Office Discipline

'Do you know why we've called you in here?' My boss Elizabeth asked me, with a stern look on her face. She was probably in her late thirties, with a decent figure and dyed blonde hair. She was usually fairly jovial, and she got on well with the people under her in the office. Today she looked a lot more stern than I'd ever seen her.

'I do not, no,' I responded hesitantly.

Elizabeth looked to her left at her colleague, Christina from our London office. Christina had been reading from a file when I walked in and still hadn't looked up. I knew her face from inter-office emails but we'd never met. Now I could see she was a petite woman with slightly Asian features. She was wearing a green business suit, which screamed 'person in charge'. She looked as stern as Elizabeth.

'We have called you here because,' she paused, turning back to me and sweeping a lock of her blonde hair from her face, 'We've been looking through the stats for each of our salespeople, and it appears your numbers are well below where we expect them to be.'

Shit. I'd been rumbled. I admit, I'd slacked somewhat recently. It's just so disheartening trying to flog crap to people who neither want or need it. It was easier to sit in my cubicle and play mobile games while pretending to do my job.

Trouble was, I'd just taken a hit in the flat. Several important and very expensive repairs had just damaged my overdraft. I really couldn't afford to get fired right now.

'Simon, is there anything you want to tell us? Any problems with your home or work environment that you want to tell us about that might explain your performance lately?'

I should have lied. I should have invented an elderly sick relative that was my sole responsibility to look after, or a traumatic breakup with a much-loved fictional girlfriend, or a dead pet or something.

'No.' I said meekly.

'Please remove your jacket.' Christina said. The first words I'd heard her speak since I entered.

'Excuse me?' I asked, shaken by the apparent interruption.

Elizabeth leaned across the desk and lowered her voice.

'Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to ask the questions to try and figure out a way to improve your Performance. Christina isn't convinced by your commitment to the company, so she's going to ask you to do some things for her and she expects you to perform those actions without question or hesitation. That I have to explain this to you is probably seen as a negative.'

She sat back. I stood and removed my jacket. I stood holding it, not sure how to proceed. Christina finally looked up at me. She raised her eyebrows and nodded to the corner of the room behind me. I looked over my shoulder, and sure enough there was a coat rack with two clearly feminine coats on it. Walked over and hung my jacket on one of the two remaining hooks. I retook my seat.

'Thank you Simon,' Elizabeth said when I was comfortable again, 'Now, how would you describe your performance over the last few months?'

I wasn't sure how to respond. I'd been slacking, but I was sure I wasn't the worst performing member of our small regional office.

'I feel I have performed my duties with a relative degree of success,' I cleared my throat before continuing, 'I didn't feel like I was performing worse than any of my colleagues.' I coughed again.

'You appear to have a dry mouth. Go and get yourself some water.' Christina said, betraying no concern for my welfare in the way she spoke. I looked at Elizabeth, who nodded almost imperceptibly. I got up and tried not to hurry out of the door and down the corridor to the water cooler. I filled a paper cup and downed the lot. I filled another and headed back to the manager's office.

I knocked, waited to be called, re-entered the room and took my seat.

'Now Simon,' Elizabeth said calmly, 'We have discussed your record and it doesn't make pretty reading. You've been dead last in sales for three of the five quarters you've been with us. We are a small office, and we can't afford to be carrying any passengers.'

I was so fired. I nodded, accepting my fate.

'There are some at head office who would like to see you gone.' Elizabeth continued, 'I however, see you every day and I know you have the potential to be doing better than you are. Christina has come down today to assess how much you want this job. Convince her and you stay. If she isn't convinced there's not a lot I can do for you. Do you understand?'

'I do.'

'Good. Do as she says and you'll be fine.'

I nodded again, and Elizabeth sat back, looking at her colleague sitting next to her.

Christina had been looking down at her notepad writing throughout all of this. She finished her sentence and looked up at me.

'Take off your shirt.'

'Excuse me?' I asked, stunned.

Christina sat back in her chair and stared back at me, not saying a word. I looked at Elizabeth.

'The situation has been clearly explained to you. If you will not, or cannot follow simple instructions then I fear your time with us is at an end.'

Christina closed her notebook and looked as though she was prepared to leave.

'Wait, wait wait!' I stammered. I stood up and unbuttoned my shirt. I took it and hung it over my jacket. I returned to my seat.

'Good,' Elizabeth said as Christina opened her notebook again, 'I'm glad it's sunk in.'

Not knowing what to say, I just nodded.

'So why is it do you think,' Elizabeth continued, 'you aren't performing to standards?'

'I don't know. I have followed all the training I have been given. People just aren't buying.'

'Your colleagues seem to manage.'

'I can't speak for my colleagues.'

Christina looked up. Take off your shoes and socks. I did so, and lay them next to the coat rack. I padded back to my seat in my bare feet and sat down.

'How do you think you are going to improve?' Elizabeth asked. 'If you haven't achieved results thus far. How exactly can you expect to reach your targets?'

'I guess I can try and be more forceful. Be less willing to accept no for an answer.'

'You guess?' Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.

Christina piped up again. 'Take off your trousers.'

I glanced at Elizabeth, but did as I was told. I folded them and placed them on the floor by the coat rack. Now clad in just my tight briefs, I faced the two women again. I wished I hadn't worn the bright red pair today.

'You're going to have to do better than guessing. Why have you been so willing to accept no as an answer?'

I coughed. My throat was dry again. I reached for my water, but there was only a dribble left.

'I uh,' I began but coughed again. 'I guess I feel sorry for people...' I trailed off before coughing again.

'Please Simon,' Christina said, 'Go and get yourself another cup of water.'

I rose from my seat. I headed to the coat rack and reached for my shirt.

'Please Simon, we don't have all day. Go and get your water and we can get on with this.'

My shoulders sagged, and I opened the door to the corridor. I hoped nobody would be there. I was in luck, the place was empty. I waited for the door to close behind me and I near enough ran to the water cooler and downed another cup. I filled it yet again and set off back to the office.

There was someone coming! Dammit, there was nowhere to hide. I tried to think but in a second, the other person rounded the corner and stopped dead.

It was Amanda, Elizabeth's PA. She was roughly my age, early twenties and she definitely kept herself in shape. I'd heard her talking about her gym obsession with colleagues. She held a stack of paper in both hands, presumably for photocopying. There was an awkward silence.

'Hi,' she said.

'Hi,' I replied.

'Having the old poor performance meeting?' She asked, tossing her long red hair out of her face. She had a shock of vibrant red hair, too bright to be natural I thought. And I had thought, on lonely nights about finding out if it was natural or not. Knowing I had masturbated thinking about this woman was not helping my current situation.

'Yeah. How did you?' I asked, but was cut off.

'You're not the first, won't be the last. You'd better get back. They won't like to be kept waiting.'

'Thanks. ' I said setting off again.

'No problem. I'll be seeing you later.'

I hurriedly went back to the office. I placed my cup on the desk and went to sit, but my chair was gone. I remained standing. I had no choice.

'Please keep your hands by your sides.' Christina said. Subconsciously I'd let my hands drop to cover the bulge in the front of my pants. I did as I was told.

'I fear,' Elizabeth said, 'We've been too lenient with you. We've not pushed you, and you've become ill-disciplined. We are going to conduct some exercises designed to improve your competence, your desire to achieve and your teamwork.'

I didn't like the sound of 'teamwork' but I didn't interrupt.

'Turn around.' Christina said. I did so. 'Take off your underwear.'

I hesitated. I couldn't not.

I heard the sound of a chair moving and I snapped out of it. I dropped my pants. I bared my behind to my boss, and to her boss. I really hadn't expected my day to go this way. I held my underwear in my hands and folded them. Instinctively I looked to where I'd left the rest of my clothes. They weren't there.

I heard a buzz. 'Mandy,' Elizabeth said, 'Please step into my office.' That must have been the intercom.

Fuck.

The door opened and Amanda stepped in. She ignored me and looked towards the desk.

'Please relieve Simon of his final hindrance and return to your workstation.'

Silently Amanda nodded and stepped towards me. I handed her my underwear and she left the room. Did she glance at my dick as she took them? I couldn't tell. There may have been a flicker in her eyes.

As yet the two remaining women in the office hadn't seen my full shame. Just the full moon.

'I hope the significance of this isn't lost on you.' Christina said. 'You are being watched, all the time. You cannot hide anything from us. Your time in this building, is our time. If you don't perform to expectations, you can expect punishment. Don't just stare at the floor.'

I looked up again. Directly at the blank wall.

'Turn around.'

I did. Without hesitation, and keeping my hands at my sides. I had come this far. I was humiliated, but I wasn't going to lose my job after all of it.

'Good. You can follow instructions.'

I looked at my tormentors. They were both gazing down at my crotch. I was painfully aware that my dick was rock hard. I didn't dare look anywhere other than straight ahead.

'Well,' said Elizabeth when she finally looked back up to my face again, 'Now we move on to the exercise.'

Exercise? What else could these women do to me? Was I about to get raped or something? Wasn't this humiliation enough?

There was a telephone on the desk, which Elizabeth unplugged. She slid the unit across the desk to me.

'We're going to role play for a bit,' Elizabeth continued. You are going to pick up that phone, and try and sell your product to me.'

I won't bore you with the details, but I picked up the phone and pretended to dial. I followed the script we'd all been given and forced to memorise. Elizabeth responded to every line with the usual push-back we get in most cold-calls we make. In the end I was forced to concede that I hadn't made a sale and put the phone down. Christina glared at me.

'Why do you think we are doing this exercise?' She asked.

'To prove I can make sales. To prove I can do this job.' I replied.

'That's part of it. You can't just reel off a list of rehearsed lines and expect to get anywhere. You have to feel each call. Ignore what your situation is, blank out everything around you and make the sale. All through that I could see how nervous you are. You were standing still, but your penis was bouncing up and down like a yo-yo. We're going to do this again, and this time you're going to do it better. Use your energy, nervous or otherwise. Move around, feel the call, feed the conversation and make the sale.'

She glared at me for a good few seconds before adding, 'Go on, make the call.'

I did. And it went a lot better. I moved around. Despite what they said, I couldn't entirely ignore the two women in the room, especially as I was having a conversation with one of them and the other was just staring at my cock wherever it went. It was better, but I still didn't make the sale.

When I was done Elizabeth said, 'Thank you Simon. We will now deliberate and come to a decision. Please wait outside and we will call you back in when we are ready.'

I tried to ask for something to put on while I was waiting, but I was cut off. 'Now, Simon.' Elizabeth said with a stern look. I decided not to argue, and prayed nobody would be outside. Amanda was outside.

Not surprising really, her desk was in full view of Elizabeth's door and she was sat at it as she always was. She smiled at me.

'How's it going?' She asked as backed up against the wall and I tried my best to cover my erection with my hands.

'Not great.' I said. You probably know this already.

'You never know. Most times it's a warning. Very few people get canned after the first naked episode. It's nice that I get a dick to look at this time though. Too many tits for my liking recently.'

I gawked at her. This had happened to other people? I didn't get the chance to ask any follow-ups as the intercom buzzed and Elizabeth asked Amanda to send me back in.

Elizabeth gestured for me to resume my position. I stood, hands by my side not wanting to risk being reprimanded again. Christina was packing away her things.

'We have decided that for now we will put a pin in the issue.' Elizabeth said, 'We will allow you to continue in your current role and we will re-evaluate in two weeks. Christina will come back and we will have another chat at that point and see how you are doing.'

'Thank you.' I said, not knowing what else to say.

Christina stood up and Elizabeth followed suit. The former walked around the desk and held out her hand to me. I shook it, confused.

'It was nice meeting you Simon.' She said, before wafting past me in a haze of perfume and leaving the room.

I turned back to Elizabeth. 'That'll be all. You can retrieve your clothes from Amanda and return to your desk.'