The Suggestion Box

[edithdick]

All good stuff, I’ve got an outline completed for the next part. I hope to have it posted this weekend! Thanks everyone for the suggestions, it’ll be very interesting to see where you guys take this story!

[edithdick]

All good stuff, I’ve got an outline completed for the next part. I hope to have it posted this weekend!

Update: due to some late responses that came in after I finished my initial outline of chapter one, I need to complete another revision because I need to set up a couple of things for chapter two.

It isn’t a lot of changes to chapter one overall, but I spent so much time planning chapter two that I’m behind schedule on writing out chapter one. That and the fact that chapter one is going to be huge, so I’ll probably release it in 4 parts to help me manage the story better.

First part is due soon!

[mikewozere]

Take your time - don't rush it

[edithdick]

Chapter One - Part One


For at least the tenth time today, Joanna found herself studying her signature on the small slip of paper that she now kept in the pen drawer in her desk. There was nothing new to be gained from looking at it, she was quite certain that it was her that had somehow signed this paper. She just didn’t understand how she made this mistake.

The suggestion was absurd, and she had no clue as to how her signature wound up approving the “Women of the workforce lingerie calendar.” When Steve first handed it to her, her first instinct was to tear it into shreds and be done with it. Fortunately, he stopped her from that. Now she kept the paper in her desk as a reminder of her own failure.

The note wasn’t the source of her troubles today. The executive meetings were now all centered on her department, and that wasn’t a good thing. Joanna scooped up the small stack of paper on her desk and slipped the note back into the drawer before locking it up and heading to the meeting that would again put her unhappily into the spotlight.

After everyone had arrived, Steve announced, “Let’s get started. What is the status of operations?”

Alex Kramer, the Chief of Operations replied, “Same as last week, if not worse. Everyone is on 4 hours of overtime per day and we are behind schedule for 60% of our orders.”

“Have we had any luck in recruiting replacements?” Steve asked.

Though not directed at Joanna, the question eventually was deferred her way. “Recruitment is stalled. For each position we have lost, we have found at least one qualified candidate, but only one in ten offer letters come back signed. The rest are asking for more money that we are currently authorized to pay.”

“How about turnover?” Steve asked.

“It’s up another 15% from last week. We are currently on pace to reach 48% of the company this year.” Joanna said.

“Any ideas on how to stem the flow?” Steve asked the room.

Joanna decided to hold her tongue on this question. The last time she spoke up it only made things worse. Instead, Onella said, “I don’t know what we can do. If we don’t fill our orders, we won’t be able to ask for payment and our staffing shortage will only get worse from there as we have mandatory layoffs.”

“We need to stop the turnover now and bring in a few more workers to catch up.” Replied Alex.

“So how do we stop it? I thought it was getting better.” Steve added.

As they began discussing ideas, Joanna stopped listening. She already knew what was causing the uptick in departures from the company, and she knew it was her own fault. Shuffling through the stack of papers that she had brought to the meeting, she interrupted Carl complaining about the number of engineers and how long it took to assemble this team to begin with.

“Each time an employee leaves, part of the exit interview involves a survey about what the company could have done better.” Joanna said. Everyone was now listening to her, so she continued. “For the past two weeks, the number one complaint and the reason stated for leaving has been a lack of trust that upper management will follow through on our promises.”

“That’s all well and good, but trust isn’t something that can be built in a day. What can we do to stop the bleeding now?” Carl asked, impatiently.

Though Carl didn’t address Onella directly, everyone was looking to her to solve that issue. She had already laid out that there was no money for blanket raises, and that wasn’t about to change. Instead, Joanna answered, “Trust can’t be earned in a day, that is true. It can be lost in a day, however. And I have to take some responsibility for this problem.”

“You?” Asked Steve. Though Onella had nodded, and the others listened in silence. How did you break their trust?”

“The suggestion box was my idea, and I’m the one who signs off on the suggestions. When one ‘Approved’ suggestion went missing, we had an almost immediate uptick in employees turning in their notice.” She told them.

“The calendar?” Steve asked. “Is there any chance we could actually put this together?”

“It wouldn’t cost that much, less than what we spend to replace a single midline worker.” Onella said.

“We don’t have any willing models.” Joanna said sadly. That was the crux of the situation. She was certain that removing the calendar from approved suggestions was the cause of the problem, but without at least one willing model there was no way to complete it.

“Not one person has accepted?” Anna asked. The Marketing department was affected just as much as the others. Joanna shook her head.

“Obviously we can’t make anyone participate without risking a harassment suit. So without at least one volunteer, I have had to table the idea despite it being the bur in everyone’s saddle.” Joanna said. “I know it would work; I just wish I could find a single woman as committed to the idea as I am.”

Joanna was on the verge of tears. She knew it was her own fault and she felt like she was letting everyone down for her failure to find any woman on staff who would agree with her.

“Well,” Onella said flatly, “There is obviously one woman at the company who would agree with everything you’ve just said.”

Everyone else nodded in understanding except Joanna who reacted, “There’s not. I’ve asked every female employee in the company! Every one of them refused, some were quite angry about it.”

Joanna felt a tear begin to run down her left cheek. “You’re not thinking of resigning, are you?” Steve asked.

“Resign? Are you asking me to?” Joanna asked quietly.

“Of course not. You will be harder to replace than most of the people who’ve already left!” He said loudly. “I just wanted to know how you feel about it.”

Joanna had never considered resigning until Steve mentioned it. “I’m not quitting.” She assured him. “I never quit, and I never surrender. No matter what it takes, I am sticking this out until. We will turn this around. I am sure of it.”

“So…?” Steve began.

“Oh for god’s sake, are you going to model or not?” Onella demanded.

“Am I going to…” Joanna trailed off as the idea started to sink in.

“Yes, you!” Onella said. “You said yourself, you are the one person in this company who believes that this is the answer. Well prove it!”

“I hadn’t considered this.” Joanna said, embarrassed. “I don’t even own any lingerie.”

“That doesn’t matter, are you willing to model it or not?” Anna asked.

“Yes.” Joanna said quietly. “If I am the only one who will do it, then it will have to be me.” She wasn’t sure about this, but she was willing to at least try. I hope I don’t embarrass myself too much. she thought.

“Then that’s settled. What is your plan?” Steve asked, a sudden cheeriness returning to his voice for the first time in months.

“Well, now that we know we are going forward, I will repost the suggestion with a sign-up sheet for any other woman who may change her mind.” Joanna told them. “After that, I guess I’ll need to figure out how to make a calendar.”

With that the meeting was adjourned. When Joanna returned to her office, she quickly crafted a generic sign-up sheet with a title, “Any Women who would like to volunteer” and it had room for a dozen volunteers. She then pinned it up on the suggestion board with the original suggestion attached.

For the rest of the day, as word spread, dozens upon dozens of employees stopped by to verify the rumor that the suggestion was back on the board. A weight had been lifted off of Joanna’s shoulders, and a different weight was added. Am I really going though with this?

[edithdick]

Take your time - don't rush it

Thanks for the advice. Mostly I was rushing the story itself and had tried jumping straight into the calendar shoot and skipped her dilemma all together. Once I decided to slow the story down a bit it became easier to write.

Keep the suggestions coming in. I am set for the first two chapters, so it will be interesting to see how you all guide this story! 🫣

[mikewozere]

Maybe recruit some male workers to join her on the photo shoot (all in regular clothes of course), perhaps even at their regular stations(?)

[Dormouse]

Chapter One - Part One


“Obviously we can’t make anyone participate without risking a harassment suit. So without at least one volunteer, I have had to table the idea despite it being the bur in everyone’s saddle.” Joanna said. “I know it would work; I just wish I could find a single woman as committed to the idea as I am.”

Amusing point. I love words and am also interested in the differences between US and UK English. In the UK, to table something means to bring it up for immediate discussion, in the US it means to put to one side to discuss later. Apparently a number of Anglo-American committees have got very confused by this difference.

[salen]

Once the calendar comes out, suggest,

Each calendar model should take a selfie in their underwear when getting ready in the morning and send it out to current employees before coming into work that day

[edithdick]

Chapter 1 – Part 2

Joanna sat at the conference table in her office with two other women. Onella and Alice Hwang, the director of Sales Enablement.

“How about this one?” Alice asked, handing a photo of a woman wearing a skimpy looking set of lingerie. This one was red and white stripped and included a G-String bottom and the bra had a small bow nestled between the breasts. Joanna merely glanced at it before passing the photo to Onella.

She was more interested in how much skin would be revealed when wearing such an outfit than she was of the outfit itself.

“How much?” Asked Onella?

“Should be $50.” Alice said. Onella wrote it down and added it to the stack.

It had been like this the past three times they met. Alice would present a stack of pictures of women in their underwear, Onella would jot down the cost, and Joanna would wonder if she could really wear something like that where people could see her.

Within a day after reposting the Lingerie Calendar suggestion, three names appeared on the signup sheet. Onella, Alice and Miriam Brinton, the facilities manager. None of the three volunteered to be a model however.

Onella was a bit of a surprise, considering Joanna was pretty sure Onella didn’t like her. But it seemed that she wanted to make sure that this project stayed under budget. Miriam wasn’t really a candidate for being a model either. She was in her mid-50’s and was built like, well a facilities manager. She had rough hands and a strong back. If anything, her potato shaped body would probably have had a negative effect on company morale.

Alice on the other hand, looked like she had been designed by a man who loved looking at voluptuous women. Her breasts, hips and waist were perfectly proportional and her face made Joanna question her own sexuality. Not only that, but her favorite hobby seemed to be keeping up with fashion and design. That was what made her want to be part of this project. She wanted the chance to help researcher the clothes and set designs that they would use for the calendar.

As it turned out, Joanna was just as glad for this help too. She certainly had no interest in such menial knowledge, such as which clothing designer worked best for her body type and which materials would be better in the printed calendar compared to which would look better in a digital format. Joanna’s only real interest was in how much she had to expose to make this calendar work.

It wasn’t that Joanna wasn’t pretty or didn’t have a nice figure. When her son Isaac was born 15 years ago, she went on a diet and exercise binge to bring the baby weight back to her pre-pregnancy state. After that, she just kept it up and now spend a minimum of two hours on the treadmill and takes three palate classed every week.

At 5’2, she was shorter than most of the women she worked with. She also weighed a scant 90 pounds. Her B cup breasts would look small on a normal woman, but on her, they were perfectly proportional.

The problem wasn’t that she was embarrassed of her body, she just didn’t like other people seeing her that way. She had spent her entire life trying to be taken seriously. She had grown quite accustomed to wearing very conservative outfits at work. She normally couldn’t find clothes in adult sizes that fit her, so for her casual wear, she often shopped in the teen or even pre-teen section. Boy’s medium sweatpants fit her the best.

For this, she had never even owned a set of lingerie. Not only because finding lingerie is a child’s size is problematic, but she never really was interested in that sort of thing. Now, she was being pressed into a situation that would take her way outside of her comfort zone.

Joanna had grown tired of looking at these naughty pictures. If she had her way, every pair would start at her neckline and continue on to just above her knee. She wasn’t going to have it her way and didn’t want to think about it anymore.

“What about the photographer?” Joanna asked. Not that she had much more to offer on this line of the conversation, but at least she had one demand that she wouldn’t back down from.

“We have nailed it down to these three.” Alice said, pulling out the list. All three were women. That was her one and only demand on this project. If she had to be photographed like that, at the very least the photographer and everyone associated with this shoot would be a woman.

At least so far as the logistics of the photoshoot, that was what she was mostly concerned with. In the area of privacy, however, she had additional demands. In that regard, she at least was an expert in putting together work contracts and knew the ins and outs of legal verbiage. In a nutshell, she had prepared a contract between the company and herself that stated:

• 1. All images collected by the company on the date of the shoot would belong to the company and not the photographer.
  2. All images collected by the company on the date of the shoot would be solely for use in the calendar and in promotion of the calendar as part of a larger employee morale. No other use would be permitted without her consent
  3. All images collected by the company on the date of the shoot that were no used for the calendar or promotion of the calendar would be treated as secret intellectual property, and no images would be permitted to be sent outside of the company for any reason

She had prepared this contract in hopes that it would help persuade other women to feel comfortable enough to be part of the calendar. It didn’t work, but at the very least it would allow her to feel like she still had some control over this project.

Joanna decided to let the other three women handle the details of the shoot itself. She had had her say and gotten all she felt she could out of the arrangement. Besides, the more she looked at these photos, the worse her anxiety over it grew. Best not to think of it until I have too. she thought.

Over the next two weeks, Joanna was aware that four other planning meetings were held. She was aware because they were on her calendar. She insisted they have them in her office, and always found reason to be elsewhere when the meetings actually took place. She knew what she needed to and that was enough for her.

[edithdick]

Chapter 1 – Part 3

By the day of the photoshoot arrived, Joanna had reached the point where she just wanted this over with. She was so nervous about being seen without her clothes on that she could hardly eat. She didn’t need to lose any weight but ended up losing two pounds.

She had avoided any more of the planning meetings, letting Alice pretty much make the rest of the decisions with Onella. Joanna’s biggest concern was her fifteen-year-old son, Isaac. He would be mortified if he learned his mom was putting her body out there like this. His father died when he was only two, and she never remarried or even dated really, because she didn’t want Isaac to feel like his father was being replaced. He died a hero in Afghanistan and Joanna wanted Isaac to always think of him that way. Adding another man would only add confusion.

As a result of all that, Joanna never really thought of herself as a woman. Not in the sexual way, anyway. She was a mom at home and a Vice President at her company. That was enough. And the idea of walking around her workplace wearing only a bra and panties was going to be the most erotic thing she had ever done in her entire life.

Joanna arrived at the office at 10:00 am. The others had been there for over three hours setting up, but she was told to sleep in and come well rested and beautiful. Well, sleeping in was out of the question. She had a routine to maintain and fixing Isaac a hot breakfast on Saturday was one that she had not skipped out on since he took his first bite of solid food.

When she arrived, she was wearing a simple black tracksuit with a thin white stripe down the side. She went to her office and dropped her purse off before heading down to the shipping and receiving area. That was where they told her they would set up the changing area.

She had been warned in advance, that once they did her hair, she wouldn’t be allowed to pull her shirt over her head, or risk messing it up. Knowing this, the shirt for track suit she selected had a sipper in the front and could be pulled off without touching her hair.

They had set up a makeshift tent using ropes and what appeared to be bedsheets all draped and tied off. There was no roof, but it was over seven feet high, so there was no chance of someone peeking over the top while she changed. It also blocked the view of the security cameras that were in place to keep an eye on shipments coming into the office or merchandise on its way out.

Joanna sat in the chair inside the tent while the woman they had hired, Anita, started giving her a blow out and fixing her makeup. While they worked, she tried to evaluate the clothing rack that was set up on the other side of the tent. It was a long horizontal pole propped up by two tripods. On the pole were around a dozen hangers containing the ‘costumes is how she thought of them’ that Joanna would be wearing for the photoshoot. The first couple looked reasonably decent, but as she moved down the line, she began envisioning herself wearing such skimpy attire and began to blush.

“Did I burn you?” asked Anita, noting her sudden change in color.

“Wah? Oh, no. I was just seeing what they picked out for me is all.” Joanna said smoothly.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” Anita asked. “I don’t have the figure for it like you do, but the clothes are gorgeous.”

Clothes Joanna thought, bemused. Those weren’t clothes, they were quite literally called underclothes. Of course, today, they would not be worn under any clothes. She felt her cheeks heating up again thinking of it.

“How long have you been doing this?” Joanna asked, trying to change the topic.

“Oh, hair and makeup? Maybe fifteen years.” Anita said casually. “Mostly weddings and high school formals.”

When Joanna had gotten married, it was on an army base. She couldn’t have afforded to hire someone to do her makeup or hair back then, even if such a person existed in the military. “This is my first time.” She confessed. “Well, I have my hair cut when it needs it, but I have never had it styled like this and nobody has done my makeup since my mom showed me how when I turned eighteen.”

Anita nodded. She continued talking about how lovely Joanna’s skin was or what she would like to do with her hair on the other shots. That was news, apparently Joanna would have her makeup redone each time she changed outfits and would have her hair redone three times.

After about thirty minutes, Anita spun Joanna around and ask, “What do you think?”

Joanna had never seen herself looking quite like this before. Her hair now was pulled back on the sides and sort of flopped over from front to back, adding a lot of volume, but just in the center column, and in the back, it was organized chaos, with curls seeming to go everywhere, but with such intentional waves that it looked like a piece of art. She was especially fascinated by the amount of makeup that had been applied. Her eyelashes were longer than humans normally grow. She had mascara, eye liner, rouge, and lipstick. When Joanna wore makeup, it was minimal and mostly just to conceal her blemishes. This was absolutely shocking.

“What about the glitter?” asked Alice harshly. “We want her to sparkle.”

Joanna hadn’t realized the woman had even come into the tent. Spinning the chair around to face the newcomer, she noticed that Onella was also there, looking none too happy. “What’s taking so long?” Onella demanded.

“The first coat always takes the longest.” Anita said casually. “Don’t worry, the touchups will be quick. Now, her hair will have to cooperate if we are to stay on schedule, but we won’t know that until we get there.”

Onella nodded and then said to Joanna, “You, go change. We have to start shooting while there is still daylight.”

Joanna wanted to argue about that point, they were the ones who told her when to arrive and not they are acting like she is holding them up. Joanna stood up intending to walk over to the clothing rack. Suddenly, her legs wouldn’t move. She wanted to just get this over with, but her body suddenly refused to move.

“What is it?” asked a still angry Onella. “It’s time!”

“I don’t think I can go through with this.” Joanna said softly.

“What?” Asked Alice. “Everything is already set, of course you can…”

“NO!” Joanna shouted. “I CAN’T DO THIS!”

Onella and Alice rounded on her. “We have come too far for you to back out now!” Onella said.

“I can’t!” Joanna protested.

“Now you listen to me.” Onella continued. “You can and you will. It’s no longer just your reputation on the line here. All of us put ourselves out there promoting this. It will happen!”

“Please, Joanna.” Pleaded Alice. “Look at you. You look amazing! You are going to look so beautiful in the clothes we picked out for you.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do this.” Joanna said, her knees finally starting to give in causing her to slide back into the chair she had been sitting in.

Onella was having none of it. “Joanna, listen to me. We have put some much stock in this photoshoot to boost morale. Whether you like it or not, you have been promoting this as a way to save the company. Hell, I’m even starting to believe you.”

“I know, but I didn’t think it through. I’m just not a person who can have my picture taken this way.” Joanna protested.

“I’m not done. It won’t just be you going down if this shoot doesn’t happen. The company has spent not an insignificant amount of money bringing your idea to life with this. My credit card was used. This makes me partially responsible to get this done.” Onella continued.

“I understand.” Joanna started.

“I don’t think you do!” Onella said roughly. “Alice and I will be taking the fall because our name and credibility are also at stake here. Now get your ass out of that chair and get dressed in the outfits that Alice picked for you.”

“No, I won’t.” Joanna stated firmly.

“Are you really willing to throw your whole career away over this?” Alice asked.

“I think I am. I know I can’t make myself put on these clothes.” Joanna said.

“Well, I’m not.” Onella said. “Alice, give me a hand.”

With that the two women descended on Joanna who’s knees were still too weak to stand, let alone run.

“Stop!” Joanna demanded. “Let go of me! What are you doing? Give that back. NOOoooo!” Joanna screamed.

“Joanna, we’re doing this for your own good.” Onella insisted, as they proceeded to manhandle Joanna. In a matter of seconds, Joanna was still sitting in the chair, but now she wore not a stich of clothing. One arm firmly covering her breasts and the other hand wrapped gently over her vagina and pubic hair.

“Give me back my clothes!” Demanded Joanna.

“These?” Onella asked, holding them out and taunting her with them for a second.

“Yes, those ARE my clothes! Give them back this instant.” Joanna said, starting to feel her face flushing red with heat from her sheer humiliation.

“You’ll get these back after the shoot. And one more thing, If you aren’t dressed and ready to go, Alice and I will drag you to the photoshoot in your skin!” Onella told her and then to add emphasis she left the tent.

Joanna stood to chase after her, but remembered that just outside of these thin fabric walls were no less than four security cameras. She had no intention of stepping out there in her current state. Instead, she did the only thing that she could do, “ONELLA! GET BACK HERE NOW!”

Whether Onella heard her screams, Joanna was never sure. What she was sure of was that she now stood in this tent straight up naked, and her clothes were nowhere to be seen.

“We’ll give you some privacy.” Alice announced, taking a very stunned Anita by the hand and exiting the tent.

I won’t do it! Joanna thought as she paced around the small tent. Despite the fact that the other women had left her alone, she didn’t dare remove her arm of hand from covering her precious bits. There’s no way Onella was serious about dragging me out there, was she?

Deciding that it would be far better to be dragged out there wearing at least something, Joanna approached the clothing rack. Each outfit was on a separate hanger and each hanger had a tag taped just below the hook with a name on it. Joanna picked up the first one labeled January and studied it.

This was not bad, really. The top was a soft pink satin tank-top that covered to just below her bellybutton. There was an arrow shaped formation of lace allowing her cleavage to barely be seen. There was a matching set of pink thong panties that were fully exposed, due to a large portion of her midriff being exposed. Overall, the bikini she wore by her pool at home covered much less than this outfit.

“I’m ready.” Joanna announced softly, hoping it was soft enough to not be heard. Disappointment reigned in her heart for a few fated seconds as Alice entered the tent. It was replaced by a small amount of relief when she noticed that Alice was holding out a bathrobe for her to wear. At least she didn’t need to wander around the building like this.

“Where are the shoes?” Alice asked cheerfully.

“Shoes?” Joanna wondered out loud.

Alice pulled a shoebox out from under the clothing rack. Joanna had no idea how she missed that, but under each outfit was a shoebox with the same handwritten label proclaiming which month it was for.

Pulling out the shoes, Joanna was stunned. They seemed to have been made for this lingerie. It was a set of four inch high heels made of the same pink color as the lingerie and just over the middle toe was a small patch of lace cut in the same shape as between her bust.

Joanna slipped out of her flats and slid into the beautiful heels. Alice tightened the small buckle on the strap that wrapped around each of her heels. “Can you walk okay in these?”

Joanna took a few steps. She did wobble more than she liked, but she had worn heels at previous engagements and would get used to this soon enough. Wearing the shoes and her bathrobe, Joanna walked out of the tent with Alice and off to the first shoot location.