Introductions [contains SFW image]

“Most of the office space on the first floor is reception, the clerical area you saw, a few meetings rooms, and this break room,” Derrick brought Aiden through the hallways. The break room sat 12 people at a time and had a small fridge, 2 microwaves (everyone hates waiting to heat up their cup of soup) and all the charm of a utility closet.

“Now, there is a small elevator here, just off reception. Customers and visitors sometimes use it to go up to the third floor, but it’s mostly empty up there now. Mill District Accounting - most people just call us Mill Accounting - used to have a bigger staff but that was mainly because the office work 20 years ago took more people. The second floor is where the accountants are, they all have their separate offices and a nice open meeting room.”

The stylish man gestured airily towards a stairwell beside the elevator, “We’ll just take the stairs up, the elevator is ancient and slow and it’s only one floor. There used to be a space for a secretary on the second floor but they got rid of that position - now they just call down to one of the clerks or send an email if they need something. More efficient, but a few of the ladies who were here back then still complain there isn’t a boy on hand to do the photocopying for them!”

-- Second Floor, larger image --

Taking Aiden to the second floor, Derrick paused to let the younger man look around the open area. “This hallway has most of the offices, all the ladies have their own but Kathleen’s is the biggest one in the corner down there, past the waiting area where the accountants like to meet their clients. Kathleen’s door is closed, so she must be in a call but you met her already. The copier and printer are here, in this cubby, and one of your duties is to sort physical mail into these mailboxes. But that’s very rare now, naturally.”

Pausing, the sunny smile on the man’s face suddenly dimmed and he leaned in to quietly say, “Now when I introduce you just follow my lead. Accounting attracts a certain… kind of woman I find. They are often brusque, or blunt maybe. They work with numbers and data all day - it’s super complicated stuff I could never figure out in a million years - and they don’t always have the same tact or sensitivity to male attitudes that some other professional women might have.”

Aiden’s eyes widened, and the other man chuckled and held up his hands, “Now don’t get too worried! It’s still 2020, not 1955. Did you ever see that show Madwomen? About advertising execs in the olden days?”

“Uh, I never watched it but I know what show you’re talking about. All the women in old-style dresses and how they’d drink and smoke at work and the office boys were basically like, uh, open game?”

Derrick nodded, his warm brown eyes reassuring. “Exactly, it’s not like that anymore. Now, some of the ladies maybe wish it still was, but this is a professional organization and it’s well run. Beyond that, occasionally you’ll hear some dubious comments, and a few of the older generation really struggle with modern men’s rights and equality between the genders in any way. But just smile and don’t bother arguing, they’re ultimately harmless.”

As Aiden absorbed the subtle warning, he was wondering if he knew a single woman over the age of, say, 30 who even pretended to support actual gender equality. Certainly, none of the women in the ultra-conservative small town he grew up in, that’s for damn sure!

Watching as the new boy nodded slowly, Derrick continued, “Look, I’ve had a lot of catcalls and inappropriate comments, I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But this place and the women here are better than any other I’ve worked at, and once I got married a couple of years ago the comments died down. I’m not saying it’s fair, but it’s simple reality that if you’re in a committed relationship with a woman the other ladies here will tend to see you as off limits. They may still make jokes and the customers may hit on you in a borderline creepy way, but not as badly. Especially if you bring a girlfriend along to a staff party or something, let her show your coworkers that she’s watching over you. The alpha-female stuff is annoying but it's the way of the world.”

This was basically what movies and TV had taught Aiden too, and a few of the male instructors at clerical school had openly said the same things to their young charges in their all male classes. Looking at the man he was (temporarily) replacing, Aiden had to wonder just how much attention the very attractive Black man had to fend off. Derrick was tall and had the broad shoulders and thin waist that basically every woman would admit was sexy as hell. He also dressed in a fashion that bordered on overtly sexy without going over, his purple shirt almost thin enough to show his nipples and open enough at the top to show a few tantalizing inches of his chest. He even had a few chest hairs showing, which in Aiden’s hometown would have been enough to have older women yelling at him on the street that he was a whore. If they weren’t trying to lure him into their pickup trucks!

Derrick started down the hallway, and Aiden studied how his fashionable slacks accentuated his butt, the material tight and thin enough to hint that whatever underwear he had on was minimal enough to not show through. Gulping, Aiden had to admit to himself that his own wardrobe could charitably be called ‘dowdy’. Would he be expected to dress more provocatively at the front desk? He was wearing the sort of business casual that would not be inappropriate at all, but it would never be called attractive either.

‘What does it even matter dummy, you’re scrawny and funny looking, no decent woman wants to see you more than she absolutely has to! Baggy, thick clothes and hair shaggy enough to make you look like a skate punk high school girl is your level!’ Aiden didn’t have time to let his negative thoughts spiral too much more, because Derrick was knocking politely on the open door of the first office.

“Good morning Chelsea, this is Aiden Hughson, he’ll be working reception for me while I’m on pat leave!” He pulled Aiden subtly into the room with him, then made introductions. “Aiden, this is Chelsea Webb. Chelsea, Aiden graduated from a clerical academy right out of high school, so I’m sure he’ll fit in great downstairs!”

In the office, a dark-haired woman paused at her computer and looked directly at Aiden. “Pleased to meet you Aiden, you’re a young one huh?” She gave a smile that was at least half smirk and continued, “Sam told us she bumped into you downstairs already, and I can see why!”

Aiden wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but the faint leer in her eyes hinted it was related to Sam Johnson’s aggressively flirtatious introduction. Chelsea was in her mid-40’s and dressed in a fairly conservative fashion as befitting a staid industry like accounting. Her breasts were covered, more than you’d see in less formal situation or on younger women, who often wanted everyone to see as much as possible on the assumption that men liked it more than they let on.

“Uhm, thank you ma’am,” Aiden tried to keep his voice level and confident, but he could hear the tiny tremor in his words. Curse his constant nervousness around older women in positions of authority!

With an easy smile, Derrick gestured out of the office and brought his charge to the office next door, but the lights were off and the door closed. “This is Erin Carr’s office, she’s not in this morning. She’s the youngest one, close to my age, and she just began her as a junior accountant last year. She’s pretty modern, very polite if a little quiet.”

The next occupied office across the hall was Sam Johnson, who was on the phone, reclining all the way in her chair with her feet up on the desk in front of her. Her eyes lit up upon seeing them, and she gave a jaunty wave to a blushing Aiden. She had clearly undone at least one more button on her silk top, and a great deal of pale breast was now exposed all the way to a cream coloured undergarment. She shrugged her shoulders and stared off at the wall as she spoke on the phone, as if unaware of how much she was showing to the men who had to politely look away.

Continuing, Derrick quietly said, “That’s Sam in a nutshell, she knows it’s bad form to expose herself like that to men in an office setting but she’ll pretend she doesn’t realize she’s doing it. She’ll definitely flash you her panties if she thinks she can get away with it.” He frowned and continued, “I don’t bother complaining, she’s really good at her job and Kathleen probably wouldn’t care unless there were customers around. And male clients, at that, not that we have many but there some. And more and more as time goes on and business-men become less rare!”

“Heh, businessmen,” Aiden smiled at the very modern and uncommonly used word. He had to admit, it did make him strangely excited to think how, a decade after the War, men were making inroads into traditionally female professions. His smile slipped as he imagined what his Mother would say or do if she heard him talking about what she would dismiss as pure politically correct nonsense.

The next two introductions were quite fast as neither woman seemed terribly interested in the name of the boy answering the phones at the front desk. Valeria Martinez was a plain woman in her 30’s, originally from Colombia according to Derrick. She simply nodded hello and barely slowed down in typing at her computer, Aiden noticing how she wore almost no makeup and her dark hair was chopped unevenly and tied back indifferently. Clearly not as concerned with fashion or style as some women were, and Aiden was not surprised to see a simple wedding band on her finger. ‘Probably started cutting her own hair as soon as she was married,’ he smiled to himself.

Ashley Friedwoman was older, probably around Kathleen’s age if Aiden had to guess. She had the long, grey hair of an older woman from a generation where women grew their hair out and that was that. She did have the hair tied in an elaborate bun, so it was off her shoulders, and at her gruff hello Aiden noticed she had several photographs of herself in military uniform. On the wall behind her she had a small framed plaque of ribbons and emblems which Aiden recognized as the awards a veteran would have, which wasn’t a surprise as at her age she must have served in the War. She scanned him up and down, her eyes so cold and expressionless that Aiden assumed she did not get those ribbons and medals by working at a desk! Presumably seeing nothing interesting in the young man, she turned back to her work after complaining to Derrick that the coffee maker on the second floor wasn’t working and she was too busy to go down to the break room.

Leaving the veteran’s office, Derrick brought Aiden past an open area with a large table and they looped back around to the other hallway that led back to the coffee station and couches of the customer’s waiting area. On their left was a stairwell and the exec restroom, and Derrick pointed down the hallway. “One more person to meet… decades ago they put one office door on the other side for some arcane reason.”

At the final office, Derrick gave a smile so wide and unforced that Aiden noticed it was more genuine than the polite expressions he wore with the other accountants. Knocking on the doorframe, Derrick sketched a joking bow and said, “Oh crap, Gillian is here, I was hoping to skip this one!”

“Hah! As if you saucy little bastard!” The woman jumped out of her seat and hustled around her desk, her eyes twinkling as she approached Aiden. She was of Asian descent, in her 30’s, attractive and dressed in a shirt she had buttoned to her neck and long pants. Her short hair was parted on the left, and Aiden realized that not only was her dark hair man-short (shorter than his hair!) but that she wore basically no makeup.

“This must be Aiden! I’m so so so happy to meet you my son! I’ve been so bored with this haggard old man we have sitting at the front desk, chasing away all the cute businesswomen before I can dazzle them with my charm!” She reached out her hand and Aiden, shocked, shook it. She had a firm grip and pumped it three times before letting it go with a smile.

Suddenly, Aiden’s brain caught up on current events and he cocked his head to the side. Wait, ‘cute businesswomen’? Did that mean she was-

“Yes, Gillian Chan, that’s me. The only lesbian in the building, and sometimes I think, the only dyke in the freaking city! Honestly, I’m terribly fond of this lug here,” she gestured to a chuckling Derrick with her thumb, “so I hope we can be friends too. Don’t hesitate to ask me if you need anything, I know there aren’t many men here, and a gay woman isn’t the same thing, but if you’re into women and you want romantic advice I’m here to listen! I mean, I can’t help, because they are a freaking mystery to me as my single status can attest, but hey we can whine about women over salads at lunch together at least! And, make the stodgy ladies here uncomfortable as we complain about how toxic straight female culture is!”

Aiden had to laugh, relieved and charmed at her energy and humour. Derrick nodded like a proud papa and Aiden wondered if he saved Gillian for last, as the least threatening and most openly friendly of the accountants.

“It’s great to meet you too Gillian, and I’m sure we’ll be friends,” he said it without blushing, a sign of the woman’s welcoming aura.

Glancing at the clock, Derrick said, “Well I have to take Aiden downstairs now. We have to get settled at the front desk and show him how the actual job works.”

“Absolutely, don’t let me keep you,” Gillian said, “but one thing, what kind of music do you like Aiden?”

Surprised, he said, “Oh just standard pop music I guess. I, uh, really love the girl bands from Japan and Thailand, the dancing and so on, it’s kind of lame I know, all just screaming fanboys and silly stuff.”

Gillian gasped, “You like T-pop! I love it too! Nothing silly about loving great dance music! Do you like HCMC!?”

Now Aiden couldn’t hide his sheer delight, “HCMC is my fav! I listen to their music every day, they are so amazing and talented, not just as dancers and singers but as entertainers!” He quickly stopped and looked at Derrick, embarrassed to get so excited.

“They absolutely are Aiden, I totally agree. And they are pretty attractive young women too,” Gillian lowers her voice and glances around as if looking for eavesdroppers, “I can’t lie, the way they dress and act almost like boys and really blur the lines between male and female makeup and fashion works for me.” She winked as she said it, and Aiden had to giggle, his own blush rising. Sure, T-pop and J-pop may be looked down on in Western society as just thirst traps for teenage boys, with their deliberately non-threatening boyish looks and songs, but that didn’t make it any less popular.

Shaking his head, Derrick interjects with a laugh, “Ok we really have to get to work. You two will have months to talk about sugary pop bands and so on.”

With a final cheerfully unforced smile, Aiden nodded at Gillian and left her office.