All for One Silly Joke!

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Wednesday morning as I entered the office Veronica in reception greeted me

- Hi, James. Nice to see you dressed properly again.

I hated it. Just because I decided to joke the Friday before and come dressed in a skirt, a nice blouse that just barely showed the bra under it, pantyhose and shoes with a bit of a heel my life was utterly and completely destroyed. My girlfriend and I had thought it would be hilarious and she had helped me to put on some make-up. Nothing over the top. Just some nice make-up that actually made my 25 year old but unfortunately rather babyish face a bit more mature.

At first everything went according to plan. The other engineers got the joke and had fun comparing my outfit with the usual “dress code” at the design office, i.e. jeans, baggy college shirts and such. Actually I was the only one in a skirt. Not that there were many females among us but anyway. I also got compliments from other people that I met while going from one place another. In one morning I had become modestly famous in the company. Then things started to go wrong, terribly, horribly wrong.

At lunchtime Mike, the project manager for the project I was working in, got a heart attack. Fortunately they managed to get him to hospital quickly and he survived. However, he was supposed to do to the presentation for the potential customer that afternoon. The project was huge and this was the last meeting before the customer finally decided to go ahead or not.

All the other sub-project managers were away for some reason or other. There was only I. Yes, I was a sub-project manager but decidedly junior. I had a grand total of 5 days in that position. Despite this I was told to do the presentation. There was no one else. Fortunately Mike had done a dry-run in front of the sub-project managers the day before so the presentation was ready and I was familiar with it but how to manage all the unavoidable questions? I was so caught up in all this that I had completely forgotten how I was dressed.

It was only when I saw the reaction of everyone when I entered the room that I remembered how I was dressed. Clothes never had been an issue for me since I never mingled with the Suits. This order was crucial for the company and I could see that our CEO, who I’d never met before, was not amused. I really don’t remember that much from the meeting. I remember fielding a number of questions. Actually quite good questions. Mostly I explained why it would be impossible or very costly to do what they asked. Once or twice I offered an unconventional alternative. Those alternative solutions had usually been discussed within the project but discarded exactly because they were untested even if most likely viable. Mike was the kind of guy that did everything by the book. Since I was toast anyway I also slipped in an idea of my own that I firmly believed in but Mike had discarded without really considering. So now I had made certain that if I wasn’t fired by the upper management for turning up in a skirt and wearing make-up then Mike would kick me out.

I made my escape and left for home as quickly as I could.

Monday was terrible. Everyone looked at me in a peculiar way. In many faces I thought I could read “disappointment”, especially among the females, in others “schadenfreude”. After lunch something happened. Rumors started floating around, not that anyone told ME anything. The faces of some of my fellow engineers started to become tinged with “hatred”. I must have really screwed up. I didn’t mean to. Honestly, I did my best. For God’s sake it was only meant as a joke. I had no idea I would be thrust into that meeting! Now everything was lost. All for one silly joke.

Tuesday morning Veronica once more looked at me disapprovingly and asked why I didn’t dress the way I knew I should. When I got to my desk I was told that the CEO wanted to see me ASAP.

My meeting with the CEO completely destroyed my life. I was a good engineer. Yes, I like solutions that are a bit daring but I'm not reckless. I want to design things. Find solutions to difficult problems. All my plans were in ruins now. All for one silly joke!

Wednesday morning again.
As I walked down the corridor I got compliments on how I was dressed.
- Love that suit James.
- Lovely suit James. It really becomes you
- James, you look scrumptious today. Much better than those tatty jeans your wore yesterday.

That last from the CEO’s secretary, a really silly girl.

Yes, I had become a “Suit” a being that I’d always regarded with contempt. “Chief Customer Liaison for Project Theta”. Also “Executive Assistant Project Manager”. Just the titles themselves should be grounds for capital punishment! As the CEO had apologetically explained I was a bit inexperienced to be the Project Manager just yet so he had put old, experienced and soon to be retired Steve McMurdo in that position to help me grow into the job. Mike had decided to retire after his heart-attack. No wonder my peers hated my guts. No sensible manager “promotes” someone this way. Oh, the customers had just loved me! Just when they had written off our company as too old-fashioned and set in its ways I had appeared. Unconventional, smart, undaunted by titles and positions, unpretentious, cute! And pitching good ideas to boot! Yes, they wanted the project as modified by me but most of all they wanted ME! Hence the ridiculous situation I was in now. All for one silly joke!

Walking down the corridor you could hear the clicking of my heels which made me wonder why my CEO had insisted that I wear a skirt suit and high heels for the meeting with the customers this morning. No, I didn’t buy his explanation that the very high heels would keep me on my toes. If the customers liked unconventional why wear a classic skirt business suit? Not that I didn’t like it. It accentuated my narrow waist and the reaction from people I met was that I have a really spectacular pair of legs. But it’s CONVENTIONAL!

Maybe I should burn my bra?

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Comments

Unconventional

Unconventional, as usual.

Very clever... thought James

Donna T's picture

Very clever... thought James (or is that Jane now?) had got fired.

Donna

Did is Girl Friend see it...

as a silly joke or does she love her unconventional boyfriend this way. I know this is a solo story, but there's room for more and unanswered questions.

Hugs, Jessie C

Jessica E. Connors

Jessica Connors

For one thing...

she didn't have to buy herself a skirt-suit for the job interview she had the next Friday. On the other side his legs are much prettier than hers.

That's Done And Dusted

joannebarbarella's picture

James' career path is decided. She's condemned to a life in skirt-suits.

Not typical Bru but "unconventionally funny"

BarbieLee's picture

Got to laughing halfway through this story and almost had to climb back in the chair to finish after "almost" falling off it. I believe this one is right at the top of my favorite Bru stories. Not upside down, inside out nor so convoluted you wonder what that girl had been drinking and smoking before she put finger to keyboard. You just know it couldn't have been one or the other as absolutely no one could be that mental unless they have achieve liftoff and left orbit. Forget the damn story, I want some of what she's been smoking and drinking.

Ahh, gotta love Bru as she never fails to deliver. And just to screw with our minds some more when we believe she can't do any more harm she hands us this! This is turning into a love hate situation!
Hugs Doll
always,
Barb

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

I had my doubts about "that" church thingy

BarbieLee's picture

After arriving at my flat, your driver James was smiling ear to ear when he opened the door on the Rolls. What was with that? James has never smiled. NEVER! The other thing, you told me to wear something sexy. To church? And who was that in the background when you called me on the phone? I swear I head them say sacrifice and virgin. When I asked, you claimed they said sacrament and the virgin Mary. I don't know what you and that high church were up to but I was afraid you would forget I am not a virgin and didn't want to be the a sacrifice.

I want you to know I went down to Benny's Pub on copper street and had my milk and cookies. And if I wanted to sacrifice myself, there were a couple dozen lecherous men there who would have been pleased to help. While we are on the subject, I want you to know I might not want to ride in to work with you next week. Those ten switches I have to do between buses to get to work aren't looking that bad lately. Oh, and lose my phone number. I'll call you if I change my mind.

One last thing sister, you never smoke anything besides three horses??? Troika a sled or carriage drawn by three horses. Just how much were you NOT drinking at that party??? Don't come by next week as I am not riding to work with you.

Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl

Well, my memory is a bit hazy

but I think the one cigarette I've smoked was of the brand Troika. Setting: Somewhere on the Transsibirian railroad in the Soviet Union. A Russian soldier on his way home after three years of military service in the DDR without any visit home. Very happy and very, very drunk. He insisted on smoking a cigarette with me.

Is it the RR you object to? In that case I could come in the troika. And you misheard, it wasn't Virgin Mary. It was a Virgin Bloody Mary. And yes, for that person it was a sacrife to forego ethanol.

Bru

Just when I thought you

Just when I thought you couldn't give us a twist that we didn't expect, you give us a twist we didn't expect!

"Be careful what you wish for,you just might get it" seems about right for that bit of irony! I'd feel sorry for him if he didn't deserve it :D

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

Nice twist

on an old theme. Makes it almost worth wearing a 'suit'.

Bru Twists

Daphne Xu's picture

So James was this story's recipient of the Bru twist ending: he thought he was going to be fired, but instead he got promoted to Suit. So which was the worse outcome?

-- Daphne Xu

-- Try saying freefloating three times rapidly.

Which position is he sorry for?

Jamie Lee's picture

Good that his girlfriend agreed it'd be a hoot if he dressed in women's business attire for that one day, or he might have lost her had she not been involved.

Upon seeing him/her some are wondering and others agree with the choices. Big oh crap comes when he's the only one who can give a presentation to a client, as he's dressed.

His ideas are a hit with the client, how he's dressed is a hit, and now he has to wear appropriate women's business attire at the request of the client. And he got promoted.

So, which position didn't he like? How he had to dress, which he really didn't fuss about, or getting promoted because he helped keep a client? All because of one joke.

Others have feelings too.

Well, at heart he's an engineer

so he resents having been shunted into management.

As for dressing he also dislikes the restrictive business skirt suit and high heels. He did come to work in a skirt and a nice blouse as a joke but those were more relaxed and comfortable. Also, he questions his CEO's judgment regarding how to relatate to the customers. He, and apparantly the customers, rejects the stuffy part.

All for one silly joke

It was a good story
I love the skirt suit idea

The question is

whether the customer likes it or not.

So

When do you add the humor?


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin