I work in a warehouse as a stock control clerk. Not the most interesting job in the world but it is in the management stream, even if way down at the bottom. The job has what they call career potential. You can get a good grounding of the basics which will help you as you move up the ladder.
My pay is commensurate with the job. Low grade. This means I don't have a lot of money to spend on the dollies and I only have a so-so time dating them. I'm currently between girlfriends, which is the norm for me.
Now it was payday, and after work we stopped off at the nearest pub for a couple of drinks. One of the group was Joe, a foreman at the warehouse. He was also a bit of a braggart. He reckoned he was god's gift to women and to hear him talk you'd think that women agreed with him.
He was at it again after a few drinks. Boasting about how easy it is to catch a girl. He was a bad boy, he said, and the women all love a bad boy. Some just want to play with him and some think they can change him, but they all want him. All he had to do was whistle and the girls came running. That was according to Joe. I can guarantee you it wasn't my experience with the little dears.
Not knowing if Joe was lying or not I tried to get him to give me some tips on picking up a girl. He was evasive, which I kind of expected. Hard to explain, he told me. You'd have to see him in action to see how he did it. When he got a chance, he said, he'd demonstrate his prowess.
Yeah, well I wasn't going to hold my breath waiting. I'd just bumble along. I did get to know some girls and I did get the occasional date.
It was a Tuesday evening when Joe got his chance. I was packing up ready to go home when I noticed Joe was still at his desk working. Normally he was packed and gone as soon as the warehouse doors came rolling down.
"What's up, Joe?" I asked. "Catching up some overtime?"
"Nah," he said. "It's just that the boss hired a new secretary today. She couldn't make it during normal hours and the boss asked me to wait behind and give her all her paperwork when she got here. She's due any moment."
Joe looked around, and then nodded to himself.
"You know, Andy," he said. "It's just you and me here. Why don't you just sit there and relax at your desk until she comes. I'll show you my technique for picking up a girl."
Amused, I decided I'd do so. The boss tended to hire a classy sort of bird for the secretarial positions. He reckoned it made a good impression on customers.
After sitting and chatting for about ten minutes the doorbell rang. Joe hit the unlock button and spoke into the intercom, inviting whoever it was to come in.
I'd been right. That was one classy looking dame that walked in. She must have been about twenty, but she had on a nearly tailored skirt and white blouse that looked as though it had just been starched. She had the equipment to display that blouse very nicely and when she walked her hips rolled in a way to make a man sick with longing.
Joe stood up as she approached, indicated that she should sit and didn't actually sit himself until she was seated. He was all politeness, and very soon he was addressing her as Carol and she was calling him Joe.
Joe went over the paperwork with her, showing her where to sign, and after she'd signed everything he indicated he separated the stuff into two little stacks. One stack he put in an envelope and handed to Carol and the other he returned to the folder that he'd had the stuff in in the first place.
"One last thing before you go, Carol," he said, looking her in the eye and smiling. "Before you go I'd really like to have sex with you."
I nearly crapped my pants when he came out and said that. I mean, for crying out loud. What sort of pickup line is that? Carol obviously thought the same as she immediately turned hostile.
"If the job is dependent on me having sex. . ." she started, when Joe interrupted.
"No, no, no. Perhaps I phrased that badly. You already have the job. You were officially hired as soon as you signed the paperwork. I have nothing whatsoever to say regarding who the boss hires. If I tried, he'd tell me where to go."
"Oh," said Carol, cooling down visibly. "Then why did you say that?"
Joe had a look on his face that seemed to suggest that the answer should be obvious.
"Because I find you very attractive and alluring and I want to make love to you. Here and now. I just didn't want to waste any time."
"Just like that?" asked Carol. "You took one look and decided you wanted to make love to me?"
Joe nodded, smiling. "Right," he said. "So how about it?"
Carol looked pointedly in my direction, which I thought odd. If she was going to turn him down, why would she have to use me as an excuse?
"Forget him," said Joe before Carol could say anything. "He's a nobody. He can watch, but he can't touch. I think he might be gay, anyway."
If I was, it was news to me. But Carol was actually laughing at Joe.
"Seriously, do you expect me to agree to have you make love to me in this great big warehouse while your gay offsider watches?"
"Sure. Why not? Hey, it could be good for him. Show him what he's missing."
"You're totally insane, aren't you," said Carol, and I thought she was spot on.
"Maybe," said Joe with this great big grin, "but it doesn't stop me from performing. I can see you're curious as to what it would be like. Why don't you stop weighing the pros and cons and just go with it. At the very worst, it'll still be fun. So what do you say?"