The large conference table was covered with applications, spread out into different piles; the fractured light of the morning sun shining through the tilted venetian blinds, creating telltale stripes across the hard wood of the table and the paper on top of it. I was in the process of sifting through what I'd deemed were tangible candidates for hire, and I was sorting them into different categories, based on whatever criteria a specific job might require. I had about a dozen different job positions to fill, with each position needing several people because of the multiple production lines, and the fact that we would be starting as a two-shift operation.
The third shift would begin much later, and yet that was one of the things I was taking into account. My hope was that the people that I initially hired at some of the lower positions would, at some point, be able to be promoted from within. Jeff, my boss, and I felt strongly that we should set the precedent early on of looking to our own employees for future growth. We wanted to recognize people that were working hard, and help them to move up in the company.
So, not only was I looking at the resumes of people that would be qualified to run equipment during the initial start up, I was also looking to fill the support positions. And I wanted to fill those positions with people that would be the future operators, both when we added a third shift, and for cross training as back up operators, to cover absences and vacations.
With each position requiring different skill sets, I'd place the applications, along with my notes from the initial interviews, into the appropriate pile for the job position where I felt they would best fit. And then there were the piles for people that feel between positions.
The initial interviewing process was pretty limited. It was more like the production process of the plant itself, designed for high throughput. That meant that there were people that I interviewed that were quality candidates, but the time constraints of trying to see as many people in a day as I could, made it impossible to get enough information to determine where they might fit best. So, I'd marked those people as general operators, knowing I could drill down during a second interview and figure out where they would be the most successful.
Of course, the other purpose of the second interview was to find the best candidates for the initial hire. And I also wanted to line up people that might be hired during the second phase. Most of those people would be hired into the support positions, where they would take the place of people moving up. There were at least 15 different organized piles, and each would likely end up with over 10 applications.
As I segregated the big stack of applications into the smaller ones, I was grooving to a cassette of Earth, Wind and Fire's greatest hits on the boom box I'd brought with me. Dancing back and forth along the table, placing the paper-clipped packets on the appropriate pile I felt they belonged in, I was singing to myself when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. Glancing to the doorway of the conference room to my left, I smiled.
"Good morning...again," I said as I continued to bob my head to the beat of 'September'.
"Hey," Carol said with a shy smile. "How's it going?"
"It's actually going pretty well, considering I got a late start. Thanks for coming in on your Saturday to help me."
"It's the least I could do...after all, I'm one of the reasons you GOT that late start," she giggled. "Are you ready for me to start calling yet?"
"Uh...no. Probably going to be another hour or so. Is that okay?"
"Yeah...I have a few things I need to catch up on anyway. I put a lot of stuff on the back burner yesterday to get things set up for the launch party. I'll be at my desk...just let me know when you want me to start."
"Do you mind the music?" I asked.
"No...actually, I'm pleasantly surprised. I figured you for strictly a 'rock' kind of guy. I never dreamed you'd be listening to R&B."
"Why not...R&B is the best music to listen to when you're having sex. The beat kind of makes you keep up the pace," I winked.
"Hmm...that's an interesting theory. Are you thinking about proving that out using me?"
"I can't...no fucking, remember?"
"We can still think about it. And hey, if you get to the point where thinking about it gets to be too much for you, I can give you a hand...or a mouth."
"Uh...I didn't pick any more cards."
"You don't have to...remember? Ann said she was going to make up for cheating last night, so my branch is open for business. You can have two transactions...one of each. Or you can save them...it's totally up to you...James."
Carol gave me a little wave with her fingers, and she turned and walked away, letting me get a nice look at her tight little ass in the short white hip hugger shorts she was wearing. She also had on a tight blue tank shirt, the little straps fighting to keep her braless chest inside. Just looking at the way Carol's sexy ass was swaying because of her white 4-inch pumps was making my cock rise. I was pretty sure that was the reason she'd worn the outfit in the first place.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Carol had alluded that Ann had cheated the night of my Birthday. And she had...but it didn't involve sex. Well, unless you thought about it in the context of what I'd done...then it most definitely involved sex.
Ann had, in essence, set up a birthday present for me. And that present was Carol and Heather...together. Ann had called me on the pretense of wishing me a Happy Birthday...and I'd spent ten minutes telling her what had happened at the party, and how I thought I'd blown it with Carol.
That was all because I'd done the right thing, by getting a co-worker who'd had too much to drink a room at the hotel for the night. But in doing so I left Carol, and several other people, with the impression that I'd taken Claudia, the woman in question, to my room to fuck her. Of course, Claudia had been coming on to me big time on the dance floor, actually telling me that she wanted to fuck me for my birthday. But she was drunk, and everyone knew it. It wouldn't matter in the eyes of others that I actually did the right thing, if they didn't know I did it.
Yet when I'd gotten done telling Ann what had happened, she talked me down off my self-built ledge, telling me that others would understand, including Carol. I wasn't so sure, and that's when Ann happily sprung her little surprise. And it was an incredible surprise. When I turned on the light in my room like Ann asked me to, Heather and Carol were lying on the other bed...totally naked, waiting for me.
"What the hell," I said as I looked at them staring at me seductively.
Carol and Heather started giggling, and Ann, still on the phone, asked, "Are you surprised?"
"How the...how long have you been there?" I said to the girls.
"Oh...about a half-hour. We saw you go into the bar...and we came up here to wait for you," Carol said with a big smile.
"So...you knew I didn't...you know...with Claudia?"
"Neil, you're not the kind of guy that would do that. Not after everything you went through, and what you did to help me. I can't believe that you would think I'd even think that."
"But...you weren't in the bar when I got back...and..."
"And, I was getting with Heather, so we could come up to your place. I don't have a key, but she does," she giggled.
"Okay...but...you were in here the whole time I've been on the phone, and you never made a sound."
Heather shrugged her shoulders and said, "It wouldn't have been a surprise if we had."
"Okay...wait a minute. I didn't turn the lights on. But what if I had...Ann, how in the hell did you know the lights were off? You're not even here!"
"Backup plans babe. There were only two possibilities...one, you'd come back to the room tonight, turn on the lights, and find two naked girls in your room. Two...you'd leave the light off, and I'd get to surprise you like I did."
