Chapter 162

6.k.

“Where’d you get your clothes?” Business Woman asked as Supply approached the rest of the Union, clad in here trademark mauve and purple.

“One of these people bought it at an interoffice clothing store,” Supply said.  She gestured toward a glass door.  Through it, on the other side of the hallway and down a few paces, was the entrance to Dress For Success.

The Union went over to the clothing store and found a rack containing the rest of their suits and business attire.  Corporate Man didn’t intend to pay for the stolen merchandise but Senior Executive advised that it would be easier on everyone and offered up a credit card.  He insisted that Fair Wage pick out a pair of boxers or even briefs.  Anything that would create an under layer.

A mob of angry, half naked, office workers greeted the Union as they left Dress For Success. 

“So that’s your plan,” one of the mob said.  “Trick us all into non-compliant attire.”

“You’re trying to get us fired!”

“Hey, hey!” said a fully dressed twenty-sixth floor employee as he ran up to the gathering crowd. “I traced the e-mails.  Nothing about Underpants Tuesday came from any of the higher ups.”

“Oh I see it now.  We all get the ax and these guys take over our positions.”

Corporate Man smiled and adjusted his tie.  “Actually, we’re needed in another department on a different floor.  Sorry for the inconvenience.”

The half-naked office workers puzzled over this as Corporate Man and the Union walked away.

“I don’t believe him,” one of the mob said.  “They were in here checking out their new offices.  Calling dibs on cubicles.”

“Or signing contracts that would move our division to some other sector.”

“Yeah.  Like this ‘another department’ he was talking about.”

“Let’s get ‘em!” someone yelled and they charged down the hallway just as the Union was opening a door that led into a non-descript hallway.

Corporate Man spun around, glared at them, and said, “Did any of you clock out?”

They stopped.

After a moment one of them said, “What do you mean?”

“You can’t abandon your station and go storming out of the office.  That’s a waste of company time.  Management would not approve.”

  The mob of dress-code violators looked at each other, confusion and fear reflected in all of their eyes.  They scattered, like a flock of birds, and sped off to their cubicles to log out of the system.

Meanwhile, the Union slipped out of the office and disappeared down the non-descript hallway.

Chapter 158

6.g.

Somewhere else on the twenty-sixth floor, things were quite stationary.  And tense.  It was always tense for the employees on the floor twenty six.  Their jobs were in constant danger of being given to another set of workers.  And today, there was a meeting scheduled for this afternoon. 

Nothing good ever came from meetings, Polly knew.

Bottom lines were discussed and new efficiency parameters would be introduced.  And that was if they were lucky.

In the murmur of office conversation she picked up some alarming snippets.

Moving the whole division.

Cause it costs the same to pay four of them as it does one of us.

And worst of all.

It’ll never happen.  We’re too important.  No one else can do our job.

She rushed out of the office to the Dress For Success shop down the hall.

Dress For Success was a small business dealing in office appropriate attire.  It thrived on an environment of ever changing dress-code policies offering a range of styles from business formal to business casual to business intentionally unkempt and/or sporty.  Their proximity to the offices on the twenty-sixth floor was quite convenient.  Unfortunate coffee spill?  Lunchtime marinara drips?  Accidentally wore blue-jeans on Thursday thinking it was Casual Friday?  They had you covered.  Even those feeling awkward at having dressed business formal on Casual Friday could find the standard denim bottoms and T-shirt with the humorous-though-still-appropriate saying on a rack in the back.

Polly needed something smart and distinctive.  Something that shouted: I’m extremely professional, very current (or was that called “hip” these days?), an asset to any company, you’d be very stupid to give my job away to anyone with lesser clothes.

A Dress For Success employee was hanging up some interesting items that, he claimed, had just come in.  There was a men’s suit in emerald green, a dark purple one with a mauve tie and–

She spotted it.  The perfect outfit.  A mauve skirt and jacket with a dark purple blouse.