by Bo
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Evidence that Ralph Granger was becoming obsessed with creating new roles and situations for support staff was mounting quickly. Some of the new policies being implemented were downright covert, and the new technological strides that the R&D team was making, under close supervision, were becoming frightening to say the least.
Over the past year, since the support staff positions were created and filled, he had tripled our sales objectives, hired sixty-five hundred new employees worldwide, and had more than doubled the size of the home office. The support staff positions had such a positive effect on upper management that he decided to provide support to middle management as well.
Through the recent expansion, there were approximately sixteen hundred support positions that needed to be filled. As it was impractical to repeat the initiation seminars that we Directors had attended, he decided that it was much more feasible to present the training in-house. It was necessary to develop internal training and orientation programs for the managers, as part of their regular work day. To accomplish this Herculean task, he hired an extremely sharp project coordinator by the name of Jim Fitzpatrick. In order to minimize the disruption within the offices, yet still efficiently train the many eager managers, Jim's first task was to develop a training strategy which would suit Granger's needs.
On the initial focus group, Jim relied on the psychological and aptitude tests that he had developed. The group consisted of thirty-two of the one hundred and eleven mid-level managers, mostly in their late 20's or early 30's. These guys were hungry enough for power within the organization from the outset that they easily adapted to the concept of resting their sweaty, smelly feet on the face of a support member, particularly if it was to increase their productivity and consequently make them appear more successful. During the first couple of sessions, with the second group of trainees, things got a bit out of hand but he managed easily to maintain control of the situation and complete their training without incident. Jim was an extremely motivated, professional employee. In his early forties, he had been with the company for nearly sixteen years, having worked the entire time in the Human Resources division. He was fully aware of the job functions and skills required for nearly every position within the company. More importantly, he was acutely aware as to how to train people effectively. He frequently used the phrase "I bet you...", quite off-handedly. He didn't expect to be taken up on one of his 'bets' as he was usually quite unaware of the fact that he'd even presented one. Mid-way through the third training session, Jim was challenged, and overtaken by the group. He was immediately shocked when one of the trainees stood and accepted one of his bets. The trainee informed him that if the group could successfully solve the case study that Jim had presented, that he was to kneel before each trainee and kiss the bottom of each of their feet. Realizing that he had been momentarily duped, he reluctantly accepted the challenge. The prospect of finally having someone at their feet, prompted the group to band together and quickly resolve the problems set forth in the case study. Grinning sheepishly, yet defiantly, they reveled in seeing and feeling him carry out his part of the bet, and kiss each of their feet.
Unknown to Jim, he was being observed through a one-way glass by John Hunt, the Director of Human Resources. After the training session, he was called to Hunt's office. The meeting started jovially enough and seemed to Jim to be going well when abruptly Hunt's tone changed.
"I observed the unfortunate episode this afternoon and have already reported the incident to Granger's office. You know that it's an extremely serious situation to have superiors at the feet of their subordinates, as it may have set a dangerous precedent in the minds of your class which could threaten our entire management structure," Hunt said.
As he finished his sentence, Hunt was interrupted by a call from Granger summoning Jim to his office. Granger went a lot easier on him than he'd expected, even relating stories of similar situations occurring when old Malcolm Varitech himself was developing his new found 'Principles of Support' as he referred to them. Jim heaved a sigh of relief and managed to get his racing pulse under control. However, Granger continued:
"In order that you may fully understand the seriousness of the situation, I have to enforce the punishment as it's outlined in Malcolm's original guidelines. Each morning, for a period of two weeks, each of the Directors will come to your office to greet you. While you've been speaking with Mr. Hunt and myself, I've had a special 'greeting' chair installed in your office. You are to be ready to be greeted by the Directors between 7:30 and 8:30am. They will be allowed to 'greet' you for as long as they wish. I want to make it perfectly clear, however, that you are not the only one in the wrong here. In fact, I really don't consider that you've actually done anything incorrectly however, as I said, the situation must be handled by the book. The ones really at fault are the trainees. Their punishment is significantly more lengthy than yours. For the next sixty-four days, each of them is to spend two days under your desk. As you are only recently entitled to have 'support', and a permanent candidate hasn't been selected for the position, your support will be temporarily provided by the trainees in question. Additionally, in lieu of taking a lunch hour, you may, at your discretion, tickle the feet of your support as maliciously as you like, for as much of the hour as you wish."
Jim was dismissed from Granger's office and headed for his own. As he had not previously traveled in the same circles as upper management, he was quite sure that none of them knew that he was gay. Luckily for him, he also had a major foot fetish. Unbeknownst to his greeters, he would probably enjoy the daily ritual much more than they would. Additionally, he would certainly relish in savoring the revenge that he was allowed to carry out on the trainees. Things were looking quite good to him as he left for the day. He was already eagerly looking forward to returning to work on Monday as he pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home.
To Be Continued...
