Not as Grown Up as You Think (private for Ishigreensa)

[elfowl]

I find him calling me sweetie a little odd, but mentally just shrug it off.

"The skirt wasn't bad, just way too tight, that wasn't your fault, it was the manufacturers, but um... not to be ungrateful but I have no idea what you were thinking with the panties."

I nod, and smile as he says it's his pleasure.

"Um... so do you want to take these to the register, or should I just hold on to them?"  I ask, feeling a little awkward simply standing there.

[Ishigreensa]

Robert shrugged when she mentioned the panties.

"I just wanted to get you something cute," he told her.  "I mean, white is practical, but I thought girls like to look cute."

He nodded and started to take the clothes from her so he could take them to the register to pay for them.

"I'm sorry you didn't like the cute panties besides them being too tight, I mean."

[elfowl]

I hand the clothes over, and feel a bit awkward with Robert appologizing to me.  

"I do like cute clothes, and looking cute, but I much prefer flowers, and simple designs rather than childish cartoon characters.  It just really gives off the wrong kind of idea if someone were to accidentally see them.. y'know?"

"I really don't mean to be ungrateful, I appreciate you getting them for me so I could get out of your office, it's just not my style.  maybe for someone younger.  You couldn't really have known."  I say to placate him a bit.  I would have thought it would have been obvious, but since I'm only 19, maybe he views me as a lot younger than I really am.

[Ishigreensa]

Robert shrugged.

"I don't know what kind of message you wearing cartoons or kittens or anything else cute would send, especially when it's on clothes that no one else would notice," he told her.  "Personally, I wouldn't think much differently of you if you wore a cute cartoon t-shirt to work tomorrow or if you wore a smart suit.  You are a young adult, right?  Or are you kind of afraid that others at the office would treat you like a child if they thought you liked childish designs?"

He smiled.

"In my opinion, girls that are so unsure of themselves that they get embarrassed and scared of childish designs are much more baby-like than girls that wear what they like because it's their style."

[elfowl]

I nod.  "It's just with skirts, even when you don't mean for it to happen, there's a small chance that someone will see up it, and see what you're wearing.  Stairs, cars, simply standing up, strong breezes, all sorts of things can happen."

I blush a little as Robert asks if I'm afraid people will treat me like a child.  "...Well yeah... even when you're not so young, people tend to look down on you for being a woman, thinking you're not as capable, or simply don't understand things.  Add the fact that most people here have at least a decade on me age wise, and yeah, if I give anyone a reason to think of me as anything other than a professional adult, they'll just think of me as some incapable kid."

I sigh.  "I am sure of myself, and it's not that I'm embarrassed, and I'm certainly not scared, it's just what other people think can have a real impact on my world and my career impressions are a hard thing to change, first impressions especially."

I look at him,  "And like I said, I'm much more into things that are cute and subdued, like a soft shirt with a flower or butterfly stitched on it, not something as in-your face as a bright pink piece of clothing with a cartoon character printed all over it."

[Ishigreensa]

He frowned and sighed.

"One thing you'll have to learn, Ms. Lauren, is that just because you wear a nice skirt, and you try to wear plain white panties, that will not make others see you as an adult or take you seriously.  No matter how you dress, that doesn't affect how people treat you."

He paid for the clothes while he was still talking to her.

"If you want people to treat you like a professional, you have to talk with an air of authority like you know what you are doing, but you also have to know who and when to use that voice.  Another thing you have to do, is show you are not weaker than your other co-workers."

They started to walk out to the car.

"I personally know that a few of the guys are constantly complaining when their lady co-workers seem to need more breaks than anyone else, and that makes them feel that women can't help but to be a little childish.  If you want to be taken seriously, you need to watch how many times you claim to need to take a pee.  Most men that would use that excuse would be called out for smoking a cig or doing something else that is non-productive."

[elfowl]

I listen closely to Robert as he tells me what I already know.  If your'e trying to avoid people underestimating you it doesn't mater what you wear, but it certainly does help.  I give him a quesitoning look as he says that I need to show that I'm not weaker than my co-workers.  

When he starts talking about not taking breaks to pee, I balk.  "Well excuse me for having a small bladder, and trying to drink enough to take care of my skin!  That's absolutely ridiculous.  What am I supposed to do, just hold it until it starts to hurt, then teeter of to the elevator with my legs clamped together so i don't wet myself?"  I ask, feeling completely disgusted with the expressed chauvinism.

[Ishigreensa]

Robert frowned.

"Of course I don't want you to be in such a predicament," Robert immediately answered her.  "I'm just telling you what goes though other people's minds.  You are the one that says you want to be viewed seriously like a man, and if that's the case, I've told you what they expect."

He sighed.

"Since you are my intern, there is another way around the men not noticing if you are taking breaks or not...."

He wasn't sure if she would react very well to what he was about to tell her though, so he lingered on it for a minute debating with himself as to whether he should say this or not....

[elfowl]

I scowl, hating the different expectations put on women, as well as the ones that are the same when they shouldn't be.  A guy with a small bladder taking a lot of bathroom breaks wouldn't be viewed as normal, but certainly wouldn't be looked down on for it.

My ears perk up when Robert mentions a way around such perceptions as his intern.

"Oh?  And what would that be?"  I ask.

[Ishigreensa]

"Well...," Robert stalled a bit more.  He wasn't really sure this would work, how to word it so she would go along with it, and wondered if she would think he was treating her differently because of it.  

"Oh, look," he said pointing out an ice cream shop that he sometimes like to get ice cream from but had not seen one in years.  "They've built an A and W over there!  Let's get some ice cream."

He pulled his car over at the ice cream shop.

Though he really liked ice-cream from this place, he was really grateful for a stall tactic.

[elfowl]

I blink, and give Robert a confused look.  "What?  I don't....  um... okay, sure, I'd love some ice cream shop."

I'm staring to feel like Robert is hiding something from me, but I can't force him to tell me if he doesn't want to, so I simply go along.

[Ishigreensa]

Robert walked her into the shop and looked over the menu.

"What kind do you want, honey?" he asked her.

He was still trying to come up with a plan that might help her not need the bathroom as much at work, and that would make men not look down on her as much.  Of course, such a plan could cause an accident, and that was the hard part.  How to deal with that so no one but the two of them would know, and so that Rachelle would be okay with it.

[elfowl]

"Um..."  I debate a bit, I know my faveourite, but I don't want to look too childish in front of Robert...

He was already telling me that being affraid of looking childish is a lot more childish than just enjoying yourself though...

I blush a bit and say.  "A chocolate fudge sunday with rainbow sprinkles please"  Looking away, as I fold my hands in my lap, hoping Robert dosen't say anything.

"Um... do they have gummybears that you can put in the icecream?"  I ask, deciding to press a little further.

[Ishigreensa]

Robert smiled.

"I'll have what she's having," he said to make his point that she could have anything she wanted in her ice cream, and that didn't necessarily make her look childish, at least not to him.

When they sat down, he smiled at her.

"See?  It wasn't so hard to just be yourself, was it?" he asked her.

"So... if you have such a small bladder, now did you survive high school?" he wanted to know how much experience she had with peeing her pants on accident before he worked out his plan completely.

[elfowl]

I blush harder as Robert puts his money where his mouth is, to make his point succinctly.

"No... it wasn't"  I admit.  Still looking away.

"It wasn't easy.  Classes were always less than an hour though, so I could go between classes, I just kinda had to be careful to not drink too much.  I was thirsty all the time if I did that though.  I'm really glad to be an adult now, though I guess now I'm learning that bathroom breaks aren't free in the corporate world either, huh?"  I ask, trying to put a bit of humor in the moment.

"Sometimes I had to sprint to the bathroom, then sprint to class to make it.  I um... had a few close calls, I have to admit."

[Ishigreensa]

Robert frowned.

"Well, you didn't actually have any accidents though, did you?  So, I think we can expect you to make it to the bathroom every time here, if we are careful about how we go about planning your position at the company."

He looked into her eyes.

"Have you ever tried to train your bladder to strengthen it, or to try to get it to hold a little more pee?" he asked her.  "Or did it not go too well, and you gave up on that idea?"

He started to eat his ice cream as he waited for her answer.

[elfowl]

I blush even harder, my entire face turning crimson.  "I... um... I have had a few accidents... none since middle school though..."  If you don't count ones on trips, but those happened during the summer, and away from school, so they didn't count as "having an accident at school"

I look into his eyes.  "um... no... I've never tried that..."

I simply hold my ice cream, too embarrassed to eat it.

[Ishigreensa]

Robert smiled.

"Well, that's why you have a small bladder," he told her.  "Girls are always so scared to push themselves in high school, that it's natural that they never learn to control themselves like boys are expected to," he told her in a low voice.  "Boy are expected to be strong, and so they usually go through a training process from about middle school which builds their bladder up.  Girls, on the other hand, traditionally, are not expected to be strong about anything, but they are applauded when they show the same strength as boys.  Boys are never applauded for being like girls."

He looked into her eyes hoping she understood what he was getting at.

 

[elfowl]

I frown...  "I don't remember any boys having to be trained to hold it, and there are plenty of girls who can too.  I just happen to have a small bladder.  and just what are you trying to say?  that there are good things about boys that girls should try to emulate, but there's nothing about girls that boys should try to emulate?  You want a boy so badly, you should have just hired one!"

All too late I realize I've let my mouth get away from me.  "Wait... no.... I can do whatever training it is you want... that's not what I meant.  Please don't fire me!"

[Ishigreensa]

Robert frowned when she went on a rampage, but then when she pleaded not to be fired, he smiled.

"Well, you were probably unaware of the training because it was done very subtly.  Didn't you notice in high school, that it was the girls that were more likely to raise their hands in classes in an emergency?  Boys didn't seem to have as many emergencies, didn't they?  Unless times have changed since I was in high school, boys started to learn to control their bladders from middle school."

He smiled at her.

"Teaches in middle school often told boys to wait until the end of class, and often took no excuses leading to some boys even peeing in their pants their first couple of months in middle school, but if a girl looked like she really had to go, she was often allowed to go."

He winked at her.

"One day, when I was in middle school, I asked my parents about it.  Do you know what they told me?"

[elfowl]

I frown, still not believing Robert, but having no way to disprove him.

"What did they say?"  I ask, willingly playing into whatever fabrication he's about to tell me.