The bell pinged loudly to signal the lift's arrival at it's destination. As the doors slid open, the single occupant inside took a deep calming breath before stepping out into the large foyer. Visibly displaying more than a hint of trepidation, she paused momentarily before turning down an oak panelled corridor that led in the general direction of the boardroom.
She swallowed, trying hard to control her feelings. Although it was her day off Tina Carson had received an urgent summons to attend a meeting being held in the upper floor offices at Bromptons Department Stores. She was nervous and understandably so as this request was unusual and therefore extremely intimidating. Shop floor staff like her were never, ever invited to the hallowed top floor unless there was a serious problem.
Already feeling uncomfortable in her present surroundings, her general unease was heightened as she found walking on the luxurious carpet a major challenge as her high heels constantly caught in the deep pile causing her large breasts to jiggle and wobble inside her silk blouse. And as she walked her heightened senses were such that she could clearly hear the swish of her stockinged legs against the fabric of her tight skirt.
Tina was keenly aware that today was the biggest day of the year for the management of Bromptons as it was the annual stockholder's meeting. This was the time when all the major decisions regarding the future direction of the company were made so she was finding it hard to understand what could be so important for her to be summoned this way. Since receiving the phone call she'd racked her brain trying to recall if she'd upset a customer or done anything that could be construed as misconduct but all she'd drawn was a blank.
Reaching the entrance of the boardroom she could hear the general hubbub of noise from inside. Nervously biting her lower lip she tentatively peered round the door frame. Every seat around the large oval table was occupied; bar one.
She saw Mr Brompton standing at the head of the table. He was the Managing Director and majority stockholder in the company that bore his family name. He spotted her immediately and pointed to the empty chair.
"Ah Tina, there you are. Come in, come in. Thank you for joining us, take a seat please," he said. His voice and manner seemed welcoming but she couldn't be sure.
As all eyes turned to look at her she felt herself flush self consciously. She wasn't used to being the centre of attention. She moved into the room feeling her chest tighten from the growing anxiety. Her ragged breathing was making her breasts rise and fall rapidly, stretching her blouse buttons to breaking point. A few of the more lecherous eyes scanned her body, lingering for a moment on her more than ample charms and she was sure she heard a whispered comment of 'look at the tits on that' as she approached her seat. She sat down, a smile fixed on her face but inside her stomach was churning and she was trying hard to control her sense of panic.
Mr Brompton cleared his throat and surveyed the room before starting.
"It is rare indeed that we, the board, have an opportunity to reward a member of staff for their hard work and dedication to our company. To reward a person that not only obtains the best customer service scores in their own department but the best customer service scores overall for the entire store. This in itself is no mean feat but this same person also has the best sales figures of the entire store, the most add on sales of the entire store and the most completed and activated company store card applications. And in addition, this person has demonstrated time and time again their willingness to go that extra mile, not only for our customers but also for the store as well." Mr Brompton paused for the benefit of the directors, to let his fulsome praise sink in. He could see a few heads nodding sagely in agreement.
Tina sat back in her chair. She was genuinely pleased for this person, whoever it was. What she couldn't work out was when was he going to get to the problem and the reason she was here. She looked up to see Mr Brompton was now looking directly at her.
"Tina, you've been with our company now for four years and in that time you have proved to everyone how hard working you are. We here at Bromptons believe that such dedication should not go unrewarded and with that in mind we would like to offer you a promotion to a junior management position, effective immediately. We have revamped our department structure and want you to be one of our new department managers. This position of course comes with an increase in salary and other company benefits, full details of which we will go over with you later."
He paused. Tina sat with her mouth open as it took her a while to realise that the person he had been speaking about was her and not only that, he had now stopped speaking and was waiting for some kind of response from her.
"I... I don't believe it. I don't know what to say," Tina said, clearly surprised. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest.
"Say yes," Mr Brompton replied, as the board members laughed.
"Alright then," Tina said, "yes, yes I accept. Thank you so much, you don't know what this means to me, thank you." She was visibly shaking with excitement.
"No Tina, thank you. It's good to know that we have such hard working and enthusiastic people here at Bromptons and it gives myself and the board great pleasure to show our appreciation and to be able to reward that endeavour from time to time."
"One more thing Tina," Mr Brompton said as she stood up to leave, "we are also inviting you and your husband to attend the European Trade Show with us at the end of the month. All our major suppliers will be there, it's a very prestigious event. It's a two day show but we will be away for three nights and there's a gala dinner dance on the last evening."
"Oh thank you," Tina gushed, "I just can't believe it!"
"Believe it Tina," Mr Brompton said, "you've more than earned it."
* * *
Later that night and Tina had just finished relating the day's events to her husband Jim. He seemed genuinely happy about her promotion but less so about the trade show.
"Well I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the time off work," he said hesitantly. "I'm really busy right now, customers are relying on me, you know how it is."
"Are you serious!" Tina replied indignantly, "well if that's the case, I'll go without you. You know what, I don't believe you, I thought you would welcome the chance to spend some time with me in a luxury five star hotel."
"Huh, really! Will I actually be spending any time with you or is it just a business trip for you?" Jim retorted sarcastically, his anger quickly bubbling up to the surface.
"Okay, yes obviously it's mainly for business but there will be plenty of free time for us to explore the city and then there's the dinner dance to look forward to," Tina replied in a softer voice as she stroked his arm. She winced inwardly. She didn't want to upset him anymore than she already had. She was conscious that he was under a lot of stress due to his heavy work commitments plus she was still feeling immensely guilty about her last stupid act of infidelity.
"Alright, alright, I suppose so," Jim said without much enthusiasm. "I'll book the time off then."
Tina looked at him and sadly shook her head. Don't put yourself out too much she sighed to herself.
* * *
The day of the trip finally arrived and an excited Tina with a less than enthusiastic Jim in tow travelled with Mr Brompton and several other senior managers and their partners.
Leaving the airport by taxi they arrived at their hotel and walked into the lobby. The reception area was a vast open space, the walls lined with paintings and tapestries and the black and white tiled floor dotted with period chairs and chaise longues.
"Wow... look at those!" Tina exclaimed as she looked up at the huge, twinkling chandeliers hanging from the high vaulted ceiling.
"Oh this is just fabulous," she gushed as they approached the imposing reception desk. The male staff behind the desk were dressed in morning suits. The place reeked of class and she didn't know where to look first as she spun round excitedly trying to take it all in.
After a lengthy checking in of the whole party, porters were assigned to each couple. Tina and Jim were led off by theirs. It seemed that everyone was located on different floors.
Arriving at their room, the porter pushed open the double doors to reveal a sumptuously furnished lounge area. Another pair of double doors led to the large bedroom. Tina hurried inside, excitedly pushing past Jim to look inside the bedroom.
"Oh Jim, look, look at the size of the bed, it's massive! Oh and look at the wall paper, it's so rich... it's... it's just so fantastic," she enthused.
She dashed into the bathroom.
"Oh it's even got a jacuzzi bath as well as a shower," she shouted out, a big grin etched on her face.
"Lovely," an underwhelmed Jim replied as he turned back after tipping the porter, "come on then, we need to unpack now if you want to go for a drink before the meal."
Tina ignored him. She was far too excited to let him get her down.
Spending the next half hour unpacking and freshening up they eventually made their way downstairs and joined the rest of the Brompton's party in the hotel bar for pre meal drinks.
The remainder of the evening was spent going through the fine details of the forthcoming show events, which supplier's trade stands they should prioritise and who in particular they should meet with. They also worked out the free time so that Jim and the other non staff who had come on the trip knew when their spouses or partners would be available.
As the evening wore on, Jim sat sullenly nursing his drink. He was very tired and incredibly bored. His mind drifted off to think about the business he would be losing by being here. The thought did little to lift his mood.
Finally the impromptu meeting ended and Tina and Jim returned to their room.
