I slowly woke to the sound of the alarm clock buzzing away in the back of my mind and stretched out a hand, pressing the pause button on the top - another ten minutes in bed will be OK, besides, Martin won't have to get up this morning, he has a day off β lucky sod!
As this thought got through to my conscience, I was suddenly wide awake β its Friday β NAKED FRIDAY!!!!
Let me tell you, before I continue, about Naked Friday.
On the previous Monday, all the staff of our small architectural company were gathered around the central table in our open plan office. At the outset, it didn't seem any different from the usual meetings we regularly had other than the fact that this was a Monday, and not our usual Wednesday meeting day. The meeting was held on a Wednesday so that anything that was crucial could be accomplished by close of play on the forthcoming Friday. As a result, Rachel and I were chatting in the kitchen whilst we made our cups of tea about what this was likely to be about β to no avail this morning β the announcement we were about to hear could not have been considered by someone with the wildest imagination β not even me, and believe me my imagination could get pretty wild at times!
We gathered around the table to start the meeting, Donna and I sat next to each other as normal while Dave, one of the Architects, sat across from us and was joined by Phil, the Accountant and Gerald, the Quantity Surveyor. Eventually, Robert, the second Architect, owner and Director of Self Build Planning Ltd, our small company, and Rachel, the Purchasing Officer, joined us at the table.
"Good morning all, I hope you have all had a good weekend, we had the weather for it for a change." said Robert, smiling as he did so. "Sorry to break out of our normal routine " he continued, "but all of us Directors have noticed that we seem to be having a bit of a problem with moral at the minute."
Everybody else around the table, except for Donna, seemed a little surprised at this announcement. Sure, just recently work seems to have flat lined a bit, things slowing down due to the recent banking problems and resultant recession, but we still seemed to be getting along reasonably well.
Robert's voice broke back into my conscience again as he continued.
"I know times are tough at the moment, but if we don't raise our moral I fear for the future of the company. We are a small company and the feelings of others are easily propagated through to the other members of staff which can easily result in a spiral that affects each and every one of us."
He paused for a moment then, and seemed to gather himself together for a few moments. He looked at Donna and she smiled her encouragement at him.
"This Friday, we are going to try to do something that will hopefully raise our spirits and get us out there striving to get new orders and keep this company, and our jobs, alive and prosperous. The work is out there if we get stuck in and grab it. With this in mind, we are going to undergo a team building exercise, and it will take up all of this Friday coming. To explain more, I will introduce to Graham, who will tell you all about it."
Robert got up out of his chair and went out towards the reception area, which is shared by a couple of other small businesses in the building, and came back in a few moments later with Graham in tow. He duly introduced us all to him and we all sat and waited for either Graham or Robert to continue.
"Next Friday", Graham said, "you will all be taking part in a team bonding exercise but, due to financial constraints, this will take place here and not the usual jolly to some paint balling place or other. The exercise will also be filmed for a forthcoming television series that will include a number of other companies in similar circumstances as yourselves and will be aired on BBC 2 in the Autumn. We have successfully filmed four of the six part series, so we are nearly done."
A little bit of a buzz passed around the table, Rachel expressing her concern about being filmed for the television and others making their own little comments, most of which I didn't hear as I was getting interested in this now, me being the exhibitionist that I am it sounded like something that would be right up my street.
How little did I know myself β at the end of this process, I was to find out how much of an exhibitionist I really am β and a whole lot more in the process!
Graham then explained about his history, how he had started up and run four companies to date, all of which he had then sold and were still up and running, one of them in the top 100 companies in the UK. He was not short on experience then, but the next thing he said was like a bomb going off.
"This team building exercise, just like the others that we have filmed, will be called Naked Friday, which by the way is the program title. So far, we have been very successful over the past year and all of the companies involved have gone on to better things. The first two have improved their company's income by as much as 50%, which clearly has an impact on wages and the numbers of staff employed. We will break up for a cup of tea or coffee in a few minutes so that you can discuss this amongst yourselves without the bosses being around to intimidate you. First though, let me explain this more fully."
I looked around the table at the others. Donna and Robert, the Directors, were looking down at the desk, unwilling at the moment to make eye contact with anyone else β they clearly knew what was coming β everybody else was looking around the table at the other assembled members of staff. we all had rather blank, 'rabbit in the headlights' countenances. Eventually, Donna made sure to make eye contact with each one of us and smiled beguilingly at us while Robert kept his head down for the moment. Was this embarrassment?
Graham went on further, "Come Friday, you will all, and I mean all, be required to come to work naked and remain naked for the duration of the working hours of the day, and the work you will be required to do will be no different from a normal work day. During the remainder of this week, we will have a team here, led by myself, to mentor you and who will be filming the proceedings throughout the week. They will also be here on Friday to film the results of the week. The program, which will be aired in the autumn, will include excerpts from what has happened during the week as well as the actual day of the event. Now, to calm your nerves a little, I hope, I have to stress to you all that this is not a sexual thing that we are undertaking here β it is a team bonding exercise. Indeed, if any one of you, male or female, Director or Employee, makes any inappropriate sexual advance, be that physical or verbal, towards another member of staff or visiting member of the public during the course of this exercise, they will be immediately dismissed. That will apply to each and every one of you. This would also include the Police being involved if the situation warrants it."
He paused for a few moments and then said, "Do you all understand the gravity of the consequences that inappropriate behaviour is going to attract?"
He waited whilst each of us in turn acknowledged that we did, and this included Donna and Robert.
Once we had all agreed to this, he continued with, "To allow us to set up our lights and other equipment, we would like you all, excepting Robert and Donna, to get yourselves off to the kitchen, which will remain a neutral zone where anyone can go at any time to discuss issues off the record to my team or with each other, and have a break for an hour."
He then sat down and said nothing further whilst Robert asked us to leave the room.
In silence, we all stood up and went off to the kitchen, carrying our now cold cups of tea with us, everyone had forgotten to drink them after we had made them earlier, variably either terrified, shocked or enthralled by the topic just introduced to us.
As I went out, I felt the heat rising up my chest to my cheeks and thought I must look awful β blushing away like a beacon. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind β naked β in work β for a whole day, and everyone else being naked too. I just didn't know how to react to this announcement β so far outside our society's norms and certainly nothing I had ever contemplated before β 'no, I just couldn't do this' was the thought uppermost in my mind, despite the usually very sexy and often revealing clothing I wore out on dates with my husband. 'Ha!' I thought to myself, 'and Martin thought I was an exhibitionist!' I thought about how I would wear really low cut dresses and short skirts all the while and enjoying being looked at by others. Except for one occasion out with Marting though, it had never been showing off any more than one would find on an average British beach. No nipples showing or pussy flashing, just legs and cleavage.
I nearly always seemed to arouse Martin to my best advantage β he is a fantastic lover and is very gentle and considerate in our lovemaking, seeming to know just what I want, when I want it. Soft slow and loving one day, strong, lustful and animalistic the next. He loves for me to show off my body β a frame of 5 feet 3 inches, shoulder length blond hair, 34B bust, 28 inch waist and 32 inch hips. The only down side seemed to be a rather out of proportion short body against my long slender legs, which I must admit I did use to my best advantage with short dresses and skirts, none of which were ever more than 3 inches below my crotch outside of work and yes, I do know that I show off my knicker-clad bum on occasions β mostly conservative white or black in work but with a tendency toward a G-String, or very occasionally none at home, when out and about outside of work. I even went knickerless once to a club and had a great time, but I had never done it again. But naked β in work β all day? No, I just couldn't do it!
I rarely smoke, but now I scrounged a cigarette off Rachel and nipped outside for a quick one (I meant a smoke, you horny people!) whilst all the others got their teas and coffees. When I got back, the conversation was quite lively, Rachel saying it sounded intriguing, but didn't think she could do it naked β maybe down to bra and knickers β but not totally nude. Phil saying that nobody would want to look at his wrinkled saggy 56 year old body and other such comments.
I listened for a minute or two to others comments whilst I made my tea and then, and honestly, I don't know where it came from, I said, "Well, I think I could do it; it may be fun."
Even as I was saying it I blushed scarlet red and felt very hot indeed, temperature hot, not sexy hot β but then again!
Gerald responded to this first with "That would obviously be fun for the rest of us, but just look at you compared with the rest of us!"
Rachel glared at him and I swear if she'd a decent knife in her hand she would have stabbed in through the heart where he stood.
"What is that supposed to mean β are you trying to say I'm not attractive you dirty little perv?" she spat back at him.
This, of course, embarrassed Gerald and he tried to cover it up but it didn't work.