Pain in Store
By Crossmanx at - crossmanx@hotmail.co.uk - comments and ideas welcome.
In this store the old ways were defiantly the best ways!

Pain in Store

Wilson's Department Store was an old well-established trading emporium, it had
already celebrated over 150 years of trading in the City and was now planning
how it would achieve the next milestone in its history. The store had been
through good times and bad, through war, recession and various takeover bids,
but it had survived them all and was still going.

The most recent threat to the department store was the opening of the recent
Canal Shopping Centre just outside of the City centre. A refurbishment of a
large set of old warehouses and buildings alone the now disused waterway,
disused apart from pleasure boats that was. As the canal and buildings where
no longer the way that goods where transported now days, the old buildings had
been an ideal opportunity for a competitor to develop and establish a
brand-new shopping experience for the people of the City.

But the Wilson family weren't worried just because a new shopping centre had
been opened. The store had been in the Wilson family for generation after
generation and this generation wasn't going to let a 'new shop' worry them,
that much! But as they had faced numerous difficulties the Wilson family had
learnt the art of how to react to the 'challenges' that came up every now and
again.

So, the store had closed for a week, and the whole place had had a revamp. An
upgrade of the inside and a fresh lick of paint of the outside. Well it was a
very old building, over 150 years old and they don't build places like this
anymore. So, tradition demanded that the exterior, at least, was kept how it
had always been. That traditional look told everyone who entered or even just
walked by that this was 'Wilson's Department Store' and that first impression
and look was also iconic of the store and of shopping here in the centre of
the City.

This new lick of paint and a move around of the inside of the store also
coincided with Christmas coming up and a revamped outside of the building for
the festive season was sure to bring in some more trade. And as more trade
equalled more wallets being opened and more credit cards that needed to be
used, this was obviously a good thing, for the Wilson family members!

The new paint job of the tradition outside and the new revamp of the interior
of the store was the idea of the current senior 'Wilson' member of the family.
His way of having a go back at the other competitions form 'other' sales
outlets such as the Canal Shopping Centre. This would last for at least
another 15-20 years before they had to do anything else and by then it would
be the next person in line in the family that would have to deal with that.

The current senior Wilson, that was in charge of the store, of the Wilson
'empire', was Tarquin Wilson, a quiet elderly gentleman was knew the store
like the back of his hand, 'knew' what people wanted, 'knew' what was best for
the company and wasn't a person who was keen on change! To update the inside
of the store had been a major decision for him, 'after all it had only been
done 30 years ago and people don't like change!'

Well that was how Tarquin saw it, but after some 'persuading' from other
members of the board he'd allowed, begrudgingly' the inside of the store to be
revamped and brought up to date. There had also been a move from some of the
board members to bring in some younger people into the management team, 'to
give a more youthful approach to the business' as one board member had said.
Even if he'd only read it in some business journal a half an hour before the
board meeting and it had seemed to stick in his mind.

This idea had again caused much discussion as was obviously opposite to
Tarquin's view on management. Managers should be from the older generation,
people who have worked their way up from the shop floor, swept it and done
every other job in the place before getting a chance to tell others what to
do! What was the point of having someone straight out of university in charge
of the men's clothing department who'd never sold a pair of socks' in their
life! That was Tarquin Wilson's attitude.

But even Tarquin couldn't argue with the fact that you could pay some graduate
straight out of university next to nothing rather than someone who'd been
working in the store for the past 30 years or more! Somehow that made sense!
So once the internal revamp of the store was all done, they would be two, just
two management places taken up by these younger graduate type people. But
Tarquin would be looking very closely at all this and how all the figures
added up with this.

The two management places that where up for grabs where the position of
assistant manager of the ground floor, and the position of assistant to the
store's procurement manager. Interviews where held and two 'suitable' newly
graduate candidates where selected, and today was going to be their first day
working here at the Wilson's Department Store in the heart of the City!

Today was going to be a get to know your job day, settle into the roll and get
a feel for how the store worked and how all those people that were now 'under'
the two new managers performed! Well that's what Charles and Melvin thought
was going to happen today. But today was going to be different anyway as the
store wasn't open to the public, this was a 'run through' for each department.
After the revamp, the painting and re-fit of the store, today was a chance for
each area supervisor to get their staff together and make sure everything was
running smoothly. Making sure the new layout worked, everyone knew where
everything was and it was all ready for the grand re-opening of the store
tomorrow.

The two men arrived at the staff entrance to the store and there was a quite
elderly man dressed in a brown overall jacket who obviously looked as if he
was one of the caretakers/handymen. Jenkins was in fact the senior porter at
the store, a position he'd held for a number of years and a man who knew just
about 'everything' about the store and what went on inside. He watched these
two new wet behind the ear lads as they approached and asked him if this was
the correct entrance.

Charles tried to be authoritarian as he wanted to start off on the right foot
in his new job, after all he was part of the management team here! Melvin was
a bit more wary but still buzzing with the fact that his degree in social care
had got him a job so quickly after leaving university. The 'caretaker' pointed
to the correct door to go through and as the two new 'managers' walked that
way. Then the 'caretaker' finished it off with "and that's Mr Jenkins to you
two from now on!" he smiled and returned to filling his pipe.

Both Charles and Melvin seemed a bit put out by this, being almost rebuked by
the handyman, when each of them got into their offices they would have a word
about that man! But Mr Jenkins wasn't worried he knew already who these two
new ones where and more importantly who they were going to be working for and
with!

For these men, well young men, both were only 22 and straight out of
education, this was their first real job so it was going to be 'interesting'
to say the least. Soon the men had found their way to the administration
department, made themselves known, filled out a few forms and had a good look
at the women that worked there. Both agreed that they hoped the quality of the
females here would improve after seeing the two admin staff ladies that worked
there.

After being given directions the two where now sent off to find their senior
line managers and get started with their new jobs. Charles was off to find a
Mrs Harriet Thorn the stores procurement manager, while Melvin went to find Mr
Harold Thorn the stores ground floor manager. The two men compared notes, a H.
Thorn and another H. Thorn, husband and wife? Harriet and Harold? Charles and
Melvin had a laugh at that, both where convinced they weren't expecting much
from their new 'boss's'. They would meet up later and compare notes, but now
it was time to start work!

Charles was first to get to his 'boss' office, the sign, a polished brass
plaque said Mrs Harriet Thorn, Head of Procurements Department. Knock and
Wait. The sign like the door, the corridor and this back part of the store
where all the admin and management work was done hadn't been touched by the
revamp. Or by the looks of it had there ever been anything done in this part
of the building during the last 150 plus years since the store had opened.

Ignoring the 'wait' part, well it was so 'old fashion' and out of date,
'people just don't do that kind of stuff anymore!' Charles did at least knock
then opened the door and went inside. Inside it was quite smart, compared with
the rest of the admin side he'd seen so far. It still looked old with the
solid oak book case that went around half the room from the floor all the way
up to the high ceiling. A book case that looked as if it was it crammed with
files, folders, ledgers and books going back to when the store first opened.
There was a couple of comfy leather chairs and a large desk, but strangely no
sign of a computer or anything like that, 'they were still stuck in the past!'

Charles already had some idea about dragging this place into the 20th century,
let alone the 21st! Apart form that the room was empty there was no one here
and Charles wondered ... ... ! Just at that moment the door opened and in
strolled a woman, Mrs Harriet Thorn.

Charles turned to see the woman come in and this was his first glimpse of his
new 'boss!' She was a small woman, much smaller than him, but he was tall
anyway and she was as he expect an older more mature woman, But Charles had
not expected her to look quite so 'Good!' for an older woman. Mrs Harriet
Thorn was, and this was a guess, but probably a good one, she must have been
50 plus, 50 at the least, no 51, 52 or there about, but she did look good,
surprisingly good for an old woman.

Dressed in a pair of high heeled shoes, and if she didn't have those on then
god knows how small she'd be. She wore a smart pin stripped trouser suit, the
kind defiantly made for a woman though, where the trouser legs where a touch
flared, but still somehow you knew she had a good pair of legs under them. As
she walked in and looked at Charles, she guessed who he was even before he
said his hello's. Mrs Thorn moved over to her desk, undone and took off her
suit jacket. Underneath she had on a smart white blouse with the top buttons
undone and a waistcoat. The waistcoat, like the suit was well tailored and
showed that she had a slender waist, and a good body with a full chest.

She was closer to him now as she picked up some papers from her desk and
shuffled them all into a file and now the young man could see her face better.
She was indeed old, maybe she was even mid 50's but still looked OK, well he
wouldn't admit that in public. After all he was 22 and she was 55? You don't
go around saying 'she looks good' when their that old, do you? But there was
an attractiveness to her face, to how she looked. Yes, there were some lines
around her eyes and lips but nothing too bad, and her skin did look good, so
that was again OK. She was a brunette but there was a 'touch' of grey here and
there in her full, bold, shoulder length hair, that had a slight curly to it.
He wondered why she hadn't coloured it to get rid of the grey, could take a
few years off of her, make herself look a bit younger.

Mrs Thorn placed the papers she'd gathered up into the file and took another
look at her new assistant! He was very young, very tall and very broad, she'd
already read the notes that had been given to her about him. She just looked
up and gave a slight sigh at the rugby playing graduate with his ill-fitting
suit that he'd obviously only just brought, his shirt that was a bit too small
and he couldn't do the top button up and that tie just didn't suit him in the
least! 'Was this the best they could hire?' The expression on her face must
have said it all.

Mrs Thorn hadn't said much, in fact Charles didn't think she'd said anything
so far, it had just been him that had done all the talking! So, he carried on
"so where's my office then?" There was a moment of silence that made him feel
somewhat uneasy, but luckily, she did finally say something to break her
silence. "You don't have an office and next time you do not come into my
office without being invited to enter, I hope that's clear?" 'Well that was
some 'welcome' that she just gave him!' Charles just nodded and mumbled a
'yes', as he wasn't too sure how he should be taking all this?

"Follow me I'll take you to where you'll be working, you can call it your
office if you like." With that Mrs Thorn, with the file still in her hand and
leaving her jacket behind, now marched out of her office with a stunned
Charles now rushing after her, trying to catch up with his boss.

Elsewhere in the department store, down on the ground floor and behind a
couple of double doors that where marked 'Staff Only' and Melvin had found the
very small office of his 'boss' Mr Harold Thorn. There was no one about and
the lad struck his head around the door and into the office. It was small
there was a desk and chair, in fact you walked into the 'room' and sat
straight down. Next to the desk was a filing cabinet and in front of the desk
was a large pin board that was covered with so many different memo's, letters,
charts and rows of different forms all on bulldog clips.

'This didn't look good!' Melvin wasn't too impressed with the ground floor
'office' and was getting very nervous about what 'his office' would be like if
this was the main one! It was now that his 'boss' Mr Thorn scurried down the
narrow corridor to the office, with a pile of folders, files and binders in
his arms. Which when he got to the office where almost throw out of his arms
and onto the desk. There was the sound of a thud and now the man arms and
vision was free of his workload so he could see the young man stood there.

Marvin introduced himself, a couple of times as Mr Thorn seemed to have quite
a blank expression on his face, until 'finally' the penny dropped and the man
realised who this lad was waiting outside his office. Now the boss went about
introduction himself and welcoming his new assistance to the department,
telling everything he probably didn't need to know right now in his stuttering
and slow voice. Mr Thorn was a short, stout, plump man somewhere in his 50's
and with a touch of a receding hairline, Melvin suspected that this was due to
stress and tension that he obviously had. He did seem to bit of a ditherer, a
worrier and someone who probably took on too much at any one time, hence the
reason he needed an assistant. Which didn't fill Melvin with any confidence
that this was going to an easy job.

From Mr Thorn's point of view this bright looking young man was just what he
needed to 'help' him out here on the ground floor. The man only hoped that
this youthful looking man who looked strong and willing would be the same at
the end of his first day here! Melvin asked about his office, sure that he
already knew the answer but though he'd ask anyway. The man giggled, splutter
and "Oh you don't have an office, the ground floor is your office, that's
where you and the ladies work, I'm sure, I hope they'll all take care ... ...
er, look after you, I'm sure, I hope so!"

Melvin liked the idea of working with the 'ladies' but there was also
something in the way Mr Thorn said all this in his nervous manner, maybe it
was nothing but 'maybe it was ... ... ?' "Come with me, I'll introduce you to
the heads of the departments who you'll be assisting, so the ground floor runs
smoothly. I do hope ... ... I'm sure you'll all get on ... ... just fine, just
fine!" As they went off towards the doors that lead out onto the ground floor,
Melvin wondered what he meant by that?

Elsewhere and Charlie followed Mrs Thorn through the building down a couple of
flights of stairs, down through a dark, dull, dingy stairwell. Then down a
couple of more flights, down further into the basement of the department
store. There was no conversation between the two of them, the smaller older
woman lead the way and the taller, big young male followed in silence. Until
finally they came to the very bottom and a door marked 'Stores', which they
now went through.

Upstairs and Melvin followed on as Mr Thorn lead the way through the different
departments that made up the ground floor of the store. Through the cosmetic
department, the leather goods departments, the shoes and accessories
department and finally the jewellery department. All the way the rear of the
ground floor where the ladies from these departments had gathered and where
waiting in their groups for Mr Thorn to arrive.

Down in the store it was dark, a few dim lights where spread out across the
large area which gave it and eerie feeling and ... ... BANG! Charles jumped as
a large heavy door over to the side slammed shut. He looked over and could see
the man from earlier 'Mr Jenkins' chuckle to himself that the young man had
been scared by him coming in and then he wondered off somewhere to the back of
the store.

Charles could see over in the distance and office in the far corner, an old
looking structure, with large glass framed windows. "Is that my office?!"
Charles was almost horrified, he was to work down here in that office! Mrs
Thorn looked at the youth "don't be stupid that's Mr Jenkins office, yours is
over there!" The boss pointed to the nearby wall where there was an old, a
very old large table and a wooden chair next to it, the table was piled high
with paperwork. There were even towers of paperwork by the side of the desk on
the floor and along the wall, Charles was shocked "My office!" It didn't sound
right but it seemed to be true!

Up on the ground floor Mr Thorn stopped in front of the gathered group of
women. The ladies, as the boss had called them, the sales staff or was it
assistant? Melvin wasn't sure having not picked up any of the store's lingo
yet. Just then Melvin 'felt' something close to him, he turned, there was a
woman stood right next to him which made him jump, much to the amusement of
the gather ladies who all seemed to giggle.

Mr Thorn hadn't notice as he was talking, or stuttering through a speak he'd
written about the opening of the store after the revamp. He hadn't noticed
that the ladies where more interested in the young man stood behind him, the
'lad' that had jumped when Ms White the tall black woman who was in charge of
the leather goods department had stepped up close to him. The all of a sudden
another and another and another female supervisor also appeared next to him.

There was Ms Black, the busty blond white woman, overseer of the cosmetics
department. Ms Brown, the petite Oriental woman, responsible for the jewellery
department and finally Ms Green, an exotic Asian woman, who was in control of
the shoes and accessories department. Each of these women was in her mid to
late 30's, each had been here at the store for a long time, each woman had
worked her way up from being a sales assistant to runner her own department.
And each woman was determined they would be the next to take over from Mr
Thorn when he left, which hopefully would be soon!

Down in the basement and Charles was still in some shock at finding out that
this was where he was going to be working, this was his office! Mrs Thorn was
calmly going through his duties of checking on all deliveries, counting each
item as it came in and each item that went upstairs into the store to be sold.
Ticking everything off and accounting for everything. She told him how to
check on the stock and finally when stocks where low he was fill out the
relevant form and bring it up to her office, remembering to 'Knock and Wait',
then he could give her the requisition form and she would do the rest!

"So, I'm a storeman? That's it a plain simply storeman, I'm supposed to be
your assistant!" At this point the man had lots it a bit he was angry and
annoyed that his 'management post' was in fact just a 'simple storeman's' job.
He began to raise his voice to show his displeasure at the way he was being
treated. The store started to echo with the sound of Charles' voice as it went
on and on and at this point the older woman was not too impressed with how her
'assistant' was behaving, she wasn't happy in the least. So, the much older
woman moved closer to her much younger, taller, bigger male assistant and,
WHACK! OOOOWWWW!

Back upstairs and Mr Thorn had fished his little speech to the ladies about
the re-opening and with a quick "oh by the way this is Melvin and he's my
assistant so be gentle with him please!" 'That was a strange introduction' the
young man thought. Now Mr Thorn turn and mutter "you stay here and get to know
how things work around the floor and I'll see you later, I hope!" and very
quickly the ground floor manager was gone. This just left Melvin there with
the ladies of the ground floor and before he knew it the four female
department heads where all around him, it almost felt as if he was surrounded.

Each of the women looked hesitantly at this new male here on their floor, why
was he here, was he being prepared to take over from Mr Thorn? That idea went
through each of the four women's heads and it didn't go down well! Melvin felt
somewhat nervous at this point to say the least, at being so intently
scrutinised by the four women. He tried to break the ice with "so which one of
you lovely ladies is going to show me their working area first?" No, that
defiantly didn't go down at all well with Ms White, Black, Green or Brown, not
in the least. 'So maybe he needed to be a bit firmer here, he was after all
the assistant manager!' "Right ladies you need to know that ... ... " SMACK!

Down in the basement and the older woman had finished off her briefing on the
man's duties by bring her arm and fist around and slamming it into the side of
his jaw. This rocked Charles, it shocked him as he wasn't expecting anything
like that, in fact he was just getting into his stride and focused on telling
this woman, his 'boss' just what he thought, that he hadn't seen the woman
move and strike him. Or was it because she was just too fast and that's why he
hadn't seen her?

But he'd certainly felt it, if he hadn't seen it, there was a couple of steps
that he was forced to take backwards and how his body was now hunched over was
testament to the force this older, and much smaller, weaker woman had put
behind that strike of hers. Instinctively Charles hand came up and held onto
his sore, throbbing jaw that was numb and hurting all at the same time. But in
a second or two the man was back upright and standing tall having shock his
head and was now ready to demand that this woman ... ... THUD! UUUFFFFFF!

On the ground floor and Melvin had also been on the receiving end of a harsh
blow, a fist that had come from nowhere and struck him in his side, winding
him, making him cry out and making him screw his body over to his injured
side. The blow had been driven hard into the man by one of the women, Melvin
wasn't sure but he thought it had been the small oriental woman, Ms Brown,
who'd struck him, 'but why would she have done that to him?'

He grasped and took in a sharp breath to steady himself and it had helped, so
as he straightened himself upright and the pain started to ease off, then,
THUD! OOWWFFF! A second blow this time to his other side and this time he was
sure it had come from the tall black woman, Ms White. His body jolted and he
winced as the blow was struck and he tried to gasp for another lungful of air.
As the second blow went in the ladies of the ground floor started to formed a
large circle around the new man and the four department heads!

Charles was having some trouble trying to catch his breath after a woman's
shoe had been driven hard into his gut. The smaller older woman had thrown
herself into a spin, moved to one side and brought her leg up. The trouser
suit had allowed her the movement she needed to get that leg up, around and
send her foot, her shoe into his stomach and to hurt the younger man! Charles
staggered and rocked from foot to foot, he gasped heavily as he shuddered, he
was forced to breath out hard then immediately take in a big gulp of air. 'How
the hell did this old woman manage to hurt him like that, it was unreal!'

As he tried to deal with the blow, she'd sent his way Mrs Thorn moved again,
there was a half-step, a kind of hop as she got close, her arms came up, he
caught sight of this and flinched but that wasn't her move. She twisted her
hip, crocked her leg and brought it up high, really high. For an older woman
she was flexible, she could really move and use her body. As she gave that
twist, got in close, went up onto her tiptoe and drove her hooked leg and knee
up high, it struck him just under his ribcage. Immediately followed by more
whimpering and gasping for breath.

It was another driving blow that not only hurt him, gave him a problem or two
with catching his breath but it also sent him tumbling backwards and into a
pile of cardboard boxes that were stacked neatly there waiting to be book into
the system. He'd crashed through and into the boxes shattering them and
hurting him. In one way the man was throwing himself into his new job, or
falling down on it, that was for his 'boss' to decide!

Up on the ground floor and Melvin had been rocked by the second blow he'd
received, but he didn't get a chance to take this in as a third strike was
already on its way to him and, CRACK! UUUUHHHHH! All he felt was a strike to
the back of his head, which sent a tingling, throbbing, cold and warm feeling
through his head at the same time. It made his wobble around, and had been Ms
Black who'd thrown the punch that was now making this man very unsteady on his
feet. It was followed by a loud cheer from the group of 'ladies' that had
entrapped the man as the four women where introducing themselves to him!

Instantly one of the women in the circle called something out, but Melvin's
head was spinning too much to make it out clearly, if he had he would have
known that the ground floor 'bookmaker' had open up shop and was already
taking bets! The only one of the four female department heads that hadn't show
her hand yet was Ms Green, but she soon sorted that oversight out, SMACK! The
Asian woman's fist came around and struck Melvin in the side of his head, it
was a good blow, one that made him stumbling down onto one knee.

With each woman now having at least one blow on the man the bets where flowing
in, although he didn't know it this was a bit of a pastime that the ladies of
the ground floor liked to enjoy. A simple harmless wager the ladies had now
and again, who would be the one to put the new man down and out. But for these
four women it was more than just a normal game, this man was after 'their' job
as floor manager, they were sure of that, so this was personal!

Charles was down on the floor and feeling bad, he was hurt, in shock and had
no idea now what was going on, why or ... ... UUUUUHHHHH! A hand came down
grabbed onto the man and began to haul him up off the storeroom floor and up
onto his knees. Two hands now brought him up further, so that, CRUNCH!
UUUFFFFF! As he came up the smaller woman stepped backwards and dragged the
man to her, making him double over, bending him over so that when she brought
her knee up as his jaw was at the right height and in just the right position.

He was struck hard and right on the tip of his jaw so his teeth slammed
together, breaking at least one of them and sending a shatter painful
shockwave all the way back to his jaw joint. It was the kind of blow that
would make his jaw feel sore for at least a week, and probably longer. But
that was for later, this was still here and now and he had enough pain right
now and right now he had to do something to stop the older woman from,
OOOWWWHHHH! THUD!

But he didn't get the chance as Mrs Thorne had hold and somehow turned and
thrown the much large younger man over her tiny body, taking him off his feet,
how she manged that he just didn't know. As she sent him over her and slammed
him into the cold, hard concrete floor of the store room. As he hit the floor
his body jolted, his head went upwards and straight into, WHACK! UUUFFFFFF!
His female boss' leg went out, and her shoe went into his already hurting and
sore jaw and she kicked out and caught Charles just where she wanted to.

Upstairs and the four ladies where now taking their next shot at the man that
they had 'trapped.' The large outer circle made up of the rest of the sales
ladies was getting more excited and impatient at seeing which of the
department heads would take this man down. Melvin was grabbed up two hands one
from Ms White and one from Ms Brown, then dragged back up onto his feet so
that, THUD! OOOWWWW! Ms Black, the blond woman had reached out grabbed the
young man, pulled him to her and thrown her knee up into his groin!

The young man's body tensed up and then froze, he closed his eye tightly, then
his body shock as he tried to deal with the pain. But Ms Green didn't let him
take too much time to try and recover, she grabbed hold of his shoulder, spun
the man around to face her and, WALLOP! OOOOHHHHH! A roar went up for the
watching ladies as this woman flung her head forwards and slammed her forehead
hard into the lad face!

Melvin staggered and wobbled, then, WHACK! There was another hefty cheer that
went up from the rest of the ladies in the circle as more bets where placed.
Ms White long leg seemed to come out of nowhere and from the side of him,
driving up and slamming into the bottom of his jaw. He wobbled, swayed some
more and, CRACK! Ms Brown sent her fist in for yet another strong strike, this
time to the side of his head that should have taken the younger man off his
feet, but somehow, he was still managing to stay up, but for how long?

In the store room and after Charles had rolled across the floor a couple of
times and had come to a halt, he was lying was on his back when, CRUNCH!
ARRRRRHHHHH! Mrs Thorns high heeled shoe came down, sharply into Charles'
groin, the younger man's body shock violently, and now she pushed down and
applied some more pressure there. "So, your quite happy with your duties down
here are you, No questions then? Good!"

She stepped up, causing more pain to his tender groin and as she did, she
pulled her other leg backward and then kicked out, CRACK! As she stepped on
him the pain was intense and his head came up, just nicely for her to shot her
other foot forward and kick him under his jaw. The strike, the kick sent
Charles out cold and his briefing about his new duties as Mrs Thorn's
assistant was all over!

On the ground floor and Melvin was still staggering, wobbling and swaying
around, it was unclear as to whether he knew what was going on, the look on
his battered face was quite vacant. But he'd done well and manged to last
longer than anyone could remember for a long time for someone taking part in
this game. But it was time to finish the game and get back to work, after all
that's why the ladies where all here!

Ms White, Ms Black, Ms Green and Ms Brown all stood around the hapless Melvin
and, SMACK! WHACK! THUD! CRUNCH! Four fists all drove into him at the same
time and finally he was finished, he shook dynamically, then was still for as
second, his eyes closed and he just dropped down to the floor where he stood,
on the floor he jolted once and then was still.

When he came too Charles was still where Mrs Thorn has finished with him, it
took a few moments to realise where he was and remember what had happened to
him. He could hear laughter and looked up, there was Mr Jenkin looking down at
him. "So, your awake are you, good!" He dropped a pile of paperwork onto the
younger man and "Mrs Thorn said this lot needs to all be sorted out by 6
O'clock, or else! It's now 5 so you'll need to get a move on!" Mr Jenkins
turned and left, still laughing and Charles wonder what sort of a job had he
landed here?

Around the same time and outside the small office of Mr Thorn, Melvin started
to come to as he lay on the floor there. He'd been dragged off the sales floor
as he was getting in the way and dumped here. Some of the ladies where walking
up and down the corridor but ignoring him as if he wasn't even there. Mr Thorn
poked his head out of his 'office' "Arrh, you there are you, well I hope the
ladies all looked after you, remember tomorrow is our revamped store opening,
so be here bright and early to help the ladies!" Melvin wonder what sort of a
job he'd got here?

But even so Charles and Melvin carried on working at Wilson's Department
store, the pay was good, the benefits and holidays package where generous too.
But maybe there was also another reasons, another incentive for these young
men. Something else that drove their wiliness to carry on working here!

Down in the basement of the department store, in the storeroom, in the
'office' of the assistant to the store's procurement manager, Charles would
work all day long, counting all the deliveries, ticking everything off,
checking all the stock. Then when something was low, he'd go upstairs and
report to his boss, remembering to 'Knock and Wait.' But then, once possibly
twice a week Mrs Thorn would go down to the basement area and visit the
storeroom. There she would walk in remove her jacket so she was in her suit
trousers that allowed her legs to move so freely, her sharp white blouse, with
some buttons undone and her waist coat. And dressed like this she would kick
her assistance arse around the storeroom, she'd beat him, punch him, kick him,
slap him. Mrs Thorn would use her driving fists, send her legs and feet into
him, raise her knee and drive it into his body.

Charles was getting to be quite a good assistant and if he'd been good during
one of her visits, really good, she just might ... ... !

Up on the ground floor and Melvin was also 'getting use to' his new job.
During the stores opening hours he assisted the four female department heads
so the ground floor run smoothly. He was doing all the running around and
acting very much as a general dog's body for the women. But after the store
closed, after everything was packed away, the main lights were turned off,
this young man still had a few other 'duties' to perform! It was only once,
twice a week but he would be told to wait after everyone, well most of the
staff had left and then either Ms White, Ms Black, Ms Green or Ms Brown would
meet him out on the shop floor and beat him. Ms Brown with her sharp blows, Ms
Green with her hard knocks, Ms Black with her high kicks and Ms White with her
powerful hits. Sometimes there was even a few other women there betting on how
long he'd last, this time!

Melvin was doing well in his assistant duties, he was even quite a hit with
the four department heads, who also liked to ... ... ... !

Up in the boardroom and the initial reports on the two younger men that had
been posted to a managerial roll where positive. There was even some talk
about employing another young graduate. The women's clothing department could
do with an assistant manager ... ... !