Chapter 1
Michael and Lorraine were a married couple that owned a furniture business with three locations. Lorraine had always been rather domineering, and Michael had grown tired of it. After eleven years of marriage, they finally divorced. They stayed partners in the business, Lorraine remaining at the Eastwick store most of the time, and Michael spending most of his time at their Bridgeton location and the rest at Eastwick. Neither Michael nor Lorraine spent much time at the third location. Michael often personally interviewed new employees if he was at the location when they came in.
One day while at the Eastwick store, a candidate for a sales position came in for her interview. Her name was Angela. As soon as she was introduced to Michael, Angela felt an immediate draw to him. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but there was something definitely there. Michael continued with the interview, and although Angela was not a real strong candidate for the position, he decided to hire her anyway.
Angela was surprised when he had offered her the job, as she felt she had blown several of the questions he had asked. She had made a couple of comments that were less than appropriate and her body language had been all wrong. She was happy to get the job; after high school, she had had a number of menial type jobs, never staying at one for more than a year or so. She had finally decided to go back to school, but dropped out after three semesters and had mostly part time jobs since then. She had moved away from home and was currently renting a room in the home of a divorcee.
Michael told her to report to the store at 10am on the following Monday. He gave her a copy of the job requirements, including the dress code which permitted only skirts or dresses. She would be working for a small base salary and commission. The percentage would be based on her total sales and adjusted each three month period. Angela went home to check out her wardrobe. It was pretty limited and she would need a number of new outfits so she would not have to wear the same thing every day.
Since her funds were limited, she went to one of the consignment shops in the area. Angela picked out three skirts and four different jackets that could be worn with two of them as well as another skirt she had already. She could only find three tops, but also found two dresses. Even at the consignment store prices, she needed to use up almost all of her emergency money. She could only hope that she was able to sell some furniture quickly, so she could cover her rent.
Her wardrobe was still pretty sparse, but it would have to do until she made some money. She also went to a lingerie store and invested in one good bra. She got a long overdue haircut and was ready to show up for work on Monday. While she waited, she tried to figure out what it was she sensed about Michael. She just was not able to put her finger on it. He was okay looking, but nothing fantastic.
She was a tall, robust girl, though by no means overweight; and he was average weight and about two inches shorter than her. Judging by the amount of thick black hair protruding from the open neck of his shirt and the backs of his hands, he was one of those guys that was hairy all over. A real turn-off for her normally. Although she did not feel the attraction was physical, there was something. If she had known then what she would find out later, she might have turned and run. By the time she found out, it would be too late to do anything about it.
At the same time this was going on, Michael was wondering why he had hired her. She did not seem to be an especially strong candidate. He had interviewed several others with more experience than her. If the clothes she had worn to the interview were any indication, her wardrobe must be pretty shabby, not a good thing for a salesperson. He was also conscious of his height and generally avoided taller girls. He would later discover what he saw and would be very glad he had gone with his gut.
Chapter 2
Angela reported for her new job bright and early Monday morning. She had picked out the best outfit she could put together from her existing clothes and her new purchases. She had laid everything out and made a list of mix and matches, which would allow her to go a little over two weeks without having to repeat the same outfit. Although she had a number of bras, only one other was decent, so that meant hand washing each bra by hand every night, as well as each blouse. She debated what shoes to wear. She preferred flats if she was going to be on her feet all day, but noticed that all the women had on at least two inch heels.
Angela would also have to wash her one good pair of pantyhose everyday and hope they didn’t run. She had barely enough money to put gas in her car and hoped she would make it until payday. She would be living off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch until then and might have to skip dinner some nights unless her landlord, Dawn invited her to share her dinner. She did not even have enough money for a soda, so would be drinking water with her sandwich. Angela was not a big water drinker, but had no choice.
The personnel manager met with Angela and went over her paperwork, the job requirements and dress code. She set her up with her employee ID, and told her she would be shadowing another salesperson for the first week to learn the ropes. During this time, she would be earning no commission, but her base would be doubled for the first week, then would drop to 50% extra the second week and would be the quoted amount on the third week. Each week, there would be a weekly sales goal to be met, that would increase each month until it reached the normal amount at the end of her probation period. At that time, it would be the same amount expected each week from the other sales people. She was to record each customer she spent more than ten minutes with, as there was also an average sale total based on the number of customers she had each week.
Her first week’s salary would be held back, then payday was every two weeks, so it would be three weeks before Angela got her first paycheck. The probation period was three months long and if she was not meeting her weekly goals by the end of that time, she would be terminated. She would receive no benefits until after the probationary period and was expected to put in at least eight hours each day, plus six hours on one weekend day. Her base pay was set though, no matter how many extra hours she put in. She was given her schedule and introduced to Dave, the salesperson who would train her.
She had not counted on the extra day of work each week, nor the fact that it would be three weeks before receiving the first paycheck. Her food supply would not last that long without really skimping and her car did not have enough gas to get past two weeks at most. Angela had one nice piece of jewelry she had inherited from her grandmother, and the only way she would make it to payday would be to hock it. Hopefully, she would be able to reclaim it quickly, because her mother would never forgive her if she lost it. Dave turned out to be a less than stellar trainer, or salesman for that matter. She supposed he had very little incentive to do a good job training the competition.
Angela learned what she could from him and tried to observe some of the other salespeople in action. When there were no customers, she wandered the store to familiarize herself with the inventory. She knew she was not the most outgoing person, but was determined to make this work. During that week, she only saw Michael once or twice, but was once again distracted whenever she saw him. On the other hand, he watched her closely on the monitor in his office trying to figure out what it was about her that had him perplexed.
Chapter 3
On Friday night, he sent word to her to come to his office when her shift was over. Angela feared she was going to be fired. When she got to his office, she was acutely aware of the fact that she towered over him in her heels and quickly sat down in a chair. When she did, the middle button on her blouse popped off. Since the top button had been opened, her bra was now fully exposed. It was a low cut job, so much of her breasts were revealed.
It was also very sheer and Michael could clearly see her nipples through the fabric. She reached for her jacket to cover herself, but she heard Michael ordering her to stop. Angela put her hands down and lowered her gaze, but he ordered her to look at him. Michael asked her what would have happened if that had occurred in front of a customer. He looked furious and Angela was sure she was going to get the boot.
“I called you here because I was going to let you start on your own tomorrow, rather than on Monday. I have noticed you watching the staff other than Dave and checking out the inventory on your own. I like when someone shows initiative like that, but now I am not so sure. If you can’t even sew on a button properly, then what kind of salesperson are you?”
Angela panicked.
“Please give me another chance! I really need this job. I can’t even afford to look for another job until I get some money. I will do anything.”
“Anything?” Michael was getting an idea.
“Yes. Anything. Please.”
“Play with your nipples.”
“What??”
“Play with your nipples. Rub them through your bra. Make them nice and hard for me.”
Angela was aghast and hesitated, then looked at Michael who appeared quite upset. She really needed the job, so she reach up and started to rub her nipples. The feel of rubbing them was making her slightly hot despite her fear and the humiliation. Michael was sitting behind his desk, so she could not see what he was doing, but one of his hands was under his desk.