Mailgirls on the Run Pt. 01

The man stood as she entered and said "Ah, you must be our Ms Brooks. I'm Bob Starnes from Commercial Accounts. I'm here because I play tennis with a senior VP and I ran Boston some thirty years ago. He feels that makes me an expert and has directed me to oversee our running team. Come, take a seat and we'll bring you up to speed so to speak.

"As Jeremy told you yesterday we've transferred in a couple of men that are respectable runners, both have run inside thirty-three for the 10k - not pro runners, but quicker than anyone who ran for us last year. It's not hard to recruit young, single males from other SG&T locations to work in the Maryland office. Conversely, it's tough to induce young women to transfer here. So, Mr Dawlish believes we can leverage the Mailgirl Program based on your performance last year."

"Mr Starnes, I ran cross country and track in college and continued to run while I worked for SG&T in Chicago. I don't know that any of the other mailgirls have a running background and most mailgirls are not ectomorphs. I spent two years hearing that I was flat-chested and in comparison to the other seventeen mailgirls that was true. Most of these women are not built for running."

"But they are all in excellent shape and spend up to fourteen hours a day running and walking through the halls and up and down stairs six days a week. I've looked at their resumes and we have former college soccer and lacrosse players and swimmers on the roster. There's also one aspiring professional dancer. Those kind of athletes often take up running after college because it's a lifetime sport which doesn't require special venues, equipment, or leagues. We've got three months to find and train our female runners."

Ms Barnes broke in, "Mr Starnes has planned a series of time trials over the next few weekends to pick a team and then set up a training program several evenings a week and on the weekends for the girls. We expanded our program from eighteen to twenty-four mailgirls in the past year, we can ease back on the work day for the six girls on the team for those days they have training. And to spur on the competition there will be punishments for those girls who do not run well in the trials. The fifth floor says this is an important project and Human Capital will take it seriously."

Mr Starnes continued "Our plan is to run heats of eight girls the next three weekends to select a team the way you would advance to the finals in a track meet, based on place and time so that they will each have to give their best and not just jog in twenty-four abreast."

Megan asked, "So, we'll have eight girls run each of the next three weeks?"

"No, the eight girls who aren't on duty Saturday will run on Saturday; the other sixteen will be split between two heats on Sunday. We'll repeat the following two weekends with different lineups in each heat. We'll have them run 6k this weekend, 8k the next, and the full 10k on the third weekend. Then we'll sit down and select six girls to train for the race."

Ms Barnes added "You will present this program to the girls before their duty day starts tomorrow. The graphics department is printing out maps of the course to post in the Mailgirls Lounge and on the appropriate Employees' Notice Boards. Mistress V will expect you downstairs at 6:30 tomorrow morning."

"Buildings and Grounds is painting a blue line the length of the 3k loop and a yellow line for the 1k loop so that no one goes astray when running," Mr Starnes finished. "The course starts and finishes in front of the main entrance to this building. You probably want to jog the loops tomorrow before leading the girls out this weekend."

* * * *

This was Megan's first trip to the Mailgirl Lounge since she ended her stint as a mailgirl ten months previously. The door only opened to mailgirls and select personnel. Every morning there was an audience looking down from above through the glass walls (mirrored on the inside) gawking at the naked mailgirls preparing for their workday. A mostly male group drank their morning coffee seated at tables with a clear view of the women showering, shaving, putting on makeup, and just waiting around for Mistress V to parcel out their initial assignments and make any announcements. Megan swiped her id badge and the door opened; she had returned.

Multiple heads swiveled in her direction as it was about fifteen minutes before Mistress V normally made an appearance. Tours of the Mailgirl Lounge were a fairly common occurrence, but not by a single unfamiliar woman and not at that hour of the morning. The mailgirls looking at her hastily lowered their eyes as deference to all other employees and visitors had been drilled into them.

Megan decided to get started, thinking it would be easier without Mistress V hovering over her shoulder with her ever-threatening presence. "Ladies, I'm Megan Brooks from the Investment Group, formerly known as Mailgirl Two." That brought the eyes right back up to look her over.

"The fifth floor has come up with a new job duty for select mailgirls. SG&T is hosting this year's Corporate Challenge 10k, which is a race for teams representing corporations and agencies throughout Maryland. The fifth floor wants to win and last fall I was our only finisher among the top fifty women in the race, held a month after the end of my mailgirl contract. They are transferring in some men to bolster the men's team, but they believe they can find some fast women right here."

There were multiple exclamations of derision from the assembled mailgirls, but they immediately quieted and eyes went back to the floor when the door opened behind Megan and Mistress V walked in.

Megan continued, "The race will be on the SG&T campus in three months time which leaves us one month to select a team and two months to train. As with any task assigned to a mailgirl, your enthusiastic participation is taken as a given." Feeling Mistress V looming behind her she went on, "You will be running trials the next three weekends to determine who makes the team. Ms Barnes decreed that slacking will be punished. You will be running in groups of eight, the mailgirls who work Sunday will run on Saturday and the rest of you will run on Sunday. This weekend we'll be running 6k, that's about 3.7 miles. Heat sheets and a map of the course which consists of twice around a 3k loop will be posted on the wall today. Mailgirls will run in full mailgirl attire."

Mistress V broke in, "Thank you Ms Brooks. The slowest runners from each group and overall will be appropriately chastised. You will do your best. Security will monitor the course to ensure your safety. Now it's time to get to work."

Multiple MMUs began to chime as the initial delivery assignments were downloaded from the Mailgirl server. Megan had been prepared to ask if there were any questions, but decided that would have to wait until the girls were lined up for the start of each run. She picked her sister out of the crowd, but Sam wouldn't return her gaze and Megan decided that would wait until tomorrow as well.

* * * *

Mailgirls were on two different salary schedules at SG&T. Those mailgirls who were co-opted from the professional ranks were salaried employees and as such not entitled to overtime. Ten hour days, twelve hour days, fourteen hour days - they were all the same as far as the Finance people were concerned. Mailgirls who had been hired on directly as mailgirls were hourly employees working for minimum wage, but they were protected by Fair Labor Laws and were paid overtime. Since the normal mailgirl week started at sixty hours, they earned a lot of overtime. The salaried mailgirls still outearned the hourly crew, even with generous dollops of overtime pay, but where it came into play was in the decision as to which mailgirls worked truly insane schedules - the record was somewhere north of 120 hours in a week - and which ones were sent down to the Mailgirl Lounge early on a holiday or slack Friday afternoon. Mistress V had firm guidance from the Finance people to minimize paid overtime so it wasn't a shock that Twenty-two got sent "home" as it were, early that Friday afternoon. Summer Friday late afternoons in Maryland for non-mailgirls are for driving to the beach or eating crabs in the backyard.

Twenty-two got up from the mat she was kneeling on in Commercial Accounts and made her way through the office to the service stairs at the back. She duitifully kept her eyes lowered as she made her way through the nearly empty office. Then down three flights to the basement, emerging in a back corner by the actual mailroom and then around to the lower lobby where she could look through the glass wall into the Mailgirl Locker Room (though there were no lockers) where Four was showering and Twenty-three was toweling off with a much too small towel that was standard for mailgirls. Not only was a mailgirl not allowed to wrap herself in a towel, it wasn't possible anyway.

Twenty-two pressed her MMU against the door and it opened letting her in to the Mailgirl Locker Room. The RFID reader in the door read the tag on her metal choker, the only thing mailgirls wore besides the armband for their MMU. Everytime a mailgirl passed through a doorway her location was updated and logged. Software akin to what credit card companies use to monitor spending to combat fraud analyzed mailgirl movement and reported anomalies to Human Capital. When the orginal Seven was caught having sex with a mortgage broker on the second floor the tipoff was an unexplained pattern in her movements; Ms Barnes and Security walked in on them in action. The mortage broker was summarily fired; Seven was severely thrashed, Mistress V shaved her head, and she spent the next month making deliveries with her hands cuffed behind her.

Twenty-two was now locked into the Mailgirl Locker Room/Lounge complex until the beginning of her shift on Saturday. She was scheduled from 1-7 on Saturday and then was off Sunday - that is locked into the Locker Room/Lounge, unless summoned to work. She waved hello to Four and Twenty-three and walked over to the toilets to relieve herself. The toilets along with the rest of the locker room area were in clear view through the glass wall of the locker room.The wall was mirrored on the inside so the mailgirls couldn't see or interact with the voyeurs above. While you would expect the lobby to be largely empty late on a Friday afternoon, Twenty-two had heard that young single guys working at SG&T would have their buddies meet them in the lobby for some mailgirl watching before heading out to their bar of choice. She got down onto the floor and lapped water from one of the bowls in front of Mistress V's desk, both slaking her thirst and playing to the unseen audience.

Four came over behind Twenty-two, "I'm not sure I got completely clean, could you scrub my back?"

Twenty-two swiveled her head and back to look at Four who leaned over. They exchanged a chaste kiss. Mailgirls were not allowed to have sex in public, but handholding, modest kissing, and scrubbing each other's backs were tolerated. Full blown girl-on-girl sex was restricted to the Mailgirls' Lounge which was not on view except to those employees who had access to video from the security cameras, two of which provided full coverage of the Lounge. Four and Twenty-two put on a good show in the shower and then toweled each other off before disappearing into the Lounge.

Chapter 4

Megan ran the 3k and 1k loops early Saturday morning, looking to beat the heat and also avoiding changing in the women's locker room at SG&T. The 1k loop was essentially just around the main SG&T building, the 3k loop left the parking lot on a walking trail into the woods for a stretch before meeting up with a road that that ran to the back entrance to the parking lot, and then looped around to the starting line. The 10k race would be an initial 1k loop and then three times around the longer run. Given the wide spread in ability in the Corporate Challenge, there would be lapping - not her problem. This weekend the mailgirls would run the 3k loop twice.

After finishing the 3k she toweled off at her car and then grabbing a bottle of water headed into the building. At most corporate offices a young woman walking in wearing just running shorts and a sleeveless top would merit focused attention from any males in the lobby, but with twenty-four naked women running about SG&T every day Megan failed to stand out.

Mr Starnes was waiting just past the security desk for her. "I'll time the girls this morning. I suggest that you lead them around the course at least for the first lap. Mistress V has stenciled numbers onto their hips so that we can positively identify them. I believe that's also the plan for race day since there is no where to pin a number on them without drawing blood..."

Megan walked down the stairs to the lower lobby. Looking through the glass wall of the mailgirl lounge she could see a group of mailgirls standing before MistressV, probably her first group of runners. For the second time in two days she swiped her id at the door and entered. Mistress V turned and faced her. "These are your eight mailgirls for this morning. You are responsible for getting them back here immediately after this exercise. You will also let me know which girl finished last so that I can apply corrective action. Now go girls. You have a job to do."

Megan told the group "Up the stairs and out the front door. Mr Starnes from Commercial Accounts is outside waiting for you. I'll lead you around the course and he will time you at the finish."

Eight naked women filed by Megan on their way out the door: One, Four, Eight, Ten, Fourteen, Eighteen, Twenty, and Twenty-three. Mailgirls at SG&T signed the industry standard two year contract and SG&T had brought the girls on in groups of six. Megan and her friend Sarah had both been part of the first cohort and had completed their contracts and moved on. This One and Four had replaced the original mailgirls who completed their two years. The original second cohort - Seven through Twelve - had also finished their two years, but Ten had signed up for another two years and Eight had replaced a girl who had quit the program prematurely. Fourteen and Eighteen were both from the original third cohort and their contracts would be up in two months - before the race; Megan wondered how that would factor into selecting a team. Twenty and Twenty-three were in the fourth cohort along with Megan's sister and they had started work just before the end of Megan's time. So she knew four of these women well, two only briefly, and One and Four not at all.

The nine women, one in skimpy running shorts and a thin sleeveless top, the other eight bare-ass naked, filed up the stairs and through the front door. The mailgirls rarely used that door. When running messages or parcels to the two other buildings on campus they habitually went via the loading dock as befitted their status.

Mr. Starnes was standing in front of the entrance chatting with one of the security guards sitting in his sedan. He told Megan "Phil will trail the field in his car and keep an eye on the back of the pack. We're putting water out on this table and you'll be able to get a drink or douse yourself at the end of the first lap and at the finish. It's hot out here and the girls probably haven't had a chance to to acclimate to the heat. The good news is they are not overdressed."

Megan did not laugh. "Ladies, I'll lead you through the first lap at a pace I think you all can manage and then your speed is up to you. I'll try to set the same first lap pace for all three groups to start you all on an even footing. I know Mistress V told you that the last finisher in each group and the six slowest overall will be chastised. She will punish the last finisher as soon at the end of the run, those among the slowest six who do not finish last will provide entertainment for the Monday morning gawkers. That being said, take care yourselves in this weather. Collapsing from heat exhaustion will guarantee you a spot in the bottom six.

"Okay, ready, steady, go."

Megan started off at little more than a trot, looking around to make sure all eight women were with her. She could hear the security car keeping pace behind. She found herself unconsciously opening up her stride a bit as she settled into a rhythm. They exited the parking lot onto the trail and moved into the trees. The shade was welcome in the early morning sun.

Four drifted into the lead, Megan admiring her tight ass and well-toned legs. She was a tall, leggy brunette who didn't look to be working hard. Four ran with a relaxed stride and looked to be comfortable. Megan could hear some heavy breathing behind her.

They came to a road and the blue line went to the left. Megan could see a car approaching; it would have to swing wide as they were running against traffic and there wasn't much of a shoulder. She called out "stay to the left, ladies." The car slowed, and then slowed some more, and then stopped as the driver stared open-mouthed at the line of naked women running along the road. Megan gave a little wave as she ran past. Another few hundred yards and they turned left again at the next intersection and headed towards the SG&T complex.

They emerged from the trees and Megan could see the five story building ahead of her and off to the left. There were a number of cars sitting to the side as they ran up a slight grade - Megan closing ground on Four on the rise - and returned to the vast SG&T parking lot. Several men stood by their cars using their cellphones to video the mailgirls running past. The course hugged the perimeter of the parking lot and then curved left to go around the main building.

Mr Starnes was standing to the left of the blue line in front of the building and there was a cluster of men on both sides watching appreciatively as the women approached. Mr Starnes called out "Twelve-fifteen, sixteen, seventeen..." as Megan passed him. She veered right to grab a cup of water off the table and dumped it over her head. Four also grabbed a cup in full stride, Megan taking that as proof that Four was an experienced runner. Megan ignored the suggestions from the crowd to "Take it off."

Megan and Four headed off onto the second lap and Fourteen came up onto Megan's shoulder as they were exiting the parking lot again. Fourteen was another brunette, but she was a divorcee in her late 30s who had been dumped by her lawyer husband for a younger blonde. Fourteen had dropped out of college to marry her ex when he finished law school and found herself adrift following the divorce. The story was that a law school roommate of the husband was well up in the heirarchy at SG&T and had brokered a deal where Fourteen got access to a computer in the law library on weekends and took college courses on-line working towards a degree in accounting. Megan thought she would prefer a more traditional alimony arrangement.

As they plunged into the woods for the second time Megan began to worry about the stretch of road where they'd passed the car the previous lap. The mailgirls had been bunched up that time providing safety in numbers; they would be more strung out this time around. She glanced behind her and saw three mailgirls, leaving three more that were back around the last curve. The security car should have them in sight so it should be okay today, but in two weeks on that third lap they would likely be well spread out - she would talk to Starnes about arranging for spotters, maybe recruit from that crowd by the finish area.

Four and Fourteen were running together a few yards in front of her. They were a well matched pair from this vantage point, nearly of a height with long brown ponytails streaming behind. Megan could feel the sweat from the two of them flying back toward her. The trio made the left turn onto the larger road and Megan could still see three mailgirls when she looked back over her shoulder. This time a car came from behind and she could hear it slow behind her as the driver eased off the gas to take in the sights. It still hadn't caught up to her when they made the next left turn, but Megan could see that the car was still on the other side of the center line and now had two more vehicles dawdling behind it. She could now see all six of the trailing mailgirls and the security car which was keeping pace with the last of them.