There's an old adage that time and chance happen to all men, or something like that; maybe it's from the bible. I don't know if I'm right, but to me it means that there will be one experience in your life that you'll always remember. In any event I found that I, Dalton Briggs, had a true "time and chance" event when I was twenty three that I know that I will never forget.
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I finished college and graduate school in a combined BS and MS program in five years with a Masters in Electronics Engineering. In my Master's program I worked with a professor who was developing a new type of broadcast media server for television stations. I became an expert in that type of equipment. While another company beat my university to the market with a greatly enhanced version it was close enough to what I had been working on that within a day or two I was an expert in it too; it was called a Scion Broadcast Media Server, or SBS for short.
I had a half dozen job offers from TV stations all over the US that had just purchased, or were about to purchase, an SBS who didn't want to have a six month learning curve before they could effectively use it. I used my nearly unique knowledge of an SBS to negotiate an employment contract with the most popular TV station in a major city. Normally they only hired technical people on an "at will" employment basis but I made it clear that I would only accept a job with an 18 month employment contract. Since their SBS was going to be delivered within a month and there were no other prospects they agreed.
I got to know the culture and the people a little bit in the month before the SBS was delivered and got familiar with the other electronic equipment at the TV station. I'm not sure that the old-time tech employees were too thrilled that I was there but they were polite. Once the SBS was delivered and they saw what a complex piece of equipment that it was but how it ultimately would make the entire station run more smoothly any innate animosity they held evaporated overnight.
It took me a week to get the SBS properly installed and another two weeks before it could be fully integrated into the rest of the equipment. At first it was only used when I was on duty, seven hours a day, six days a week, but after a couple of months others who I had instructed were familiar with it enough that it could be used 24/7 as long as I was on call.
The "time and chance" aspect of this story comes in because of the six p. m. female anchor at the TV station where I worked. Her name is Allegra Anatoli.
Since I was 18 I have had a predilection for women who rocked a business suit with a skirt. I think that it goes back to early in my life when my father had a business partner who was old enough to be my mother but who always looked stunning in her ubiquitous standard outfit of a colorful blouse, pressed designer subdued jacket, and tailored tight fitting skirt. I had a crush on her which I hopefully disguised -- at least no one in my family ever teased me about it.
Getting back to Allegra Anatoli, she was probably mid to late thirties when I met her and she rocked a business suit even better than my dad's business partner did. I'm normally very confident around women, having had my fair share of girlfriends and sexual encounters because I'm not a typical engineer geek. I'm six feet two inches (188 cm) tall and weigh 205 pounds (93 kg) and am an exercise fiend, working out at least an hour every day without fail. The first time that I saw Allegra, however, in a crisp business suit with her skirt just above the knee and a lavender blouse and four inch heels that matched her skirt, I almost spontaneously came, and was laughably (to everyone else but me) tongue-tied around her.
Every day that I worked for the TV station I made it a point to interact with Allegra for at least a few minutes even if the reason was fabricated. I think that she knew that I had a teenage-like crush on her, and being a kind and empathetic person never busted my balls about it. If Allegra wasn't married with two kids I would have pathetically embarrassed myself by asking her on a date despite her enhanced station at work and the fact that she is about 15 years older than I am.
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I had been working at the station about six months when it was about an hour before the six p. m. broadcast when the production manager asked me to help Allegra with her computer which apparently had been acting up. Since I deal with all technical equipment, and not just the SBS, this was not an unusual request and of course one that I relished since it gave me a chance to see her sculptured legs and full chest expanding her blouse.
As I approached Allegra's office I saw that her door was open and a man inside was yelling at her. The yelling didn't make much sense to me because it didn't seem to be about work -- but I couldn't really be sure what it was about. My Paleolithic man instincts seemed to kick in, however, so rather than turning away or waiting until the screamer left her office I barged into it.
When I walked in I wasn't quiet about it. The screamer stopped screaming for a few seconds and snapped "What are you doing here -- get out."
"Sorry, I'm here to fix Allegra's computer," I snapped back looking the asshole in the eye. He was about my size, maybe slightly bigger, and probably in his early forties.
"I said get the fuck out asshole," he snarled.
I looked over at Allegra and saw her crying.
I went up to the asshole with my fists clenched and got nose-to-nose with him. "You're the asshole; is it your normal MO to bully women; if it is I'd be glad to give you a lesson in manners."
"She's my wife," he snarled some more.
That took me back a little, but only slightly; I did recognize then that he looked like Allegra's husband Jack, the guy in the photo on her desk with her two kids, but that meant nothing to me. "I don't give a fuck if you're Santa Claus I'm not about to let you abuse a woman whether you think that you have a right to or not so you're the one who's going to leave, not me."
Allegra intervened with "It's OK Dalton."
I looked at her -- JHC she looked even hotter than normal with a few tears on her cheeks -- and maybe I should have left but instead I turned back to Jack and said "No it's not OK, Allegra. Even if there's some reason that normally you put up with his abuse you won't be able with me around. So you, asshole," I continued sticking a finger in his chest, "are leaving, not me."
Jack could tell by the look in my eye and my clenched fist that I wasn't fucking around and since at work it makes more sense to wear short sleeve shirts since I'm handling equipment all of the time he could see my flexed biceps. "Whoever the fuck you are, you'll be history by tomorrow," he snarled but then turned and left.
After he exited I turned toward Allegra. I started to say something -- I don't know what it was going to be -- when she spoke.
"You shouldn't have done that Dalton. I appreciate you sticking up for me but it was both a domestic and business situation -- and apparently you don't know who my husband is."
I looked at her a little funny, but then said "I'm sorry; I couldn't help myself, it's just the way I'm hard wired." Then it suddenly hit me that she said "apparently you don't know who my husband is" so I followed up with "Uh...who is your husband?"
"He's the general counsel for the holding company that owns our station," she replied with a half grin, having wiped away her tears.
"OK then," I smiled, "so what's wrong with your computer?"
Allegra showed me the problem then stayed in the room while I played around with it. That was both good and bad; it was good because I got to ogle her sleek legs and toned ass, and it was bad because it distracted me from my job. After five or ten minutes, however, I concluded that it was an interface between her hard drive and monitor; I removed it and said "I'll be back in five minutes with a replacement part and it will be good as new a few minutes after that."
