Casual Fridays

***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons is purely coincidental.

...

Everyone looked over at Bob as he walked into the office. While everyone else was wearing jeans, t-shirts, sneakers, and other casual garments they would normally wear outside the office, Bob was wearing a very ugly Hawaiian shirt.

"So, it's the first casual Friday we've had in years, and Bob comes in wearing that ugly shirt," said Dale.

"Well, you guys mostly work on the phone and through emails, so nobody is going to see that," Aaron replied.

"We have to see it. Isn't that bad enough?"

They were standing in the back, checking out what everyone was wearing on their way to work. While some dressed normally, there were a few who stood out. One woman came in wearing a blouse and skirt with cat images on it, one guy dressed like he was going on spring break, and another person came in showing his love of Marvel comics.

The original company owners, who bought out the company several years ago, got rid of it as being unnecessary and unprofessional. They sold it to a corporation a few months ago, which decided to bring back casual Friday to improve employee morale and team building. There were limitations on what was allowed to be worn. The few coworkers who took it too far stayed just under the line of what was allowed.

Aaron just wanted to wear some simple blue jeans and a t-shirt with his favorite band's logo on it. Dale did the same, but with his favorite college football team.

Their coworker, Sarah, walked up to them. She poured herself some coffee and joined their conversation. For casual Friday, she was wearing skinny jeans with a blazer over a white t-shirt. Like some of the other women in the office, she chose something that was good enough for the office and if she needed to go out with friends after work.

"Ian, the temp, is wearing a death metal shirt with a picture of a human skull that has worms coming out of its mouth and eye sockets. Isn't that a violation?" Sarah asked.

"Still under the line of what's acceptable," Aaron replied. "It's only bad if there's blood or gore coming out of the skull."

Aaron was the HR manager for that branch of the company. One of the new tasks he had just been handed was making sure everyone was compliant with the casual Friday dress code. Essentially, you couldn't wear anything that's sexually explicit, show images of blood or violence on t-shirts, images that promote any criminal behavior, or other things of that nature. There were also rules against coming in wearing items that were far too casual, such as gym clothes, yoga pants, pajamas, flip-flops, Daisy Dukes, etc. So far, despite a few bad choices in clothing, Aaron has not seen or heard of any complaints about any inappropriate attire.

Even if he did see someone wear something inappropriate, Aaron would do his best not to get that person in too much trouble. He would most likely give them some general warnings and tell them what's more acceptable to wear for casual Fridays in the future.

Aaron was known for being everyone's favorite HR manager the branch had ever had. Not just because he was good at his job, but because, unlike other HR managers the branch had had before him, he didn't have a stick up his ass. Most HR managers he has known are too obsessed with policies and less focused on the culture and inner workings of the business. Aaron was in sales for several years before he moved up to HR, so he got a good idea of how the company works from the outside and how to use it to improve HR relations within his branch. When someone screws up or violates some policy, he tries to help them out to make sure they don't lose their jobs or get into too much trouble. But if someone does royally screw up, he has no choice but to punish them; there was a limit to how nice a guy he could be.

The three of them were chatting away while drinking their morning coffee when, all of a sudden, Lisa, the young receptionist, entered the office. Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing. She was attractive enough already, being 22 and slender, with long auburn hair and a perfect hourglass figure. Now she was wearing Daisy Duke shorts and a top that not only hugged her breasts too tightly but showed off much of her midriff as well.

"Is that even allowed?" asked Dale.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's not," Aaron replied.

"Oh my God, as a woman, I find that completely unprofessional, and she should be ashamed of herself," said Sarah. "However, as a lesbian, I am loving this."

"How do you feel about it as a married lesbian?" Dale asked.

"Shut the fuck up, Dale," she replied.

Lisa came right up to the counter where the three coworkers were chatting and pretended that they were discussing other things besides her.

"Isn't casual Friday great?" Lisa asked as she made her coffee. "One day a week, I can be myself."

"Yes, it's pretty amazing," Aaron replied.

"Did you see Bob's shirt? Is that even allowed?" Lisa asked.

There was an awkward silence because nobody knew how to respond to that.

"From what I understand, he's staying under the line," Aaron assured her.

Lisa walked back to her front desk with her coffee, and they watched as every coworker she walked by looked like they were losing their minds. Even Gary, the only other gay person in the office besides Sarah, couldn't help taking a long look at her.

"Is Gary getting a boner from her?" Dale asked, looking confused.

"Oh yeah," Sarah replied. "He's obviously getting turned on by Lisa."

"He must be so confused right now," said Aaron.

"So, is that something you have to report?" Dale asked.

Aaron had to think about that long and hard. Technically speaking, it was something he had to take care of because of the inappropriate nature of her attire, and his HR duties said he needed to send her home. On the other hand, he's a guy, and he loves what he's seeing; he realizes it may make him a hypocrite, but he doesn't care.

"Technically, I can only do something if someone files a complaint," Aaron told her.

The truth was, he could do it himself if he wanted to, but he was hoping that it wouldn't have to come to that. If he was going to reprimand Lisa, which might get her to stop dressing that way, he wanted the excuse that other people had complained about it. That way, he'd be able to walk away from the situation with his hands clean because he'd claim it wasn't his fault.

"I'm not saying anything," said Sarah.

"Definitely not me," said Dale.

At that moment, Aaron's girlfriend and one of the branch's supervisors, Janice, showed up, and that's when Dale and Sarah made excuses to go back to work. They didn't hate Janice, but they did find her intimidating, and ever since she and Aaron started dating a few months ago, it made things extra awkward for them to hang out around the office.

"Good morning, sweetie," she said as she gave Aaron a small kiss on the lips.

"Good morning, babe," he replied.

"Can you believe what the slut is wearing?" she whispered to him. "I want to report her."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Who do you think? Lisa, the receptionist."

Aaron didn't know what to say. He liked Lisa, not because of how attractive she was but generally because she was a friendly person, and he would hate to see her get into trouble. Someone was going to report her eventually throughout the day. The least he could do was make it so his own girlfriend wouldn't be the one to do it.

"Maybe you shouldn't," he told her.

"Why not? That's completely inappropriate for an office setting," she snapped at him. "It may be casual Friday, but there are limits."

"I'm just saying, someone here is eventually going to report her, so let it be someone else, not you."

"Why not me?" she asked.

"Because you've been doing it way too much lately," he responded. "I can understand. You're a supervisor, and you need to report this stuff to me or the managers, but you're starting to lose your relationships with everyone here."

"You mean, everybody here thinks I'm a snitch?"

"Well... yes," he replied nervously.

Sarah thought about it for a moment.

"Fine, I won't say anything," she said, with an angry tone. "I'm sure someone would eventually say something about it. Maybe Gary or Sarah would do it; they're a couple of the more professional ones here."

Aaron decided not to tell her that she shouldn't expect Sarah or Gary to ever comment on Lisa's attire. Instead, they just drank their coffee, changed the subject to something completely different, and then went back to work.

One month had gone by, and everyone had been enjoying casual Fridays and had gotten used to the types of clothing to wear. There were no serious complaints about who was violating the dress code policy for that day, so Aaron never had to worry about getting into trouble.

Surprisingly enough, nobody filed any complaints against Lisa. Every Friday, she wore something very provocative, as if she were going to a club rather than an office. Aaron was at least expecting one of the other women in the office to file a complaint against her, but no one has so far. The best he could tell was that because of how overly helpful and friendly Lisa is, nobody wanted to get her into trouble.

Aaron was glad he worked as an HR manager at a fairly good and friendly branch; he almost never had a major problem with any of his coworkers.

"Something has to be done about her," said Janice as she stormed into his office. "It's been a month, and nobody is saying shit about what she's doing."

"You mean, Lisa?" Aaron asked.

"Of course, I mean that slut at the front desk," she snapped at him.

"You know, slut is not an appropriate term to be used against another coworker, especially by a supervisor."

"I don't give a shit!" she snapped at him. "I'm only calling her that in front of you, and you're not going to report me, are you?"

"No."

"Then she's a fucking slut," she almost yelled out, but kept it quiet.

"I told you, I can only do something if I get a complaint against her. Even the branch managers aren't saying anything about her."

"Then you'll have to do it," Janice responded. "You need to have her fired from this place."

"What? No, I can't--"

He couldn't believe Janice would actually suggest he get Lisa fired just because of how she dressed.

"Yes, you can," she interrupted. "I want to do it so badly, but you were right before; people are starting to see me as a snitch. I can't have that. So that leaves only you."

"But someone else has to file the complaint."

"I know you're just using that excuse to not have to do anything about her, but I know you can," she replied. "I looked it up in the company policy handbook. You can easily do something about it if you want to."

Aaron was surprised that she found out the truth. Nobody ever read the company handbook except for those in human resources who had to enforce it. Because of this, he was able to get away with a few things in his position because no one could call him out on them.

"Fine, you're right; I can report her," he told her. "But I just can't do that."

"Why not?" she asked. "Are you attracted to her?"

"What?"

"You heard me," she continued. "Is that why you don't want to do anything about it? You have the hots for her, and you're enjoying the way she dresses on casual Fridays just like all the other men in the office, is that it?"

"What? No," he replied nervously. "She's just a nice person, and I don't want to see her in trouble."

"Then have her fired."

"I can't do that."

However, Aaron had to admit that Janice was right about him. Although he was telling the truth about Lisa being a good person and did not want to see her in trouble, he was nonetheless attracted to her. Not only that, just like most of the other men in the office and Sarah, he liked looking at how sexy she had been dressing for casual Fridays.

Janice came around his desk to where he was sitting and sat on the edge of the desk. She crossed her legs in front of him and leaned in so he could get a good whiff of her perfume and a glimpse of her cleavage. He had seen a lot more than that when they stayed over at each other's apartments, but the way she was getting close to him now was very appealing to him.

"Listen to me," she began to say, in a softer tone. "I know you're attracted to her; I don't blame you. You're a man, after all. But that bitch is bothering me, and I'm the one you're supposed to make happy. And when I'm happy, that's when I make you happy."

She began to undo the top two buttons of her blouse, giving him more of a look at her cleavage. Aaron also noticed his door was wide open, allowing anyone to walk in at any time. Janice was being very brave with what she was doing.

"I do want to make you happy," he replied nervously.

"So, you'll do something about it?"

Aaron had to think about it for a moment. He knew exactly what Janice was doing and tried to resist, but couldn't.

"How about this?" he began to say. "Let me talk to her. Nobody seems to be saying anything to her about it, so maybe I can just talk to her. I can tell her how she's dressing inappropriately and make up a bunch of other HR shit to make my point. After that, I'm sure she'll change the way she dresses."

Janice leaned back on the desk and looked deeply into his eyes.

"Fine, I can live with that. You can go talk to her," she replied. "But if that doesn't work, either that little tramp is gone, or I'll go over your head to report her, and you and I are through."

She got off the desk and walked towards the door. Before she left, she stopped and looked back at Aaron.

"And remember, she may be the slut you like to look at during the day, but I'm the slut you get to enjoy having fun with after work," she said before walking out the door.

It took a few minutes before Aaron could settle himself down. As much as he tried to focus on his work, he couldn't stop thinking about Janice; she used her sexuality to both threaten and seduce him into getting what she wanted. He didn't want her to break up with him, so he had to comply with her demands. He was happy that she at least let him talk to Lisa first before he had to do anything drastic.

In order to get an idea of how to talk to her, he decided to talk to his two closest coworkers about what to say. Needless to say, Dale and Sarah were not happy that he was going to talk Lisa into dressing more appropriately for work.

Sarah was so mad, she grabbed Aaron by the collar and yanked on it hard.

"Don't you fucking dare do this to us," she said aggressively. "I don't care how bad she's making other women look; I need this."

"I can't believe you're doing this," said Dale in a sad voice. "I thought you were a cool HR guy. Now you're just as lame as the rest of them."

"I have no choice," Aaron told them.

"Why?" Sarah asked as she yanked harder on his collar.

Aaron pried her fingers off of his collar and got her off of him. He didn't want to say that his girlfriend was forcing him to do this, so he made up an excuse.

"There have been complaints," said Aaron.

"Who made the complaints?" Dale asked. "Was it Janice?"

"No, definitely not her," Aaron replied, hoping he kept a straight face.

"Then who?" Sarah demanded to know.

"I can't tell you guys that," he began to say. "It's against policy to reveal that information; I would never reveal anything you guys ever tell me in private."

Dale and Sarah looked at each other and wondered what the other person may have told Aaron. On a few occasions, they have made complaints against each other and toward other coworkers. Neither one of them wanted to ask about it, so they moved on to the main subject at hand.

"Fine, but why do you have to do anything about it?" Sarah asked.

"It's my job. I have to act on it. I don't have to file a report against her; just talk to her. At least if I get her to dress up more on casual Fridays, she won't get suspended or possibly fired."

Dale and Sarah looked at each other and then back at Aaron.

"You're right, we can't let her get fired over this," said Dale.

It was mostly Sarah who gave him some good advice on what to say, because she had more of a woman's perspective on the subject. She explained that he basically had to be very courteous, try not to blame her for anything, hear her out so she could explain her side of things, even if he wasn't planning to take that side, and do whatever he could to make sure she didn't get upset. She also suggested he put out a candy dish with chocolates. It always makes women feel good and puts them in a good mood.

The first thing Aaron did was get a candy dish filled with chocolates. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he was willing to give it a try. He then waited until about 4:30 pm to call her desk and ask her to come to his office after work to discuss an issue with her paperwork; that excuse always worked for HR, no matter what the situation was. He was glad that it was a Friday; that way, if she was upset about what he had to say, she would have had the whole weekend to get over it.

A few minutes after 5 p.m., when everyone was out the door, Lisa came into his office. He could see what Janice was concerned about; Lisa was wearing a red miniskirt with fishnet stockings and a sheer short-sleeved black blouse where everyone could easily see the low-cut black bra that she wore underneath.

"Hey, Aaron. What's wrong with my paperwork?" she asked.

"First, can you please sit down?" he asked.

She sat down in the chair in front of his desk. He offered her some chocolates, and she was so delighted to see them that she devoured two of them at once. He had to remember to thank Sarah for that brilliant idea.

"I'm sorry, but I lied. There's no paperwork issue," he began to say. "I don't know how to tell you this, but there have been some complaints against you."

"Oh my God, did I do something wrong?"

"Firs, let me say, everybody here loves you," he said, putting her at ease. "They say you're the best receptionist this branch has ever had."

"Awesome," she replied with a big smile.

"However, since casual Friday went into effect, people have noticed how... provocative you have been dressing."

"What's wrong with how I dress?" she asked. "It's casual Friday. This is how I dress when I'm not at work."

"I'm sure it works great everywhere else, and most people here in the office don't have a problem with it. But a few do, and I have to go ahead with the complaint."

"When you say a few, do you mean just one person? And is that one person, Janice, your girlfriend?" Lisa asked.

Aaron was taken aback; he did not expect her to figure it out. He paused for a moment to consider what to say next and realized that the pause was taking far too long; almost comically so.

"No" was all he could say.

"So that's a yes," she replied. "She has been the only one being dismissive towards me lately. Nobody else seems to have a problem with me."

"Lisa, it's no big deal. You just have to dress up more," he told her. "Look at how all the other women in the office dress on Fridays; they're not dressing too sexy, and they're happy about it."

Lisa stood up, walked around to Aaron's side of the desk, and began to unbutton her sheer blouse.

"But I like the way I dress," she began to say. "Just like I know you like the way I dress."

"Lisa, I don't know what you think you're doing but--"

He stopped talking when her blouse came off. Seeing the full view of her tits in her bra was even better than what the sheer blouse was able to show off.

"I know exactly what I'm doing," she assured him.

She sat down on the edge of the desk, much in the same way Janice had sat there earlier, except Lisa's legs were wide open for Aaron to see her shaved pussy.