Brandy Allen Darling woke in the hotel room she had been given for the night. I assume she went about her normal morning duties. At eight thirty she called the desk as she had been told to do when she was placed in the room the night before. She was told that the man she came in with the night before hadn't yet rang through. The man she came in with, Brandon William Foster, called the desk at nine.
I sent for Nora Sullivan and Alan Peters when Brandy had called and we headed for the lounge for the orientation. They had volunteered, not for the first time, for this duty for the new employee training and had actually been in the building for about an hour before the first call. The two continued on to let the two out of their rooms while I stayed in the lounge I was in and they were all going to be coming to. It wasn't that the two were prisoners, just that the two needed to go through the orientation to the town before they went into the city.
Nora and Alan led the other two into the lounge. All four were wearing the standard uniform for the hotel chain that we work for. The uniform consisted of black slacks and shoes with a green Asian style jacket that buttoned up to the neck with golden buttons and the hotel logo on the left hand side of the chest. I was seated on the couch in the modified uniform of green spandex pants with the hotel logo on both hips, with small pockets attached to the back of the pants that could be tucked in or left to hang out, and black shoes, and for today a black blazer. This modified uniform was only for this hotel, my hotel. I'm the manager of this hotel and I'm the one most of the town comes to, to do what I was about to do with Brandy and Brandon.
Most of the other managers in the chain send me their trouble makers, they call my hotel the dumping ground. I know their doing it to try to get the trouble makers out of working for the chain. Honestly, I don't mind. I understand what they're thinking, I just play a game with the new people. This lounge is the first step in the game. If the new ones don't like what they hear in the lounge, they are allowed to leave and quit. If they don't have a problem, then they start working. There are other things that happen later, but let's start here.
I waved Brandy and Brandon to seats in the chairs opposite where I sat. On the table in front of me were their HR files and glasses and a pitcher of water. I had the files opened to their statistics and pictures. Brandy is five foot five and one hundred twenty pounds. Brandon is five ten and two hundred ten pounds. I could see that both were physically healthy, but soft. Both had brown hair and both wore it at least shoulder length, with his being longer than hers and he had his in a ponytail. She had gray eyes and his were brown. They both looked nervous, and a little confused, as they sat down.
"Hello, Brandy, Brandon, I'm Melanie Parker," I said with a smile, trying to relax them. "I know this whole thing is a little weird, but it's the way we in this town introduce new people to the town. For the next hour or so, you can open the top few buttons of your coats and relax a little. Now I am going to tell you a tale that will explain most everything about this city and why we do this." I waved my hand to indicate the room.
"Ok," said Brandy while Brandon nodded. I wasn't expecting anything else and smiled.
"Now all this started about five years ago," I started leaning back into the cushions. Before we get into the story for you, the reader, let me describe myself. I'm five foot seven inches tall and a hundred twenty pounds, well muscled. I've been wearing my light brown hair the same since I became a manager at shoulder length without bangs. My eyes are blue and I've been told very expressive.
***
One day while I was working behind the front desk, I was approached by one of our guests, a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, that was staying in our Presidential Suite. She asked me if there was a way that she could sunbathe topless around the pool. She explained that she didn't like tan lines and that she tanned naked at home. I told her that I would investigate, as I didn't know if it was legal or even if our chain allowed it. I had only been here for about six months and with the company for only a couple years. I rose to manager quickly from my first position as a night desk clerk.
Anyway, after the guest walked away, I sent off an email to corporate HR. I then called my friend, Wanda Tucker, who works in the city archives. I asked her if she'd do a little research into the laws of the city to see if there was anything.
An hour before I went off shift I got an email back from HR basically saying, topless sunbathing can be done on any property of the chain as long as it is legal in the city where the property is. I smiled while I read that email. I knew I needed to make sure the laws would allow it. I was just happy that corporate was going to allow one of my guests to enjoy her stay that much more.
About five minutes before I was to quit for that day, I got a call from Wanda asking me to come by her job. I clocked out on time and walked over to city hall, not far from the hotel. Wanda works in an annex next to city hall. I entered to find the records room empty, or so I thought. I called out and she came around a shelf with a silly grin. She then grabbed me and pulled me around the counter to a table where a large book was sitting open.
"Check this out, girl," she said to me pointing at a spot in the book. I leaned forward and slowly read what she pointed at. The book was a book of laws. The spot she pointed at was a law stating that a woman may be without a top anyplace a man is allowed to. Also the next law stated that a quarter mile of the city beach at the west end was marked as clothing optional.