DEALING WITH THE HEAT... & more (Part 174d)

DEALING WITH THE HEAT… & more (Part 174d)

The temperature at 11pm was still in the high 80’s and there wasn’t even a whisper of wind. Elle took a shower and headed up the stairs while I made sure every window was open. It was a waste of time taking my shower because I was perspiring by the time I hit the top step of the stairs. I took a look at Elle and almost couldn’t believe my eyes. All she was wearing was the top from an old cotton short set and panties The was no sheet over her and what was even more interesting was I recognized a beach towel under her. I had to ask. She’d decided it was too hot for her ‘package’ and the full plastic panties that were a part of it. She told me she’d pulled the rubber/flannel pad out from under the bottom sheet and put it on top with two beach towels to soak up her pee if she didn’t wake up and make it to the bathroom when her alarms went off. I thought it was pretty bold of her as I looked down and saw she’d conceded to wearing her cotton Spanky pants. Climbing in beside her I knew there would be no ’snuggling’ on this night.

I was awake to hear the first two of Elle’s alarms. Sleep was just about impossible. When leaving the house for work the temperature was 85 degrees and there was still no sign of wind. Driving to work there was one thing to look forward to and that was the air conditioning… or so I thought. When the renovation was done and a second floor added they didn’t plan for an extended heat wave. On Friday, the first real signs of it had showed we were barely able to keep the temperature at a reasonable level. Over the weekend and with the temperature over 90 degrees during the day it hadn’t been able to keep up. A look at the thermostat showed it was already over 80 degrees. It didn’t take long for the employees to start complaining. The dress code had been eased  a few years earlier and it hadn’t been abused. The skirt and dress hems had remained ‘reasonable’ and I had no idea of what else could be done to make the employees more comfortable. Bret and I were the only males on the first floor and we could take off our jackets. It was going to be a long day.

Heat rises and it sure did in this building. The men could ditch their jackets but there wasn’t much that could be done for the women. Bert, the president, called Hobie and I to his office to see if there wasn’t something that could be done. The only thing we could come up with was to get some fans. We dispatched Mike, the messenger/custodian to go to the hardware store but he was too late as they were sold out. I had him check at the Sears store and then sent him to the first of the ‘Big Box’ stores that had opened up on the ‘by pass’. The only one to make a big deal of the situation was, as could be expected, J J, the Vice President in charge of mortgages. He’d been relatively ‘quiet’ in recent times but wasn’t on this day as he was agitating the employees about it. To put it bluntly, it pissed me off. Trish made me aware of it and when he didn’t pick up his phone I made my way up the stairs to find him. As I’ve written in the past, the telephone receptionist was located in the mezzanine area right at the top of the stairs. Over time, by using the stairs, I’d managed to get some good panty peeks. That was not what was on my mind as I reached the top step. However, once there that changed. Lynne, J J’s secretary, was the back-up for the switchboard. She had always ‘pushed the envelope’ as far as wearing short skirts/dresses was concerned and on this day she’d taken it to a new level. Sitting there she’d pulled the hem of her dress up into her lap… and that always elusive little triangle was there to be observed. She was busy with the phones so, when I stopped on the top step she paid me no attention. If there was anything that could’ve calmed me down at that time… that was it.

Mike was able to get his hands on six small fans. We put two behind the tellers and the other four went to J J to distribute. They were enough to shut him up… at least for a while. The customers didn’t make much of the heat inside the building with one saying that, compared to being outside, it was “very comfortable”, or something close to it. However, I had it in mind to let most of the employees leave early. I cleared it with Bert, Hobie and JJ with the only caveats being someone had to be there to man the phones until 5pm with at least one knowledgeable person from the banking floor and from the mortgage department to be able to answer potential questions. When I asked for volunteers there were two surprises when Bret and J J said they’d stay. I told Lorie to initiate the daily proof beginning at 2:30pm. When the word got out there was a definite pick-up in staff attitude. To me, it was only fair.

It was around 3:30pm when the word went out that the tellers were in proof and at 3:35pm the only people left on the first floor were Bret and I. Out of habit, before leaving, I went to get my brief case. As I did my phone rang. Again, out of habit I looked over to Joanie’s desk expecting her to take the call so I could leave… but there was no Joanie. The call was from Stan, my stock broker, calling to ask if I had any money available. I didn’t but having him calling to ask was a signal to me that he had some interesting stock for me to invest in and I wanted to know what it was. I asked if I could stop over to talk about it. I truly wasn’t thinking about Lynda at that moment but when I walked into the office I surely was.

Four days of 90+ degree days in a row was taking it’s toll in many ways. The building that the brokerage was located in had been built around the turn of the century before insulation. When I opened the door there was little difference between the outside air and what was inside. The fans they had were bigger that what Mike had been able to purchase and I could feel the volume of air being pushed. Just feeling the air moving was a help. When I walked in I immediately looked to my right. I knew the office work area was to be slightly remodeled. Linda had told me it was to give her and Ruthe more surface area to work with but I hadn’t been there in a while. Standing just inside the doorway I could see Linda’s desk had been removed and replaced with a counter at desk top height. It ran the entire length (about 10 feet) of the low partition that separated Linda’s space from her boss, Stan. The area underneath it was completely open with no cabinets to obstruct her ability to roll her chair from end to end. Standing there I could see that Linda had done basically the same thing that Lynne (at the bank) had done with her skirt and rolled it up into her lap… and I could see a wisp of pale blue on her hip. When she saw me she immediately turned towards me. But, to get her chair to turn she had to push off with her right foot which opened up the space between her knees… and gave me a momentary unobstructed view of her crotch. It was an involuntary reaction that covered my face and Lynda picked up on it immediately. She pushed herself over towards where I was standing and just as she got there spread her knees. I knew this was on purpose and I smiled which caused her to blush… and that caused me to blush as well.

To be continued…