Story: A Simple Act of Delegation. Chapter 1.

by Jackie J

Deborah Jackson, a graduate of a good university, had progressed well at Sapphire and Ross, a leading business consultancy in the city.  Sat at her desk in her smart business suit she stared blankly at the screen of her PC. Deborah had been tasked to personally oversee the implementation and transition of the new software for the company and clients to comply with revised VAT reporting dictated by HMRC, Making Tax Digital. Apart from the introduction of new and unfamiliar software the migration of data from the old system looked an absolute nightmare.  When the task was raised, at the last board meeting, the young and ambitious Deborah, always wishing to please the company’s owner Mrs. Ross, volunteered without hesitation to take on the work. Deborah however was now regretting what she had agreed to do. Technically she had mastered the software program but the restoring and the migrating of the historic data was going to be a slog and mind numbingly boring.

Deborah smiled at Jane when her secretary entered her office carrying her mail and morning coffee Jane wiggling from the doorway to place the cup and mail down on her desk.

Jane Simpson, only three years younger than Deborah at twenty-one was the product of the local college, had she also benefitted from an education at a prestigious and privileged university she too may have been seeking a partnership at Sapphire and Ross.  Jane, whilst no less qualified than Deborah, was however restricted to the more menial and mundane tasks of being the secretary to Miss Jackson. Jane wasn’t unhappy in her role but harbored a degree of resentment at Deborah’s superior attitude but never let it show.

Deborah sighed under her breath thinking that if Jane’s skirts got any shorter, they would be called belts and the heels Jane wobbled in, looked like torture?” Jane’s makeup and the garish earrings swinging free also a product of her circumstances, nothing understated there.

Jane giggled.

“Do you like my skirt Miss Jackson it’s new?”

Deborah chuckled with veiled contempt but also with more than a hint of jealousy. With her position in the company she could never wear anything like that, restricted to smart but plain dark suits with calf length skirts. But more than the way Jane dressed Deborah was envious and indeed secretly coveted her whole demeanor and the lack of responsibility enjoyed by Jane, all she had to do was look pretty and do has she was instructed. Deborah on the other hand was constantly stressed, in the main by being promoted somewhat above her abilities and in truth desires.

“Of course, I like it Jane but it’s very short, I prefer something more modest like my suits.”

 Deborah did not prefer her suits at all, her suppressed submissive streak yearned to dress like Jane to be like Jane but she couldn’t let Jane know that could she?

Jane giggled again and teasingly looked at her boss

“But you are my boss Miss Jackson so it’s only proper that you wear those lovely designer suits but if you were my secretary I would definitely have you wearing a mini and heels?”

Deborah took a sip of her coffee easing back in her sumptuous soft leather chair, the prospect of Jane’s proposed dress code for her sending a ripple of soft arousal though her body with thoughts of bringing Jane her morning coffee, taking dictation, being at her secretary’s beck and call the unfulfilled and unshared imaginings of many a restless dream for Deborah.

Of course, all the secretaries at Sapphire and Ross adopted a similar dress code Mrs. Ross who ran a draconian regime within the company insisted there be a clear demarcation in dress code between junior and senior staff.

Deborah stared at her secretary somewhat wistfully.

 “I doubt that Jane and I would never make a good secretary like you and I certainly could not make coffee like this, it’s lovely, thank you Jane.”

Jane smiled and giggled at the compliment before tottering back to her desk in the outer office.

Reviewing the mornings correspondence Deborah flicked the buttons of her Dictaphone preparing her replies for Jane to type up and mail.

The intercom light flashed and the phone on Deborah’s desk buzzed disturbing her train of thought.  Pressing the receive button Jane’s chirpy voice squawked.

“Miss Jackson, Mr. Evans here to see you?”

“Show him.”

Before Deborah had finished her sentence, the cocky James was entering her office. Jane fancied James like mad but he only seemed to have eyes for Deborah who had spurned his advances on numerous occasions. A strange situation, Jane was just a secretary and James had his ambitions set above that, whist James was only a senior clerk, which was never going to be good enough for the snobbish Deborah?

Deborah glared at James.

“Well what do want James? I am very busy.”

For some perverse reason James seemed to like Deborah’s bossy attitude but deep down would love to see her taken down a peg or two. She wouldn’t be too good for him then, would she?

“Mrs. Ross is asking about progress with the new VAT systems. She is getting a little concerned, clients have been asking. She wants to know that you are on schedule. “

 “What? You stride in here disturbing me of course I am on schedule you can tell Mrs. Ross everything is in hand and will be finished by Monday morning like we agreed, now get out.”

James left and walking through the outer office smiled at Jane who looked up at him all coy.

“Your boss is a bit prickly this morning Jane you need to put something in her coffee to calm her down.”

Jane giggled

“Have you been upsetting her, she is very busy you know if you have put her in a bad mood, I will be the one to suffer.”

James left and it was not long after that the call light flashed on Jane’s desk and grabbing her note pad Jane entered Miss Jackson’s office and took her low seat in front of Miss Jackson’s desk, pad at the ready.

Deborah smiled.

“Put that pad down Jane you won’t need that, but take this tape with the day’s correspondence for typing.”

Jane started to stand ready to leave and get on with the days typing and filing the month end returns.

“No don’t go Jane.”

Jane sat and listened whilst Deborah explained to her about migrating historic transaction data into the new program she had set up. Whilst the data was highly sensitive and confidential, containing client’s most beneficial tax positions, it was just number crunching mundane in the extreme. Deborah made the exercise of keying in the data sound very important and in truth it was. Important or not Deborah had no intention of sitting at her desk for the rest of the week tapping in columns of figures.

To sugar the pill Deborah told Jane that she could sit at her desk using Deborah’s computer. The fact that it was the only work station with clearance to access and work on the project not being shared.  Jane smiled at the prospect of sitting in her boss’s fancy leather chair at her spacious desk.

Deborah sat forward in her chair, tapped her password into the computer and stood back beckoning Jane to sit.

“Come and have a look, open each client’s transaction file then transpose the data into the new file allocation?”

Jane sat a little uneasy in the soft comfortable chair still warm from her boss. Deborah reached over her shoulder and moved the mouse onto the data base icon to open a client’s file.

“There, Ackroyd and Finch, copy this then open this, double click on the icon and let the data migrate then close off the file like this and then sign off the transaction with the password?

Deborah stood back and swore under her breath.

“Bugger.”

Something Deborah had forgotten with her scheme of delegation, each entry had to be signed off and authenticated to ensure the data was only seen by herself and no one else, this at the insistence of a paranoid Mrs. Ross. If the tax calculations for the company’s clients got into the wrong hands the company would be ruined.

“Shit you will need my password?”

Deborah had a dilemma which she quickly reconciled. She could give Jane her password and then change it when the task was finished, yes that was a solution, the only solution in fact if she wanted to avoid doing the work herself.

Taking a post-it note Deborah scribbled the digits of her password and stuck it on the side of the screen.

“There Jane. Use this to authenticate the transactions.”

Jane keyed in the password and the screen cleared ready for the next client’s details to be transferred. Deborah watched Jane follow her instructions and complete the next client’s details and tap in the password to complete the process.

“That’s fine Jane, now this work is highly confidential and I should not really be letting you do this so not a word to anyone.”

Jane drawn into the conspiracy looked up and smiled feeling quite comfortable sat at her boss’s desk in her soft leather chair.

“I understand Miss Jackson, not a word.”

Deborah left Jane at her desk to attend a meeting with clients happy that her secretary would be completing the task of transferring all the files.

Jane tapped away but was soon frustrated by having to key in the complex password after every transaction and decided to change it to something simple and memorable to her, she could always change it back when she had finished.

Jane was making good progress when Deborah returned after lunch with her clients, Deborah smiled seeing Jane sat looking quite at home at her desk and stole herself to make a through away comment.

“Is everything alright Miss Simpson?”

Jane looked up from the screen and giggled at her boss’s formal address she had never used her surname always just Jane.

Could she, should she? Miss Jackson had started it why not?

Jane giggled and sat back in her chair and spoke in an unfamiliar and forced authoritative tone.

“Yes Deborah, good of you to ask, glad to see you back at last why don’t you bring me a coffee and don’t you have typing to do?”

Both looked at each other over a brief silence and Deborah was the first to laugh, quickly followed by Jane.

Jane stared at her boss and was about to apologise but to her surprise Deborah spoke first.

“Yes, Miss Simpson certainly a coffee”

Jane watched Deborah turn and head through the door into the outer office and giggled to herself. How odd she thought?

Back to the task in hand Jane tapped away on the keypad before Deborah returned with a cup of coffee and placed it on the desk.

“Your coffee Miss Simpson”

Jane head down engrossed in the transfer of another client’s details said nothing and having keyed in her revised password to authenticate the update sat back but Deborah had gone and so had the Dictaphone cassette from the desk.

Jane chuckled and having taken a sip of her coffee continued her work.

Deborah chuckled to herself having made and delivered coffee to her secretary and settled herself comfortably at Jane’s desk in the outer office. If Jane was completing the VAT project the correspondence would still have to be sent. Picking up the headphones for the Dictaphone Deborah giggled listening to her own voice

 Deborah could type that wasn’t the issue and the letter templates were already set but typing from her own dictation? It was taking her quite some time having to regularly rewind the tape and she was steadily becoming frustrated with the sound of her own voice and instructions. Sat on the standard office chair she was less than comfortable but persevered with completing the correspondence.

With the letters signed, neatly folded, placed into envelopes and left in the mail tray to be collected Deborah entered her own office and smiled at Jane.

“Come on its past five already we can continue with that tomorrow.”

Jane stood from her chair.

“Up to the letter H would you like to check them?”

Deborah walked to her desk.

“No, I am sure it’s all fine turn of the computer I will have a look in the morning.”

Jane switched off the computer returned to the outer office picked up her coat and then popped her head back into her boss’s office with a cheeky smile.

“I know you said you couldn’t but the coffee was lovely by the way, shall I be working on the files tomorrow?”

Deborah smiled and chuckled catching the mood.

“Yes Miss Simpson.”

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