by Jack Crawford
Cerise (Cherry) Stone strode through the small parking lot of the Connecticut fabrication company, a small specialty machine shop where she was the office manager - which meant she worked for the sole owner of the facility as secretary and bookkeeper. Sliding the big metal doors aside just to enough to walk onto the shop floor, she could sense the work slow to a grinding halt.
"Morning, Cherry!" one man yelled out over the sound of the drills and grinders and suddenly a chorus of morning greetings echoed in the big metal shop.
Cherry could feel the admiring gaze of all the guys on the floor as she waved her acknowledgment and strode purposefully to the stairs that led up to the office.
Work did not stop, nor did the guys on the floor yell out their greetings because she had some power in the small company, or because she had any real influence. They all stopped when Cherry came in because of the stairway. It was a long metal stairway that led up one wall to the office which was about a story and a half above the busy shop floor. It was exposed all the way up ... and all the guys wanted to watch Cherry climb the stairs.
Whether Cherry wore the skin tight jeans she now had on, or the occasional tight, short skirt when she was really in a teasing mood, did not matter. The guys on the floor, young and old alike, all stopped to admire the rolling motion of Cherry's bottom cheeks as she took step after step up the long set of stairs. Cherry loved the attention and her day always became better than it started when she felt the admiring gazes on her behind. She knew they were silently stripping her in their minds, imagining her naked bottom as she ascended the stairs, and the thought gave her a thrill.
Once in the spartan offices above, the noise of the metal working resumed to full pitch. Cherry flipped on her PC, stepped over and made a pot of coffee and once it had finished brewing made two cups of regular coffee. ‘Regular’ coffee in Derby, Connecticut was considered coffee with milk and two sugars. More than one visitor discovered this the hard way when passing through.
Setting one coffee on her desk, she took the other one in to her boss, Anthony Manchisi, who gratefully accepted the foam cup of coffee, sipped it and said, "I thought you'd never make it in."
It was a running joke between them and Cherry was actually right on time. Anthony had a need for morning caffeine and a lazy streak that made him wait until Cherry came in and made the coffee. Anthony was an OK boss. He never really hassled Cherry about anything after he took over the business when his father died several years ago.
Anthony Sr. had hired Cherry as a favor to her father and it was one of the favors he had never regretted. Cherry did not have a head for college and she did not have the heart to try, either. She knew the discipline it took to complete college was not within her and she also did not have the desire to attend even when most of her high school friends left home. But she did have excellent keyboard skills and was quick study with numbers and bookkeeping. She grew into the job and became a very valuable asset, especially now to Anthony Jr. who knew enough about specialty machining but was not very business savvy.
Now 23 years of age, Cherry was relied upon extensively by Anthony Jr. even though he was only twelve years her senior. Anthony was good at the sales end of the business, but he relied on Cherry to the point that it was Cherry who actually worked up the bids for all the new projects Anthony brought in. By work contributions she was really more of a partner than an office manager, though she was paid as a secretary/bookkeeper.
Today was going to change Cherry's role at the company forever. Events that were even now rolling into motion had begun three days earlier. Quarterly sales tax reports had been filed on Monday, along with all the other State and Federal required filings such as Worker's Compensation, income tax quarterly reports and payments, and a handful of other requisite reports and payments that seemed to grow every year.
But on that Monday, Cherry had not been fully focused and in the master bookkeeping system she maintained, she missed a decimal point. She had been in such a cloud that the normal reports came out stating ten times higher sales numbers and she had only experienced a moment of hesitation when she wrote out remittance checks that were ten times their normal size. The numbers looked right ... but not exactly right.
The first clue that something was wrong was when the local bank manager called to ask if Anthony wanted to draw down on his line of credit to cover a check. Anthony had been out of the office and Cherry took the call and suddenly panicked. Why couldn't they cover the government checks they had written?
It suddenly became clear when Cherry went back through the numbers and the reports and she realized the enormity of her error. She did the wisest, yet most illogical thing, telling the manager to bounce the check for insufficient funds, got a list of recently cleared checks then had all other outstanding checks cancelled. The cancelled checks represented most of the government checks she had written on Monday.
While Anthony was still out, she got on the phone to each agency and explained the problem with the incorrect reports. For the most part, her counterparts in the agencies had a chuckle but willingly destroyed the reports and checks. She had some untangling to do with the sales tax report, but it resulted in a significant prepayment that could be whittled down over time. All the other reports required a penalty for late reporting and the company owed fees for the cancellation of checks and the NSF of the one called in.
It amounted to over $1,000 in penalties and fees, but it could have been much worse.
Fortunately for Cherry, Anthony was out all day, so she was able to redo the reports and prepare them for his signature when he returned. Despite fixing her mistake, she knew it was a serious error and she would probably lose her job. Consequently, she did not sleep a wink that night.
The next morning Cherry wore something Anthony had asked her not to wear the last time she came in with it on. The skirt was ridiculously short and clung to her hips like plastic wrap and the sleeveless blouse was low cut and could only be worn without a bra. There was lots of Cherry showing when she came in that morning, and work actually stopped when the guys noticed her attire. Machinery cut off and the morning greetings seemed to stick in the men's throats. They simply watched the little sex kitten walk the floor and ascend the stairs. It was some minutes before work resumed.
Cherry made the coffee and after setting one cup down for Anthony, she seated herself in a chair opposite his desk. Anthony had been distracted by something else and when he looked up he muttered, "Shit!" as he spilled the coffee on his desk. As he mopped up the coffee he angrily snapped at Cherry, "I told you not to wear those clothes! One of the guys is likely to lose a finger in the machinery while they ogle you."
"Actually," she began with tear-filled eyes, "there is a bigger problem than that." As Anthony slumped back in his chair he quietly listened as Cherry explained what had happened, how she discovered the errors, and what she had done to ameliorate the issues.
With a huge sigh after Cherry had told her tale, Anthony said quietly, "Leave the originally filed reports and the corrections right here. Then I want you to keep the phones quiet and not interrupt me. I only want to be disturbed if my wife calls and says the house is burning, otherwise no interruptions ... from anyone."
Cherry nodded, rose and left the reports on his desk. She turned to look at Anthony as she was closing his office door and started to apologize again, "Anthony, I am so-"
He cut her off tersely, saying, "I said no interruptions."
Cherry quietly shut the door, biting her lip to keep tears from starting, then sat quietly at her desk all morning.
At noon, Anthony's door opened and Cherry started to say something to him, but she was silenced with a warning finger. "I'll be out for a while, Cherry," he said in a quiet voice. "I expect you to be sitting right there when I get back. We have things to discuss and I want to think about them and not be emotional. I may be late, but you will wait."
With that, Anthony left the office amidst the noise of the machinery below. From her window, Cherry could watch Anthony cross the parking lot to his car and pull out of the lot. From this vantage point, she always knew when anyone came or went.
It was a long afternoon wait for Cherry. By the time 4pm rolled by and the guys on the floor began punching out, it felt more like four days for Cherry as opposed to four hours. She watched the men leave the building and the slow exodus of their vehicles from the parking lot. It was only 4:30pm when she saw Anthony's car pull into the lot, but the waiting had been horrible.
Cherry waited breathlessly as she listened to Anthony's steps coming up the stairs. She knew they were alone and that it had to be Anthony, so she remained seated just as he had ordered (though she doubted he would remember.) Silently, Anthony walked past her desk and into his own office, beckoning her to follow, then motioning for her to sit in the chair opposite his desk.
They silently appraised each other as Cherry feared to speak and Anthony chose his words. Finally, he spoke. "Cherry, what you did was an outrageous example of carelessness. I appreciate that you took the initiative to correct the errors, but that shouldn't have been necessary. You could have cost us thousands of dollars, and fortunately only about one thousand is the real expense ... other than how foolish we look to the various agencies and the bank." Beneath his calm exterior, he was steaming mad and Cherry could tell. "What should I do about this?" he finally asked.
Cherry's eyes welled up with tears and she hung her head. She finally choked out, "I expect you'll be firing me. But, whether you do or don't, I will pay back that $1,000 somehow." The ensuing silence was deafening in the small office so normally filled with the sounds of heavy machinery.
"For a host of reasons, Cherry, I don't want to let you go," Anthony said kindly, adding, "but, I do expect two things." She looked up at him as is she hadn't heard him correctly. "First," he said holding up his index finger, "you will repay the money you cost my company. Second," he continued extending another finger, "you deserve to be punished. Wouldn't you agree?"
Cherry nodded, excitedly saying, "Yes. Yes. Of course if it means I can keep my job!"
Anthony smiled and asked her, "What would your father do in this situation?"
The contrite office manager suddenly blushed hotly, her face turning scarlet and suddenly unable to look up at her boss. She murmured, "He would spank me, and it would probably be a strapping with his belt."
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