Nude on the Job

"So, I'll write up a bid and drop off a copy for you. OK?

"Sure."

"Oh, thanks, Tank, you're a peach to let me learn more on this side of the business," I smiled as I gave him a tiny hug.

"I know you'll do a good job. Take care, Lucy. Call if you have any questions."

Tank

Lucy seemed overjoyed with the prospect of doing an evaluation and a bid. It was a simple little one, but one I knew she could easily handle. And it was time she started learning the bidding side of things by herself. It would actually help me a ton as I could still be at the cabin while she engaged in a client interaction and did the planning and executing.

What surprised me was the little hug at the end. I'm usually not a real touchy-feely kind of guy. I know some people are, but I'm not. And wow, that little hug felt real good. It lasted three seconds at most, but I could feel her breasts up against my chest and her body up against mine for a fleeting second. Nice.

But I realized I needed to quit thinking about that, though. It's never, ever a good idea to mess with an employee. It can only lead to trouble. And when such a relationship inevitably comes to an end, you've got one pissed-off employee who could easily go to a lawyer and make your life hell and ruin your reputation in the community. Nope. I was going to forget that little hug, write it off as a touchy-feely girly thing and get on with my work.

Lucy

Mrs. Patelli was a sweet, little old lady. Actually, she wasn't that old, but it seemed life had not been kind to her. She was timid and appeared frightened when she opened the door. I introduced myself, gave her a business card and she invited me in. After I reviewed the entire situation, including the fact she still had some good paint, I gave her a low-ball estimate and started to work. By noon it was all repaired, textured and primed and all I needed to do was paint. I promised her I'd be back the next day to finish the job.

Tank

I didn't hear from Lucy all day and wondered a bit what was going on. I was able to do the painting, finish the cabinet and apply the first coat of stain. Bill came by and was delighted with the work. I told him I needed to return the next day to apply one final coat of stain and the job would be finished. We talked a little bit about the insurance payments and we agreed the resort would pay me and look to their insurance for reimbursement. I like that the best. I hate dealing with insurance claims. Just hate it. Nothing but paperwork hassles and the insurance companies always seem to find a reason not to pay the fair amont.

Once I got back to the office, I could tell Lucy had been there so I called her.

"Hi, Tank. What's up?"

"Just checking in. How'd your bidding visit with Mrs. Patelli go?"

"Tank, she's a sweetheart and is clearly poor as a church mouse. I used old supplies to repair the hole and tomorrow I'll paint. Turns out she has a can of the original paint so I'll do the one wall."

"You mean you did the work? Already?" I asked astonished.

"Yeah, sure, why not? Easy as can be."

"I thought you wanted the day off. Felt bad about even asking you to go out for the estimate."

"This was fun and I liked helping her. I figure, allowing for drying time, I'll need another couple of hours tomorrow, that's all."

"Now, you say she's sweet and doesn't seem to have any money."

"Yeah, that's the idea I got. The official bid would be for just my labor."

"OK, so here's the deal. You give her a couple of our cards and ask her to tell her friends about us, but you won't charge her for your time."

"Tank, that is so sweet of you. I know she'll be thrilled."

"That doesn't mean you won't get paid. You still give me your hours, OK?"

"But that means you get nothing..."

"The goodwill from a nice little lady will pay us back ten-fold, I promise you. Oh, and don't forget the final inspection at the resort the next day."

"How are they going to get an inspector out there? You know, nude?"

"I don't know, but at least one of us has gotta be there."

"Hey, why don't we both go? You know, a good-bye kind of thing."

"OK, I'll meet you at the office at nine am. Enjoy your time with Mrs. Patelli. Oh, and, Luce? Thanks for doing it. Nice of you."

"Hey, no big deal. What are you doing tomorrow?"

I told her I had to finish at the resort, put in a couple of bids and take care of some monthly paperwork. Once I hung up, I couldn't help thinking about her. I had just asked her to pay a visit and get the ball rolling yet she took the bull by the horns and practically had the job done. Lucy was turning into a great assistant; one I was glad to have.

Lucy

My return visit to Mrs. Patelli was quick and easy. I painted the new section with one coat and while it was drying, I masked and taped the end of the room. Afterwards, I took her paint and rolled a layer over the entire wall. It looked great, if I have to say so myself. After I was done, she came to me with an anxious look.

"Honey, how much do I owe you?"

"Well, Mrs. Patelli, tell you what. There was no cost for the supplies. So, all we have is my time. And I talked to my boss last night and he told me that I was not to charge you for my time. Take some of our cards and if you would tell your friends about us, that would be plenty."

She started to cry and I ended up hugging her until she settled down. She insisted on giving me a dozen cookies she had baked the night before and I promised to share them with Tank. As I drove away I had a good feeling about how my work helped a frightened, little old lady.

Tank

We drove out to the resort for the last time to walk through the site with an inspector. Lucy and I drove up to the little shack and hopped out to undress. By then we were comfortable with the process and were on our way in no time. Once we were there we had to wait until the inspector arrived. I was curious how they would handle the nudity bit. It turns out she, yes, it was a she, was a member of the resort. Shortly after we got there, Ms. Saunders drove up and hopped out. I had met her on previous inspections and she was totally fair with them. She was in her late forties, I would guess, and she was actually quite attractive. She had a few pounds too many on her ass but had nice looking breasts.

Lucy and I told her there had been no major structural, plumbing or electrical repairs and showed her what we had done. She nodded, signed off on the form in no time at all and took off for her office in town.

I took a few 'after' photos for my records and we headed back out to the truck.

"Tank, if you're not too busy, wanna walk around and see what else they've got here?" Lucy asked me.

"Uh, I guess we could. I've got nothing else to do today so let's relax."

We strolled around the main portion of the campus and checked out all the amenities. They had a pool, a putt-putt golf course and a large community center. We walked around the lake and met several people. One couple stopped us and asked if we were new members. We told them we weren't and we'd repaired a damaged cabin.

"You two should join us. It looks like you are comfortable with naturism and we always could use more couples."

"Oh, we're not a couple," said Lucy. "He's my boss."

"I see, and if you were a couple, you'd be the boss," the man laughed at Lucy.

"Hey!" his wife said as she playfully slapped him, "Be nice, now."

A bit later on the trail I noticed Lucy slowing down a bit before she stopped and turned to me. "Tank, ever think of joining?"

"No. Not really. I've gotten used to this, I guess, but it's still not for me."

"I could consider it, but it's not such a big attraction that I'd join. Let's head out. I think I owe you a lunch, seeing as how you paid me for Mrs. Patelli's work."

Lucy

After that we were fortunate to have been selected for a couple of larger projects. One was a fairly big kitchen remodel in an older home. Those can't be bid on because with old homes you never know what you might find and what needs to be redone. Tank gives an estimate of cost for materials for the basic job and an estimate for labor. However, those contracts all state extra costs should be expected and any additional work will be approved by the owner unless it is a code issue, in which case we do the job and add the cost in at the end. All of this makes my head spin sometimes and I'm glad Tank is the one who has to deal with that.

The other job was next door to Linda's place. Tank was almost ready to not even bid when I convinced him he needed to.

"Shit, Tank, so Linda lives next door. It's not like you'll have to see her all the time. And we need the work."

He finally agreed and that bid was accepted as well. We now had two jobs going so he planned for us to review both jobs in the morning and potentially split up. I might end up doing several hours alone at one site while he was at the other.

That was how I ended up running into Linda. I was at the Wikkenheim place next to hers and was running supplies and equipment to the garage attic they wanted to convert to a NetBnB unit. Tank and I had cleared it all out the day before and I was responsible for the final demolition of the walls so the electrician and plumber could come in.

On my third or fourth trip to my car, I heard a voice call out, "Uh, Lucy, uh, your name's Lucy, right?"

I stopped and turned to see Linda. It's a small town and I'm sure she knew who I was but I wanted to be as polite as possible. "Yeah, I'm Lucy, work for Tank. How are you, Linda?"

"Not so great. You may have heard that Tank and I kinda broke up."

"Yeah, he briefly mentioned it. Sorry to hear it."

"Did he tell you anything about it?"

"Not much. He was kinda down and pretty much stayed to himself for the day or so afterwards. Why?"

"I think I may have misread things. Uh, what's your relationship with him, if I may ask?"

"Sure. He's my boss. End of story."

"You and he have never, uh, uh..."

"If you're asking if we have a thing going on, the answer is 'no.' Tank is my boss, he's always been a gentleman and on a few occasions when we've worked late or had a stressful day, well we've been known to grab a beer or burger together."

"I, uh, someone saw your car outside the office one night and I may have jumped to conclusions."

"Yeah, you did. We'd had a crazy day at work and instead of the usual one beer, we had two. I'm a lightweight with alcohol so I asked him to drive me home. He dropped me off there and picked me up the next morning."

"So, uh, nothing happened?"

"Nope. Nothing."

"Now I'm embarrassed. I accused him of, you know..."

"Look, Linda, I really gotta get back to work. But I'll tell you this. Tank is a great guy. He works hard. He's a fair boss. And I like him as a person. But he's never hit on me, not once. So, see you around. OK?"

She took the dismissal politely and I got back to work. That evening I talked to Tank by phone and didn't mention my meeting Linda.

Tank

I was excited to be able to work two jobs at once. That way if a sub or supplies were delayed, we could easily spend our time working on the other job and not twiddle our thumbs. That evening I spoke with Lucy about what she had done at the garage job and what was planned on the kitchen job the next day.

Then I got a call on my land line from Linda.

"Hey, Linda. What's up?"

"Tank, I've called to apologize."

"What for?"

"I so much as accused you of sleeping with Lucy and I now realize I was wrong."

Although she was being contrite, it kind of pissed me off she obviously didn't believe me when I told her the truth. "Well, great, glad to hear that. Why do you realize it now and why didn't you believe me sooner?"

"I have to confess that I talked to Lucy today. She told me nothing happened that night before she went on to say what a great boss you are."

"Checking out my story, Linda? Look, it's clear you didn't believe me and yet you suggested that maybe our relationship was destined to get stronger. How can that happen when you don't trust your partner?"

"Tank, I realize I was wrong and I'm apologizing. Please, let me do that much."

"Linda, you've apologized. Thank you. Now I need to get back to some paperwork."

"OK, Tank. I'll let you get to it. Before I go, uh, would you maybe, like to come over for dinner, just dinner so we can chat some more?"

I took a deep breath and counted to ten before I answered, "Ahh, I think it would probably not be a good idea. It was clear we had different ideas about us and now with this lack of trust, well, it'd be too uncomfortable. I'm not mad, Linda, and let's be friendly acquaintances when we meet. But I think we need to each go our own way. OK?"

"I guess so. Thank you for talking with me, Tank. See you around," she said quickly with a little sob and hung up the phone.

Her little call actually upset me. A lot. I thought we had split, then she checks up on my story, apologizes and tries to get us together again. I'm willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, but trust is the one issue that has to be there beforehand. No trust? Then no benefit of the doubt. Simple as that. I was unable to concentrate on the paperwork so I shitcanned it for the night and watched an old movie on the tube until I fell asleep.

Lucy

Tank was obviously upset or deep in thought most of the next morning. He was perfectly polite and discussed our work as we went through each task but there wasn't any of the fun and teasing which had become our normal way of interacting. At lunch he was pretty quiet and I was dying to know why, but I kept my mouth shut. By quitting time, I was pretty tired and didn't relish the thought of fixing my meal so I asked him if he'd drive through The Burger Barn so I could pick up a to-go meal.

"I'll do you one better. Let's eat there together," he suggested.

"OK, but I sure hope you are a bit more talkative than you've been today."

"I will be. I promise. In fact, I kinda want to talk with you about something."

It actually worried me a bit but I kept my mouth shut until we were sitting across the table and a pile of food was between us. After my first few bites of a juicy, world-class burger, I was feeling better so I decided to ask him what was on his mind.

"Yeah, sorry I've not been more upbeat, but something happened last night that bugged me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Linda called. She was pushing for us to get together again. Said she'd talked with you and..."

"Wait, Tank, if you're upset with me I can explain."

"No, no. I'm not upset with you. I'm kinda upset with her and me both, really. I am glad you told her nothing happened that night. It seemed to reassure her, but then she was angling for a dinner, and, you know..."

"What'd you say?"

"I told her 'No.' I see no reason to get back together with someone who doesn't trust me when I say something. So, I was upset with her."

"Why are you upset with you?"

"I was pretty blunt, I guess. I didn't dance around the issue of her not trusting me. Anyway, she started to cry when she hung up. And I hate it when women cry, dammit. Maybe I need to apologize."

"Oh, Tank, no, don't apologize. You did nothing wrong. She was the one who accused you of sleeping with me and she was the one who parted ways. When she wanted to get back together, you said 'No.' I see nothing wrong in what you did. And if she's that insecure, would you ever want to get into a long-term relationship with her?"

"No, I guess not. I thought we were just having a few laughs together, some fun sex, you know. And you were right. She was looking at it with a longer-term commitment in mind, I see it now."

"Ah ha! Your little helper gal knows a thing or two, huh? Admit it!" I teased.

"Luce, you know a hell of a lot. I can't believe how lucky I was when you applied for the job. Things have been so much better since then." He looked me right in the eyes and went on. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Wow. That sounded, oh, I don't know, really deep. It was almost like there was a second meaning to his words. But Tank had never, not even once, tried to put a move on me. I knew that was basic labor management rule number one. You don't shit where you eat. You don't sleep with your bosses or employees. So maybe he was only talking about the work aspect, but it sounded like something more and it did make my heart beat a tiny bit faster.

I didn't know what to say so I tried to make a little joke about it. "I guess you owe me a beer," I chuckled.

"Done, and I'll have one, too."

With the beer we relaxed a bit more and eventually we ended up joking and teasing each other. It seemed like the old Tank was coming back.

Tank

I felt a lot better after that evening. Lucy was friendly, funny and a good person to talk with. For the next few weeks, we made very good headway on the two jobs. On one slow day I sent her out to collect the info for two other bids. You would have thought I'd given her the moon but I knew she had an excellent head on her shoulders. She had mastered theBid-All computer program and when she gave me the details and her estimates, she was spot on. When one customer accepted her bid, she was in hog heaven, particularly since I'd never even been out to the site. I was a bit nervous about it, but once I saw the work that needed to be done, I realized she nailed it. I let her take the lead on the job and she actually was the one to direct things, arrange for supplies and subs and she even told me to take care of things that needed to be done. By the time we, that is she, finished, it was apparent she was a great 'boss' as well as a great employee.

I invited her out to a 'business dinner' at a local steak house one Thursday evening. Over our drinks and dinner, I told her how proud I was of her work and how I was going to pay her extra for the job. She beamed like a kid who had his first base hit in Little League.

I went on, "Luce, I'd like to make a proposal, a business proposition. We can quite do well when we run two or three little jobs simultaneously and with your new skills, you could be running more of them. Ah, so, what I'm proposing is we split all the bidding fifty-fifty. Any that you win, you're in charge and I become your assistant. And any that I win, you're my assistant. And the job boss takes all the profit from the job for pay and the assistant gets the standard union wage. What daya think?"

"Tank, that would be a huge raise for me. Are you sure you can afford it? I mean, you'd probably be earning less."

"I doubt it. With more work, better efficiency and less down time, I think we'd both be doing just fine. We'd have to figure out how to split office expenses, but that isn't much. If you're interested, I'll have Jeb draw up an outline of a partnership deal and you can review it."

"Partnership? Tank, did you say partnership?"

"Yeah, I did."

"But usually when there are partnerships, the new guy, or in this case the new girl, has to buy into the deal. I don't think I can afford to..."

"No buy-in. Look, this business is worth only its reputation. I'm giving you the opportunity to work more, earn more, get more respect for your work."

"What do you get out of the deal?"

"I get someone I can work with and work with well and get her shoes nailed to the floor so she doesn't take off, move or go to the competition."

"Tank, I'd never do that."

"Yeah, well your boyfriend a while back moved and there's always the possibility you'd find someone and take off. This way you've got a real good incentive to stay."

"I love my job. I don't think there's a guy on the planet who could take me from here. Really."

"Well, the deal's still on the table. I'll let Jeb know to pencil things out and I'll get you a copy."