, lithe bodies, long legs and firm breasts and buttocks.

"Like they're all off Baywatch," Shane adds and Mitch nods because he is right. Are these actors, Mitch wonders or has Harada Industries in the US deliberately recruited some sort of naked realisation of the American dream?

At a signal that was not apparent to Shane and Mitch watching, the mailgirls stood to attention in a row as a smiling, elegantly dressed woman strode down the line they had made intimately inspecting them. Her fingers probe under their armpits, across their mounds and around their slits. Each one of them. She gave them each an approving smile. Satisfied with what she has seen and felt, she delivers a short pep talk about how they had to maintain standards for the good of the company and the morale of the workers or some such guff.

The girls all flashed their enchanting smiles when she was done and then broke ranks to affix their pagers to their arms and then paired off to adorn their bodies with their mailgirl numbers.

After that, they peeled away one by one as their pagers gave them their instructions and destinations. Eventually only one mailgirl is left, sitting on the bench in the change room, carefree and happy, in her natural state. The camera closes up on her perfect face and she beams a 1000 Watt smile as if she could not be happier. Apparently her pager has now beeped because without shifting a muscle on her face, she stands up and heads for the exit. As we watch her march out from behind, it is clear that she was the mailgirl in the initial dreamy start.

Shane raised his glass of red as the screen went blank. It was a sort of a toast but he was waiting to see how Mitch would react. Mitch thought for a while. "Rather clean and wholesome, wasn't it?" Mitch smiled.

"The wife will find it funny," sniggered Shane.

"You show her?" Mitch exclaimed, wondering what reception he would get from Jessica.

Shane was relaxed about it. "She finds them all hilarious," he smiled.

Mitch smiled back, wondering why. "Interesting that they were wearing the big phone things rather than the smart watches."

Shane got serious for a moment. "You really need to read those emails. That's part of our specs too. Apparently Mr Harada prefers the phones, so the watches have been scrapped."

Mitch got serious too, realising. "I'll bet that's because they're more visible. They make it more obvious that the mailgirls are slaves to the technology and what they are there for."

"The hierarchical thing?"

"I'd say so." Mitch took a liberal sip of his wine and nodded his approval. "Nice drop." Then he shook his head. "I still cannot quite see how it is going to work in here."

But both knew that the time was coming. And it was coming soon, and they had to become ready.

***

"Do your underlings call you Mr Johnson?" Mr Harada would ask, and the reply would be "No, everyone calls me Mitch." Because that is how an Australian office works. And the Australian boss did not want to even consider what his staff might call him behind his back. You just have to live with it.

Shane had raised the cost of the program with Mr Harada who promised that head office would bear the cost for the first year or, as he said, until the program started to pay for itself. Yeah sure, Mitch thought when Shane told him, like that is going to happen.

Mitch also had other mailgirl related pressures. So far he had manage to avoid contact with the Victorian government which had tried to contact him and others in the company a number of times to find out what they were doing. And there were constant attempts by the press to find out what was going on inside the company too. Which Mitch was sure was related to the increased number of people 'just taking photos' outside the front of the office in Swanston Street. And the occasional TV News camera set up to see if they could get something from the staff as they came or went. So far no one had said anything to the press that gave them anything to blow up into a controversy. A few protesters made some noise out in the street but the combination of Melbourne winter weather and the lack of any news on the progress of the program meant that they quickly ran out of steam and vanished, leaving the place running as normal most of the time.

Mitch was doubly upset by the attempts to make the issue public. He was a naturally private man and until Mr Harada's press announcement, Harada Industries in Australia had mostly flown under the radar which was a major reason why Mitch enjoyed his job. The company was a private subsidiary of the Japanese company, it was not listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and despite the worldwide notoriety of Harada Industries due to its mailgirls, Mitch expected that most people did not even know about the subsidiary's presence in Australia unless they found themselves doing business with the Australian arm or applying to work there. That had now all changed and he felt the pressure.

Mitch worked through the logistics of the mailgirls program. The company occupied six levels of a twenty-six storey building, floors five to ten, and due to a quirk in the lease had sole use of the gymnasium on the mezzanine which was officially level two. An IT company that Mitch knew little about occupied levels three and four which could be a problem for him if he chose -- as the other countries had -- to turn the gym, which was notoriously underused by the company's staff, into the mailgirls' base. There would be two flights of stairs for the naked women past their unknown neighbour between the showers and lockers and the company proper.

And then there were the employment contracts to consider. Mr Harada refused to believe that any of the issues that Mitch raised were any impediment to mailgirls in Australia. His message to Mitch was invariably that Mitch had to sort out any problems and get the mailgirls in the Melbourne office as soon as possible. And he kept reminding Mitch that his subsidiary was performing poorly in relation to the places which already had naked women delivering the mail between floors.

But Mitch and his team had to grapple with the realities of the project to introduce mailgirls into their work lives. Mitch also felt pressure from his wife who was not beyond suggesting that she was less than impressed with the whole concept. He wondered what his daughters thought about it. And his social friends, both male and female, who were all suggesting that he should invite them to the office once the program was up and running. To all of them, he replied 'it won't be like that.'