“Ah, no. I’ll take your word on it. Wait, what industries? Like porn?”
“Some were from the adult entertainment industry, others from the BDSM community, and some representing sex workers. It was incredibly illuminating, once we move beyond our enculturated view of sex to a more pragmatic one, job satisfaction increased…”
I just bet it did, I thought.
“Staff retention, productivity, any metric you’d like to apply improved. We’ve worked this way for ten years, with an incident rate most companies would die for. It’s a social experiment, but so far, it’s been a successful one.”
I sat there, trying to look all keen and professional, but seriously, my brain went straight back to when the guys walked in the door to the mess hall. It played back in super detail the many, many details I hadn’t noticed the first time, perhaps exaggerated for my benefit. Then it was a slideshow of Shaun’s kisses and his sandalwood scent, the guys bringing me food, the bloke with the monster dick, and Finn… I shook my head, and said, “What about when there’s an unequal working relationship? Like a leading hand and a subordinate?”
“Thinking about Finn, are you?” My eyes went wide, but she just laughed. “It’s OK, I noticed a bit of a frisson during the interview. That can be more difficult to negotiate, due to the power imbalance. Irrespective of who wears the pants at home, during working hours, it’s important that assigned roles are respected. If you are adept at shifting gears, from your work persona to your domestic one, I can’t see there being an issue. It’s been awhile since Finn has had a significant other, and it would probably be good for him. But if you found it too hard, I would suggest you either terminated the relationship or asked for a transfer within the organisation.”
“I didn’t mean… It doesn’t matter.” I’d bounced in here full of energy, and now felt like I’d somehow gone through the ringer. The anxious part of my brain was screaming, “It’s a trap!” and was sure the moment I stepped out of line, I’d be sacked on the spot. I also couldn’t see a bunch of red-blooded straight guys being OK with all of this. If anyone was going to police a woman’s sexual interactions, it was guys. Incredibly sexually responsive to him equals ideal mate, incredibly sexually responsive to a few guys equals slut. I seriously had no mental models to make sense of what she was proposing. It was always one guy, one girl, married until someone strayed, and then the condemnation of the whole town came down on their head in Melville. I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. I felt like a kid let loose in a candy store, but some of the candy would end up with me out of a job, again giving hand jobs in alleyways if I wasn’t careful. Well, fuck.
“I’m sorry this conversation has been so focussed on sexual interactions. I’ve told our instructional designer it doesn’t really send the right message. Sex first, job second, but the complex nature of this workplace means it’s something that has to be addressed from the start. Finn has mentioned you have been approached already by some of the men?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Then please don’t feel pressured in any way to respond. Find your feet, if that’s what makes you feel comfortable. You’re in control here, do what works for you.” I nodded, just wanting this conversation to end. This was like getting the sex talk from Mum, but worse. I had to impress Kelly to keep my job. I needed some time to get my head around this and work out what I thought, and I didn’t want to do that in front of the boss.
“Ok, thanks,” I said. “Should I go find Finn now?”
She gave him a call on her walkie talkie and then asked Karen to set me up with my own, a utility belt with a dizzying array of attachments, and an ID badge that also worked as a key to the areas I was allowed into. I went outside and sat down next to Buddy in a daze, my fingers burying themselves into his fur. A cart pulled up in front of me, and I started to get to my feet, but saw it was Shaun. He was smiling, but then noticed my expression. He climbed out and took a seat beside me, placing a big hand on my leg and giving it a pat. “How’d it go?”
“I…”
“It’s a lot to get your head around, huh?”
“You could say that again.” I let out a long sigh. Life had been so much simpler in Melville. Stupid drought, stupid downturn. I turned to look at Shaun, really looking at him for the first time in the morning. Yup, my brain hadn’t been making it up. He was fucking gorgeous, and I both wanted to see exactly how those fingers on my leg would feel up inside me with a bit of a curl, and jump in my car and drive and drive and never come back. I don’t know if he could see all that in my face, but his expression became sympathetic, and he pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear.
“Don’t worry too much about all of this. Just find your feet, there’s no rush. Just let things happen organically, if they’re going to.”
“I just… I’ve got a million questions. Like, how do you choose?”
“What? A guy? The same way you always did. Find someone you’re into and are attracted to.”
“But what if you’re attracted to a lot of them?”
He chuckled at that. “God, don’t tell the guys that. You’ll have a stampede on your hands. Look, I don’t know if you’re ready for this, but the women here, they often…end up with more than one guy.”
My head jerked up at this. “No fucking way.”
“Well, yeah. There’s too many blokes and not enough women. Some people really get off on it, especially women. Y’know how you girls can keep on coming, you have us at a disadvantage there, so…”
“OK, stop. You’re right, I’m not ready for this. Fuck, couldn’t they have told me this was some kind of swinger club before I drove all the way out here…” I put my head in my hands. A warm hand came to rest on the back of my neck, making small circles on the skin.
“Look, you want out of here? I’ll give you the petrol money to get to the next town. Don’t feel pressured or trapped. If you choose to stay, if you choose to give any of us the time of day, you do so because that’s what you want to do, OK?”
“Why are you being so nice?” I asked. “Last night you were all ‘anytime,
any place baby’.”
“You wanna know the truth?” I nodded. “I read romance novels.”
“No way!”
“Yeah, you can keep that quiet, but I wanted to work out how women’s minds tick. So I figured it’d be a good place to start, and a lot of blokes in those books are really sexually aggressive. I gave it a go, but it seemed to put you off a bit. It’s why I waited outside, figured I better take another tack, see if that worked.”
“Well, in the name of market research, they both kind of worked, but I think I prefer nice guy.”