Billy had been working in the local department store for 5 years after leaving school. He started at the bottom, sweeping floors, but his pleasant, easy manner with the public soon got him noticed by management. Soon he was promoted to junior manager of the footwear department. He soon found that women love shoes, and developed a good rapport with many of his female clients, selling a lot of expensive high end shoes to wealthy women. His 6"1' lean muscular frame and boyish good looks certainly helped and also meant his job was a good way to meet women from a romantic point of view. However, he quickly learned that mixing business and pleasure was a bad idea, as the end of a private relationship with a customer could quickly turn into a loss of sales with both that particular woman and all her friends.
In the end Billy decided to keep his interactions with the ladies down to innocent flirting, enough to keep the woman happy and coming back for more shoes, but not enough to lead them on in any way. Unfortunately this led to a rapid downturn in his social life, as the long hours he worked meant he had difficulty meeting women outside of work.
However, things were about to change. One fateful Monday morning Billy was called in to the general manager's office.
"Billy, I have called you in here to congratulate you on the good work you are doing in footwear," the manager said. "Sales have doubled since you have taken over, and we have received many glowing recommendations from happy customers, in particular the female ones."
"Thank you sir, I aim to please," Billy replied cheerfully.
"However I think we have another challenge for you to take on now," the manager continued. "We would like you to move on to the underwear department and see if you can work your magic there. Sales are down quite a lot recently, and we need to make more of that area of the business."
"I don't really know much about underwear sir," Billy said nervously. "Perhaps a woman would be better in that job, I don't think our female customers would be very happy with a man giving them advice on underwear."
"Nonsense son," the manager replied. "Out lady customers seem happier with you than any of our female staff, and you will be the manager of the department. It is not as if you will be measuring their bra sizes, you will have female staff for that."
"Well if you think it will work sir," Billy replied, still not completely comfortable with the idea.
"Excellent, you can start today," the manager said.
So began Billy's career in the underwear department. It turned out the manager was correct, Billy quickly found his feet and the department sales began to rise rapidly. The main problem Billy noted was the previous range of underwear was very plain and unattractive. While there was always a place for that type of thing, Billy discovered that most women liked at least some sexy underwear for "special occasions" as well as their everyday garments. He began to stock sexier, more revealing ranges of both underwear and swimwear, while at the same time publicising these more exotic garments heavily. Soon the sales of normal everyday underwear had doubled, and the sexier ranges were selling out regularly. He also started promoting men's underwear in the same way, as he found many of the women bought sexy boxers even thongs for their boyfriends and husbands while choosing their own underwear.
Billy soon found his new job even more enjoyable. As a manager, his direct contact with the customers was reduced. However he was still on the shop floor for several hours a day, and on most days his opinion was sought on how a particular undergarment looked, from a man's point of view. While on these occasions he enjoyed looking at some very lovely ladies in skimpy underwear, he always maintained his rule of not dating customers, and made sure a female member of staff was with him in the changing rooms with customers.
One Thursday morning however, things were going to change. Billy arrived to find out that both his female staff members were off ill and he was alone in the department. "OK," he thought. "Thursdays are not normally too busy, I can serve the customers myself, and if any fitting is required I will just have to ask the customer to come back another day."
Most of the day went smoothly, right up until 5.30 when the shop was about to shut. Billy was alone at the till when a young woman walked into the department. She approached the till and smiled shyly.
"I was wondering if you could help me choose some underwear," She said, obviously nervous about speaking to a man about this.
"Certainly," Billy said, "I hope you don't mind but I have no female staff today so I will have to help you myself. Are you OK with that?"
"I suppose so," she said, again very nervously. "My name is Laura."
Billy looked her over quickly to get an idea on what would be best for her figure. It was quite difficult as she wore a heavy coat, wool sweater and trousers. She was quite petite at around 5 foot with medium length dark hair, which was tied up. She wore fashionable rimless glassed and very little make up, however her face had a fresh-faced innocence that Billy found very appealing. He was sure he had seen her before.
"Have I served you before?" he asked.
"No, but I was in with Alison a few times."