Holly had been dreading this like no other performance review of her 20 year career at Colten Best. Her boss of many years, Larry, had left the company a few months prior and she now reported to a guy she hadn't trusted for years.
Mike had left the company a year ago, much to Holly's relief. Not that he was a part of her reporting structure, but... she just didn't trust him.
Amazingly, he returned to the company about four months ago. Suddenly he seemed like a golden boy. Holly was surprised at his return but didn't think it would affect her much other than having to deal with him once in a while as a co-worker from another department.
Then came the announcement that her department would be reporting to Mike. Holly's heart sank. She feared it would not be good. Her first thought was to leave the company. But after 20 years, that just wasn't realistic. There wasn't another employer in Mt. Rowton that she could go to and earn close to what she was making. And commuting to a larger city like Madison? Out of the question. She didn't want to have that kind of lifestyle.
She entered the warehouse and trekked up the stairs to his cube. "Hey, how are you, Mike?" She flashed him a nice smile, deciding to put her best foot forward.
"Oh! Hey, Holly! I was just finishing this up... I've got the conference room reserved next door. It's probably not necessary with everybody gone at this point in the day but there's better chairs in there," he said with a chuckle.
"OK, sounds good," Holly replied.
She thought it was odd - stupid really - that he would schedule this for an hour at 4:00 in the afternoon. But... what the heck. "He's the boss," she thought. She'll just grin & bear it. She was afraid she'd have to get used to grinning and bearing.
So into the conference they went. Holly sat down in the first chair on the left side of the table and Mike took the chair opposite her on the right side. The room itself was pretty nondescript. It was about 12 feet wide, 25 feet long with a table, about 15 long, three feet wide down the middle of the room.
The review itself took about 15 minutes. Mike made it hard, as Holly was afraid he would. In short, he laid out impossible goals and told her there would be a different role for her - read: DEMOTION - if those impossible goals were not met.
Holly's heart sank. She knew she'd done a great job for Colten Best and in no way deserved a demotion. She had been hoping for bigger and better things this year, even with her old boss leaving and the bombshell of Mike becoming her new boss. She always felt that good things happened to those that did well at Colten Best. Now, hearing what Mike was saying - officially part of her employment record - it all seemed to be tumbling down.
To be honest, Holly felt like crying. But she knew that was the worst thing she could do. If she wanted to be taken seriously, she couldn't let him see her be weak and vulnerable. So she bit her lip and held herself. "This joke will be over shortly," she said to herself.
"Now, I know you probably weren't expecting some of this," Mike said, folding his hands on the table in front of him. "I'm sure your appraisals with Larry were quite different."
"That's true..." Holly said, not knowing what else to say. And what could she say? Complain and tell him he's wrong? That would accomplish nothing and it would make her look antagonistic. That just wasn't Holly's style.
"Well, it's not all doom & gloom. In fact, we can probably make things look brighter for you..."
Holly wasn't sure if Mike was going to say more or what he was intending. She just looked at him, anticipating something else.
"If you're interested," he started, "we can go another route. Sort of like a plan B."
Confusion. Holly didn't know what to think now.
"A
plan B
?" she said, her eyes brightening. Holly thought maybe she had read him wrong during the appraisal. Maybe it wasn't the doom & gloom she initially thought. She knew he was a bastard, maybe being a really bad communicator was part of the deal.
"Yeah, maybe we can go a different route." He leaned back in chair and put his hands on his thighs and glanced at the clock on the wall behind her.
"OK," Holly replied. "I'd be very interested to hear about this." Being on the verge of crying was now the furthest thing from her mind. She felt heartened by this.
"Cool! Well, let's get to it then. No sense beating around the bush about it, huh?" he said with a smile.
Holly chuckled and flashed a gorgeous smile. At 43 years old and two kids under her belt, she was an attractive woman. At 5'-5", she had deceptively longish legs, a nice figure with a rather large chest that she did nothing to show off. And on top of all that was a very pretty face. Holly knew she wasn't ugly but she never did anything to flaunt anything about how she looked. For this meeting she had on a simple button-down cream colored blouse and black professional looking pants. Nothing spectacular; just entirely professional.
"Hahahah! Right!" she said.
"Now, you've been here for about 20 years, right?"
"Yeah, 21 to be exact."
"You started as an assistant in the Purchasing department and did a nice job all along and now you head up a staff of - what? - eight people? And those eight each have their assistants."
"Yes," Holly replied, her voice showing renewed energy. "That's right."
"I'm sure you came here not expecting to hear the things I said and what I was expecting of your department in the next year and the possible role change for you."
"Well yeah," she shifted in her seat a little bit, "It was a surprise to hear."
"And there's no reason you should
have
to be worried. There really isn't. I want you to feel confident in what you're doing and what you can expect your career path to take."
Holly smiled back, feeling much better.
"This Plan B...-" he started.
Holly didn't know what to think yet but she knew anything had to be better than the bad news she had gotten just a few minutes ago about a possible demotion.
Mike continued. "We can forget about any bumps in your career path if you come over right now, unzip me and work me over with that mouth." As he finished, he shifted his chair to his left.
Holly was flabbergasted.
"Wait... WHAT??" It was all she could say.
"A
blowjob
, Holly. Does that answer your question?"
Holly leaned back in her chair, almost numb in disbelief.
"A... wait - how... I don't get..." the words kind of stumbled out.
"You can take your pick, Holly," Mike said. "I don't much care. But you've got 30 seconds to decide and then I leave this room and send this appraisal to HR."
