The Estate - Day 03.4

Julien opened the door to the Tech office and found the lights off. He turned them on and made his way into his office. He put his stuff on the credenza and started his computer. As it was booting up he made his way to the server room. There was really nothing to see, but he felt more comfortable doing a visual inspection of the room and equipment just in case.

He saw some movement in the bullpen area through the glass. He finished his morning inspection and found nothing out of the ordinary before he made his way out of the server room.

Harold was the first one there as usual and he saw Julien coming toward him from across the bullpen area and called out, "I didn't hear from you after lunch, I assume everything went well?"

Harold was not an attractive person. There are a couple of stereotypical Information Technology kinds of guys, Harold was the very white, well fed, nice guy with the shy personality and struggling mustache kind. Harold was a really nice guy and actually very sensitive to the needs of other people. He was the best kind of person to work the Help Desk and that was one of the many reasons why Julien had made him the Service Desk supervisor.

Julien replied as he got closer, "Harold, everything went far better than I could have hoped. I met her family and she met mine. Turns out her Bother Antonio is engaged to my Sister. They announced their plans to get married at lunch yesterday."

Harold had an excellent phone persona and knew all of the user facing systems inside and out. He also took good care of his team of call takers like they were his family. Harold was Julien's best friend and had been for a very long time. They even attended college together. If they were any closer they would be brothers.

Julien paused, looked at the naked woman on Harold's desktop. Since they were all adults, all worked naked together and some form of sexual activity could be seen at The Estate on a daily, if not hourly basis, Julien allowed pornography to be displayed openly provided it was not violent, not too graphic and represented legal activities. He also made sure everyone knew that if they saw something they did not like, they were to tell him and he would make sure it was removed.

Julien also make sure that everyone understood his opinion on being offended or politically correct; being offended by something or someone was their internal issue and really did not need to be aired publicly. They were more than welcome to discuss their concerns with him, but he would not allow personal or religious preferences to interfere with the operations of his department.

No one had complained about Michele's rotating display of naked men and no one had complained about Harold's rotating set of naked women. Most everyone enjoyed looking at Frank's personal collection of nudists he had taken when he was younger and shared on his screen. They especially liked that he had a story behind just about every picture that rotated across his screen.

Julien was momentarily distracted by the current image on Harold's desktop as the woman's breasts were quite large and reminded him of Angela. He gazed at the picture for a moment and then returned his attention to Harold and casually said, "Angela and I are engaged too."

Harold had a shocked look on his face and said, "NO WAY!"

Julien could not stop smiling as he said, "Harold, she really loves me and... she is A.S.S. She's the one that keeps toping my scores in the arcade. We raced on that game you gave me last night and... I've never seen it happen before, but we tied."

Harold replied, "That's impossible. That game measures down to like a hundredth of a second. There is no way you two tied."

Mike and Michele opened the door and Mike asked, "Who did you tie up this time Julien?"

Mike and Michele were the senior technicians and oversaw deskside support. They were a brother and sister team and even though they were lovers too, and just about everyone in the IT department had caught them in the act at one time or another, they did try to be discrete with their personal satisfaction activities and they worked amazingly well together.

Mike was as tall as Julien and even though they could see eye to eye physically, they rarely saw eye to eye on too many other things. There was a lot of conflict between them, but there was also a lot of professional respect. Julien gave Mike the freedom to express his opinion, but Mike respected Julien enough to follow his direction once he gave it, even when Mike did not agree with it one hundred percent.

His sister Michele was the polar opposite of any concept one might have for a female tech. Her long blond hair, shapely figure and her lack of tan lines made her look like a doll or a beach bunny, not one of the smartest and quickest thinking techs Julien had ever met. He was amazed at her near total recall and her ability to do complex math problems in her head. He found those features more attractive than her well-proportioned body and perfect 34D breasts.

Harold excitedly said, "Julien and Angela are engaged and they tied racing that game I gave Julien."

Michele said, "No way. That's not possible. That game measures down to like a hundredth of a second."

Harold raised his hands in surprise and said, "That's what I said."

Michele and Julien dated for a while, she even came over for family night once. But, she was just not ready for a committed relationship. She knew that Julian had a crush on her; just about every man in the department did at one time or another. She also knew her Brother would do anything for her, so she was comfortable being single... for now.

Michele was also one of the best cellist Julien had ever heard and next to Harold, one of his closest friends. It was her who continued to encourage Julien to pursue Angela and he had her to thank for finding the love of his life. Michele had been willing to try bondage with him and his family and she said she had enjoyed it, but it was not something she was willing to do every day. Julien respected her for her honesty and that she was willing to experiment with his lifestyle said a lot about her as a person.

Fiona overheard the conversation when she walked in and Harold said, "Julien's engaged!"

Fiona responded saying, "That's wonderful. Are you two the ones getting married today?"

Fiona was the youngest member of Julien's direct reports and had recently started as the departmental assistant and floater. She was good at her job and her bubbly personality was a great asset when dealing with users and guests, but she still had a lot to learn.

Fiona was also the shortest one in the department and she perfectly matched the idea of a female IT stereotype right down to the nerd glasses, non-existent breasts, persistent smile and the untrimmed bush between her legs that matched the short afro on her head. It was hard to tell if her dark skin was from the sun or if she was mulatto. She was smart and mechanically inclined and had several on-line certifications; she just wasn't very experienced... at least not yet.

Frank followed Fiona and in his normal petulant tone asked, "Someone's getting married?"

Frank was one of the other classic stereotypes. He was the tallest in the group. His grey curly hair and beard as well as his thin physique and grey hair on his chest and between his legs all screamed programmer. If he wore a Hawaiian shirt and shorts rather than being naked like everyone else, he would have fit the stereotype perfectly. In fact, he did anyway.

Frank was old school and he supervised the infrastructure and mid-range staff and the few legacy systems they had left. He also knew the wiring infrastructure of The Estate better than anyone. Frank and Julien had worked out a plan to phase out the last of the older mid-range systems that only he fully understood in favor of newer technologies in sync with his retirement plans. The only concern Julien had was Frank's intimate knowledge of the wiring infrastructure would be lost when he finally did retired.

Julien didn't want to lose Frank, he relied a lot on Frank's experience too much and maybe too often. He did not know a lot about Frank's private life but there was no-one with more historical knowledge or experience than Frank and Julien had learned to listen to his opinion and filter out his abrasive personality. There were few who were as private, surly or condescending as Frank either. The monthly visits to Margaret's cottage to deal with complaints about Frank were well worth having his knowledge and experience available when it was needed.

Julien put up his hands and waved everyone closer. He looked around at his staff and smiled. He had assembled a really good team. He still had a couple of open requisitions to fill out the entire IT staff, but his core of team leads and supervisors were really good at what they did. They were also his friends.

Julien lowered his hand and said, "I was not planning a staff meeting but I do have some things I would like to share. As you all know I value honesty and open direct communication. In that vein I would like to announce that the woman you all have helped me pursue has been captured and we are planning on getting married in the spring. Yes; we are already engaged."

Everyone applauded and Mike whistled. Michele's turned a little paler, but did not say anything or change the expression on her face as she quietly clapped.

Julien was grinning from ear to ear as he continued, "I can honestly say I could not have pushed myself to talk with her let alone have lunch with her family without the help of all of you, especially Michele. Thank you Michele. I also don't think we will be getting too many more calls to the medical office. Turns out she's may be qualified to do some of our jobs. She was a team lead in the IT department at a local airline before working here and changing her career to medicine. I would like to suggest that when she visits, which I hope will be often, you treat her as one of us. Not because she's my fiancé, but because she really is an IT person behind that medical façade she's taken on."

Julien looked at Mike and Michele as he said, "Most of you know the lifestyle my family enjoys and I am happy to say she has embraced it too. It's new to her, but not only did she enjoy herself, but believe it or not, so did her parents, siblings and her Uncle. I cannot tell you all how happy I am today and I fully expect to get very little done as my mind is already wandering and my emotional state is very distracting."

Julien paused, took a breath and said, "So... before you try and take advantage of my good mood, no you can't have new workstations, no Mike you can't get your own cart and no Fiona we don't need to replace the photocopier. I'm happy and distracted, not totally out of my mind."

Everyone laughed as Julien continued and said, "I do have a couple of changes I would like to make. First, I'm removing myself from the medical wing deskside support queue. Mike, Michele, thank you for indulging me and I am still available to provide deskside support when you need an extra hand and I am working to fill the open reqs we have for more deskside techs and a full time network architect."

Mike nodded. Michele forced a smile.

Julien looked at Harold and said, "Harold, I want you to work with Michele and create a level 1.5 plan. I had an idea while... I was not getting a lot of sleep last night, and I would like you two to explore ways of moving the more complex issues to a level of support between the call takers and the deskside techs. It may be a way to ease the workload on the level two techs. Come up with some hot-swap or hot stand-by ideas for the more qualified techs and a cross-training plan. Let's discuss more next week."

Michele nodded and continued to force a smile as Harold wrote down a couple of notes.

Julien looked over and slightly up at Frank and asked, "Frank, I want you to start including Fiona in your staff meetings and work out a training plan for her on the HR software and the phone systems. Move forward with her being your backup for the communication systems and work toward the goal of her implementing the next software update to the HR system, or the one after that; under your direct oversight."

He then looked at Fiona and said, "This is going to mean some strange hours for you and you will be required to crawl into and out of some... interesting places. The phone block on the back side of the Villa is particularly challenging to get to. I don't have a problem with variable hours as long as you meet your goals and objectives. Will that be an issue for you and are you claustrophobic?"

Fiona replied, "No Julien, I don't have family here, and no boyfriend, yet, so I've got a lot more free time than I know what to do with. I used to play under my Mom's trailer when I was a little kid and I love spelunking, so, no, I don't have a problem with small spaces. Sounds like an adventure to me."

Frank retorted, "I hope you get along better with the raccoons than I do."

Fiona looked at Frank with large eyes as Julien tried to move on ignoring Frank's comment saying, "Great, Fiona, as you move forward working with Frank, I would like you to make sure at least two hours out of your day is in the office during first shift... Ok last item... The Wedding. I'm expecting one or more calls to support setting up and tearing down any AV resources they are going to need. Harold, please send out a notice too everyone except the fourth shift team letting them know they are all on-call today. Also call up the latest version of our special events procedures and send out copies to everyone. Harold will be the event focal and Fiona will be his backup. I expect that Michele and I will be asked to help with the music so we may not be available today."

Before Julien could continue Harold's phone rang. Harold put on his headset and said, "Service Desk, how can I help you?"

He had a brief, and as usual, a very professional conversation and then turned back to Julien and said, "Wedding initialization has begun" he said with a smile then continued, "Marcus is asking us to help setup a platform, speakers and music in the field. We also need to setup the Pavilion for a reception and a DJ. He also wants us to send out an email invite and update the guest displays with the wedding details."

Julien said, "Ok everyone, we've done this before. The wedding is priority one today. Call in whatever resources you need. All wedding related stuff goes through Harold and Fiona you will assist him."

Julien looked at Fiona and said, "I know this is your first time, just listen in using the supervisor's headset and help Harold anyway you can."

Julien changed his focus to Harold and said, "Harold, see if you can get Sharon to make a public announcement around lunch time and add that to the next version of the event procedures document as optional."

Harold nodded and said, "You had me add that last time; it's already there."

Julien nodded then said to everyone, "I expect to be getting a call soon for me and Michele to head over to the Professor's classroom for practice. When I'm out, Frank will be in charge."

Julien looked at Frank and then around the room as he said, "Frank, be nice; and no-one let him talk to any of the guests."

Harold, Mike and Michele laughed.

Julien's desk phone rang and he ran to answer it. When he was done he hung up the phone and shut down his computer. As he stepped out of his office he said, "Michele, we've been called to the Professor's class room. Xiang wants a string quartet to play before the wedding. The Wedding itself will be over the PA."

Michele turned to kiss her brother Mike and said, "I'll go get my cello and meet you there Julien."

Julien said to Mike on his way out the door, "Feel free to call in someone to cover for her if you need to."

Julien then said, "Thank you everyone, let's hope it's a quiet and productive day, and Frank... I'm serious don't talk to any guests."

**********************

Right after they became lovers, Julien would often wake Jessamine in the morning for a quickie. They've been lovers for a long time. His persistent morning passion and penetrations had changed her body clock over time and she was now officially a morning person. For the past couple of years she was the first one in the office in the mornings, and since she started dating Antonio she had become a clock watcher in the afternoon and was normally the first to leave at the end of shift.

Jessamine was the first one in the accounting office to arrive. Felicia soon entered the office as did Agatha and Agnes. A few minutes later Edith, and a right after that Chloe. Zoe was always the last to arrive. None of the girls were very social, except Zoe. They talked pretty much out of necessity rather than social convention.

Agatha was the department manager and her lover/Sister Agnes was her second in command. They were much older than all of the other ladies in the room and were very strict as to how they wanted things done. Jessamine understood and worked well when her instructions were clear and precise. No one could ever say Agnes was not clear and precise, and Agatha had never given Jessamine a bad performance review.

Edith was responsible for accounts payable Chloe was oversaw all of the receivables. They were peas in a pod and everyone assumed they were sisters when they first met them; but they weren't. They looked and acted as if they were. Both drank the same brand of coffee, both had the exact same colored hair, cut to the same length. Both had blue eyes and pointed noses. They both had the same sized B-cup breasts. The only difference was the locations of the moles on their breasts and necks. They even had the same east coast accent and wore the same kind of gold chain around their waists. This illusion of sisterhood was further supported by the fact they were dating the same pair of twin brothers.

Zoe was the rebel in the group. She was really good at dealing with vendors and getting the best prices she could. Where Jessamine was the lead for purchase orders, Zoe was responsible for all of the large and bulk purchases was really good at finding special order items for The Estate's adult store and maintenance department. If it existed, Zoe could find it. If she could find it and it was a sex toy of some kind, she'd get one for herself and try it out.

Zoe was a self-confessed slut, whore and sex maniac. She often bragged about the number of men, and women, she had sex with the night before. If she didn't have a new sex-capade to share she would describe in detail her encounter with a new sex toy she had just tried out. There was not a lot she was not willing to do, or try when it came to pleasuring herself or her partners. She was also covered in tattoos, including a tramp stamp on her lower back that said "Insert Here" just above an arrow pointing at her ass. Her nose, tongue, both of her nipples as well as her bellybutton were pierced. The only thing missing from her "Punk-Slut" appearance was a colored Mohawk; Zoe's head was shaved clean. Her whole body was clean shaven except her pubic hair which was trimmed into the crude shape of a penis or a skull aimed at her slit.

Edith and Cloe were too cliquish for Jessamine's taste and somewhat snobbish in the way they talked about other people. Jessamine maintained a professional relationship with them, but did not socialize with them unless it was a business necessity.

Jessamine liked Zoe and considered her a friend. They would often lunch together, at least up until she started seeing Antonio. Jessamine feigned disinterest in Zoe's stories but she secretly looked forward to listening to her latest sexual encounter. Jessamine lived somewhat vicariously through her friend's adventures and they gave her some new ideas to try out on Julien in the past and now with Antonio in the future.