Spanking & Chastening: Revelation

The 18th floor was a whirlwind of activity from the moment I stepped off the elevator. On an ordinary day I would never have given it any thought, but standing there with dozens of people brushing passed me, I was never more grateful for the ambiguity of my professional business attire. I blended neatly into the crowd, disoriented and searching for a direction that made sense. Looking around I noticed everyone seemed to be paying attention to a single man at the end of the corridor with his back to me. I pushed my way through until I reached him.

I said, "I'm hoping you can help me."

He glanced over at me and just as quickly returned his attention to the larger room ahead. For a moment I thought he was going to ignore me entirely, but then he said, "You're Virginia West?"

"Yes, sir."

"You see all these people behind me here?" He asked. I nodded and he continued, "Take them through the double doors at the other end of the hall and get them seated. At the front of the room you'll find a table with a box of blank name tags and a few markers. Pass them out and have everyone write down their name and put the tag above their left breast in plain view. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"And Miss West," He said as I was turning to the crowd, "Might as well make a name tag for yourself and here," He pushed a set of keys into my hand, "You'll need these."

On the other side of the double doors I discovered a large auditorium. It was a relatively simple matter to get everyone to follow me inside and start filling the rows of seating. I quickly created my own name tag and attached the self adhesive material to my blazer before passing the tags and markers around the room. I had not known what to expect when Mr. Foley had sent me on my way, but it was looking as if a stint in acquisitions was going to be an infinitely better day than my stint in the mail room. Cautiously optimistic, I allowed myself a smile of relief.

It did not take long for the room to fill up to the point of standing room only. A half dozen men came to stand behind the last row of seats when the man in charge walked in and joined me at the front of the room. He looked around at the seated group, the final few attaching name tags as he had requested, and nodded at me. It appeared I had finally done something right.

"Excellent job Virginia," He said, "If you would, there are some folding chairs in the closet up there, the small key should open it."

I followed his nod to the upper left corner of the room and made my way up the central ramp and passed the standing men to the closet. Sure enough there was a stack of folding chairs hidden inside which I quickly passed out to the men without seats. The man in charge met me at the center back of the room on my way back to the front and stopped me. A woman arrived with a cart full of paper cups and three coffee pots. With a curt nod to the man, she turned around, leaving the cart with us. He closed the doors.

He turned to me and said, "I don't want any mess from cream or sugar packs, so black coffee only. We have about 15 minutes before the meeting will start and I'll need you up front with me when it does."

"Yes, sir," I said and set off distributing coffee from the center aisle to be passed along each row for those who wanted it. It was not the most glamorous job, but it sure beat distributing mail in my birthday suit.

As I distributed coffee, a group of carts, full of boxes, were pushed in and left on the front stage behind the table. Coffee duty completed I returned to the stage and glanced inside a few of the boxes, noticing the paperwork inside looked a lot like the documents I had to sign when I first joined Quondam. Suddenly, the whole situation made sense; These were obviously the employees from a company Quondam had recently purchased and they were being offered the opportunity to continue working in their old jobs, but under Quondam's rules.

The man in charge cleared his throat and stepped up to the microphone on a stand next to the central table. The room fell silent and I turned my attention away from the boxes and came to stand behind the table, facing the audience. He glanced at me and gave a slight nod of approval and then returned his attention to the room at large. Everyone seemed a little tense as they waited for the meeting to begin.

He said, "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is Patrick Hughes. I am the liaison between Acquisitions and Human Resources. You are all here today because after reviewing your personnel files and work history with B-Green Tech, Quondam Innovations has decided to extend each of you offers of continued employment."

A sense of relief washed over the room and the audience visibly relaxed in their seats. Apparently none of them had been certain of their future employment prospects with Quondam and this was the first they had been told. It was definitely turning into a better day than how it had started and not just for me.

Mr. Hughes continued, "The purpose of this meeting is to familiarize all of you with the unique policies and procedures here at Quondam Innovations. Before we begin, however, I will need everyone to sign a non-disclosure agreement. We aren't going to be discussing anything top secret, but Quondam likes to keep its in-house systems private and out of the public spotlight. I think you've all met my assistant, Virginia, she will pass out the agreements and then I'll come around in a few minutes to collect the signed form. If anyone doesn't want to sign, you can leave through the double doors at the back of the room and you can collect your final check and paperwork from Mr. Foley on the 4th floor. Thank you."

He turned off the microphone and then pointed me to a box with the appropriate form stacked inside. I took a big handful and he did the same, surprising me, and then we both set off distributing them throughout the room. It was hardly shocking that no one chose to leave. Given the economic times, it seems most people will jump through some hoops to get or keep their job. Look at me, I am a perfect example, putting up with a week of disciplinary duties rather than facing unemployment.

It took about a half hour for all the forms to get signed and collected, but it was eventually done. I carefully stacked them away inside an empty box marked for HR while Mr. Hughes prepared to continue with his meeting. When I first met him I had taken away the impression of a confident, in control man, but having spent a little more time with him, I realized he was a touch nervous in front of the large crowd. Whether it was his first such meeting or not I could not say, but he definitely had not done them often. Then again, how often does Quondam swallow up other companies? I do not think it is an everyday occurrence.

Turning the microphone back on, he said, "Now we can get down to business. I'm sure some of you have heard rumors about the eccentric ways of our CEO, Mr. Joseph Candle. Like all rumors some things are true, some are false, and some are pure fantasy. I'll be covering what is true and the rest, you can safely assume falls into one of the two latter categories."

He paused to chuckle at his own statement and received an uneasy laughter from the audience in response. Having been on the outside most of my life, I knew the rumors he was talking about and in fact I had yet to discover any of them that were not actually true. I suppose it is unlikely that Mr. Candle eats boiled babies for breakfasts, but then who would believe that line in the first place? Maybe Mr. Hughes found the whole disciplinary situation amusing, but personally I find it a little hard to laugh about. I guess I might feel differently if it was someone else's backside getting spanked instead of my own.

Mr. Hughes continued, "Working for Quondam Innovations has a lot of advantages, from job security to opportunities for advancement to recognition as a leader of industry. Success is rewarded, mistakes and failures are used as opportunities to learn and all of that combined with you, the people, are what makes Quondam Innovations such a fantastic place to work."

I felt like I was listening to some self-help infomercial on late night television. Any moment a couple of bikini clad girls should be popping onto the stage as Mr. Hughes starts asking everyone to whip out there credit cards to arrange for five easy payments and a lifetime of joy. The mere thought brought a smile to my lips and almost had me laughing at him. Fortunately, the tenderness from Mrs. Anderson's spanking was reminder enough to keep me from losing all control. Beside, I knew I was still technically on disciplinary duties and the last thing I needed was for Mr. Hughes to decide I needed some discipline.

"In return," Mr. Hughes said, starting to pace the stage with the microphone in his hand, "We ask for your best efforts, ideas, and work ethics. We ask you to abide by our rules and follow our policies and procedures. Of course things do go wrong, people, like you, can make mistakes, and policies and procedures can sometimes get pushed aside, either intentionally or unintentionally. When these things happen, Mr. Candle has developed a system by which we can correct the situation and move forward without unduly disrupting the workplace or the lives of our workers."

Everyone in the room had to know exactly what he was leading up to saying. Why he was dancing around the subject instead of blurting it straight out, I do not know, but it was funny to watch. I almost felt the man was embarrassed to utter the word spanking and of course who could blame him? Standing before a seated crowd of professionals, all adults and many of them older than him, he was supposed to tell them they could keep their jobs but only if they were willing to bend over and grab their ankles whenever they messed up at work. Who would object to that? Pardon me while I cover my mouth and try to hide the giggling.

Mr. Hughes continued his pacing and said, "As you've probably heard that system involves the application of corporal punishment, most commonly spankings. The severity of the punishment is commiserate with the violation or mistake made and naturally increases with repetition. First times are generally mild, a few quick swats over clothing with a leather paddle, and repeated or more serious offenses can increase to disciplinary sentences lasting several days with multiple applications of a variety of implements and going so far as to require the associate to strip nude for the punishment."

There were some gasps in the audience at that revelation and a few of them even sported a bit of a blush on their faces as they no doubt envisioned either themselves or someone they knew in the situation. If only I had gone through such an orientation when I first joined Quondam, I would have known what to expect. Instead, I had been left with a long winded booklet and expected to absorb everything overnight. I had known the basics anyway, but at the time I had been just arrogant enough to assume none of it would ever apply to me because of how badly Mr. Candle had appeared to want me. Live and learn I guess.

"We are lucky," Mr. Hughes said and glanced over to me, "To have an example here for you today. Miss Virginia West is one of our high level executives, but she is with us today because she violated policy in a most serious manner on more than one occasion. The details are not relevant, but she is currently under a disciplinary duties assignment from HR and as such her normal rank and position are meaningless until her sentence is completed."

I did not like the way he glanced at me and I was suddenly feeling like a spotlight was shining down on me. Keeping quiet, I started paying more attention to what he was saying because I had a sinking feeling it was going to be bad news for me.

He said, "Disciplinary duties are one of the most severe actions taken against an employee. The next step up would be a disciplinary retreat assignment and of course if the supervisor feels improvement is not being made, the associate could be reassigned or have their employment terminated. It's important you all understand the disciplinary system so that there are not any surprises once you start working here and today, I'll be demonstrating a few of the most common corrective techniques with the assistance of Virginia."

I blinked at the audience still smiling from the humorous thoughts formerly dancing around in my head. They were of course all staring right back at me and even Mr. Hughes turned to look at me with a glint of pleasure in his eyes. His words were echoing around in my head and something told me I should be panicking, but I was still trying to wrap my head around exactly what was happening. I could hardly breathe and the only thought racing around in my head was how in the world had I ended up standing on a stage in front of a bunch of people I did not know and about to get my butt spanked, probably bare or worse, naked. So much for it being a better day.

Ignoring me almost entirely, Mr. Hughes said, "We'll start out with the typical situations resulting a more mild application of discipline. Examples include; being late to work or late coming back from a break, minor issues with your appearance or professional attire like a wrinkled blouse or shirt or disheveled hair, minor mistakes in your work like a receptionist forgetting to pass along messages in a timely manner, the examples are endless but the general connection is everyday types of hiccups in normal operations which while an annoyance, are unlikely to significantly impact the operations of the company so long as they don't occur all the time."

There were nods throughout the audience as the concept of what constituted minor was explained to them. For my part I stood still behind Mr. Hughes listening and waiting for the looming order that would force me to expose myself and an already brightly reddened backside to the room at large. My knees trembled ever so slightly and I was not sure I would even be able to move when the time came, but I resigned myself to the fact the time was coming and there was nothing I could do short of quitting and that simply was not on the table for me. Call me stubborn, stupid, or a glutton for punishment.

Mr. Hughes continued, "In many of these types of situations you're supervisor will simply pull you aside and give you a quick verbal warning or reminder about policy. However, they are not required to do so and some may choose to give a quick spanking instead. The spanking in these cases is usually done in private with one of these small leather paddles," He lifted a blue leather paddle out of one of the boxes and held it up for the audience, "A few swats delivered to your clothed posterior and the matter is considered resolved. Now for a demonstration."

He turned his attention to me with an almost sympathetic smile on his face. I knew what he expected from me, but I still stood my ground and waited for him to give the commands. He stepped closer and rested a hand on my arm, lowering his head as if to speak conspiratorially with me. Mr. Hughes said, "Don't worry I won't swing too hard."

I smiled at his attempt to reassure me and in a quiet voice only he would hear, said, "I'll hold you to that."

"Go ahead and bend over the front of the table if you please and we'll get this part over with," He said.

Sighing, I made myself take the steps to the front of the stage and then turned my back to the audience and bent over the table, gripping the far edge and hoping he was a man of his word. The first swat landed rather quickly, but slapping against my skirt it barely made any noise and if it were not for the two spankings I had already received for the day, I doubt it would have hurt at all. As it was, the spank barely felt any worse than sitting down probably would. Mr. Hughes followed the first swat with another nine each delivered just as lightly and each having just as little impact on me. As I stood and refaced the crowd I was only mildly embarrassed over the spectacle and on some level I have to admit it was even a bit of a thrill. Yes, I know, somebody get the white jacket and prep the padded cell.

Mr. Hughes returned his attention to the room and began pacing the front of th stage once again. He said, "That's what you can expect for the minor things. Obviously it's a little embarrassing and you'll be left with a sting in your posterior for a little while, but at the end of the day it really isn't that bad of a situation. Most people respond very positively to this type of gentle application and never require anything more to keep them focused on their responsibilities. However, there are cases like Virginia here, where more serious steps are required and as we continue with the demonstrations here I want you all to keep in mind that these types of punishments are reserved for the select group of employees who just refuse to learn from the more mild application you just witnessed."

Listening to him speak I began to feel more and more like a juvenile delinquent. I knew he was generalizing and I was just a convenient example for him to use, but his words felt pointed as if he knew me and exactly what I had done to end up where I was standing. I wondered if the people in the audience knew the whole story, the things I had done and why I had done them, if they would continue to sit and listen or run for the exits. My very presence on the stage before them seems to indicate I would stay, but that is now and if I had heard all this when I was being courted by Mr. Candle, I think I might have been a little more inclined to walk away.

"Virginia," Mr. Hughes said, turning his head toward me for a moment. "Please remove your skirt and panties, then bend back over the table."

Even though I had known the command was coming I found it hard to hear and even harder to comply. My hands trembled as they did the job expected of them and my face flushed hot even though I turned away from the audience allowing them nothing beyond a rear view. The cool air of the room felt like an Arctic breeze as I laid myself back over the table and waited for the application of something more serious than the leather paddle. My only hope was that Mr. Hughes would continue to swing lightly.

He returned his attention to the crowd and said, "In the unfortunate event that your behavior begins to negatively effect your coworkers or company operations you could find yourself facing a stricter form of discipline such as this; a bare bottom spanking. Implement wise, if it is a first time, your supervisor will probably select the same leather paddle used previously however they may choose to use something more serious such as this strap. This type of punishment is meant to be a painful and embarrassing event which should discourage any recurrence of the actions leading up to it. I will demonstrate now, with a few quick strokes to give you an idea of what you might expect although an actual spanking of this type would in most cases be considerably longer."

A moment later Mr. Hughes brought the strap down on my backside with a heavy thud. I barely avoided howling as the impact reignited the fire in my behind and left holding onto the table in order to keep myself down. My hips squirmed against the table and I caught a few chuckles from the audience as the obviously enjoyed the scene I was making. Mr. Hughes kept going until he delivered an even ten and when he let me up, I was hopping around trying to assuage the burning in my buttocks without the use of my hands for the third time in one day. It was definitely no longer thrilling in any way, at least to me that is, the audience might have disagreed.

"I'm going to guess that hurt," Mr. Hughes said while I continued hopping around, but still being careful enough to keep my back to the audience. "I think I mentioned it would and hopefully this little demonstration is all any of you will need to know that I was being truthful."

I forced myself to stand still and keep my arms straight at my sides. It remained a petrifying experience to be standing in fronting of a crowd, bare and red as a beet, but at least I did not have to face them. The sound of their amusement was quite enough without having to see it written all over their faces.

"The final bit," Mr. Hughes said, still pacing and speaking to the crowd, "is what happens when someone like Virginia decides they aren't going to take the spankings seriously and change their behavior. At this stage it comes down to the associate either learning a severe lesson or cancelling their employment with Quondam Innovations. We feel if someone works themselves up to this level of repeated mistakes or behavioral problems it is necessary to take a "tough love" approach. This means if the associate is willing, we will do what we can to correct them and guide them back toward a positive path in their employment and if they are not, it is in everyone's best interest for them to seek employment elsewhere."

He stopped his pacing and came to stand right next to me once again, resting a hand on my shoulder. I glanced over at him hoping my face was not quite as red as it felt. He smiled supportively once more and quietly said, "I know it's embarrassing, Allison, but I need to have you strip completely now."

A lump rose up into my throat and my stomach opened up into a bottomless pit. I knew the order was likely coming with everything else, but nothing can ever really prepare you to remove all your clothing in front of a group of strangers. Maybe if I pretended it was an art class and I was modelling it would be easier, but somehow I just could not convince myself of the fantasy. I shrugged out of my blazer, laying it on the table on top of my skirt and began unbuttoning my blouse as he resumed his pacing.

And then it hit me.

A cold shiver ran down my spine and I heard the mysterious little girl in my head, "They'll be in plain sight," She had said. Suddenly afraid, I glanced over at the man, studying his face for any sign of evil, but there was none. On the surface he was professional, clean cut, and even kind and considerate with all things considered, but he knew my name, my real name.

There was nothing vaguely familiar about him, we had never met, never crossed paths before in our lives or at least he had never crossed mine with any impact, I had obviously crossed his. I told myself not to jump to conclusions, but the frightened feeling refused to abate and deep down I knew there was no other explanation for his casual use of my name; He was the one, the spy, the turncoat, the man without conscience selling off secrets to those would use them for harm.

"Hurry up Virginia. We don't have all day," He said.

Realizing I had no choice but to proceed, I finished unbuttoning and slipped out of my blouse, laying it on the table. "Bra too," He said, before I could even reach up behind myself to unclasp it. The mentioning of it made the act of removing it all the more embarrassing as I felt certain every eye in the room was trained on the white lace garment and no doubt many of them hoping to catch a glimpse of the tender flesh falling free without its support. I tossed it on the table and bent over the edge as quickly as I could in an effort to preserve some sense of privacy.

Mr. Hughes took up position behind me only a moment later and without a word landed a solid paddle swat sending ripples through both my buttocks and a jolt of stinging pain along my nerves. It was like an electric shock, but my body was nearly numb to it as my mind wandered through a fog of unanswered questions and suppositions regarding Patrick Hughes and how he was mixed up in the business of selling secrets. I was vaguely aware of the procession of swats following the first and even when they stopped, but if I gave any physical reaction to it all, I was unaware of it and that was probably for the best.

"Stand up, hands on your head," Mr. Hughes ordered and I obeyed. "As you can see, we take the business of discipline quite seriously here at Quondam Innovations. If you follow the rules, do your job and maintain professional, congenial relationships with your coworkers, you can easily avoid these kinds of sessions, but if you are of the more stubborn variety and want to do everything your own way without regard to the company or your coworkers, you can expect to find yourself in a position much like Virginia here or unemployed. The choices are yours, but you should now all be perfectly aware of what to expect."