Gary Scattergood was most delighted to have landed this job as a salesman with the Acme Corporation for jobs were few and hard to obtain. All he had cared about at the interview was hearing Mr. Konkel, the owner and boss, tell him he was hired and to see HR to fill out the forms. He had been so very anxious that he paid scant attention to the dozen of papers that he had to sign to be hired. That he would be on probation for six months was expected but to his misfortune he had not even read the form that high performance standards would be enforced with strong measures including corporal discipline.
The first two weekly staff meetings had seemed quite routine with Mr. Konkel discussing things with the entire sales staff with great emphasis on performance. The definitive high point of each meeting was the weekly staff performance review. As a new hire his name had not been on the chart the first week and with a one third lower expectation for the second week. Mr. Konkel repeatedly stressed that this was very important.
Today was the third weekly week staff for him and things were different. Because he was an experience salesman, he was not treated as a novice and his sales target was now the same as that of all the others. Mr. Konkel was pleased at the volume of orders received by the other four salespersons. Regrettably, he was most displeased with Scattergood's extremely low performance. Scattergood was abashed and embarrassed that the red bar representing his sales was significantly shorter than the green bars of his coworkers. He was totally unaware how much worse everything would become in the next few minutes.
Scattergood had tried to explain that he had several almost sales and he had already scheduled follow up calls in a couple of days and was certain that he would be successful. Mr. Konkel was, shall we say, not amused. Scattergood's peers were not impressed either.
"Scattergood, as you were told, we maintain a tight ship here and are not interested in promises but orders. So, please remove your trousers and underpants and step forward…" ordered Mr. Konkel as he took the paddle from the side cabinet "…and to finish, team, I'd like to demonstrate how we will prevent this picture…" pointing at the chart with the paddle "…from recurring at the next review meeting."© YLeeCoyote
"What?" exclaimed the deficient salesman. "You cannot be serious about using that paddle."
"I most certainly am and it is in accordance with your employment contract. Surely you read everything before you signed on. Now, don't keep us waiting for time is money. This is how we do things here at Acme."
"But…but…but…"
"No 'buts' about it. Either do it or pack up your things and leave."
"But Ms. Wing is here." he whined in desperation.
"Mr. Scattergood, don't be a sexist. I am neither a prude nor a virgin. I've known about the male anatomy and how boys' tushies turn red since I was a little girl." snapped Ms. Wing most indignantly. "I doubt that you have anything that would be strange or shocking. If anything, probably even less than that." The other men did their best to suppress their giggles. Truth be told, they were also anxious to see the new boy get initiated just as they all had.
"OK, Scattergood lose the pants NOW or pack up and get out."
Scattergood could not afford to be unemployed especially since he would not get any severance pay nor unemployment benefits. Reluctantly and slowly as everyone watched (making it worse) he removed his slacks and lowered his underpants. In a couple of minutes he was standing by Mr. Konkel with his hands behind his bowed head like a naughty little boy. That feeling was greatly enhanced as Mr. Konkel was almost a foot taller with a far beefier build and had his big hand on his shoulder. He was extremely embarrassed standing there half naked with his junk dangling in full view and Mr. Konkel holding him and the big wicked paddle. He was quite fearful what was about to happen.
As much as he feared what was about to happen and wanted to delay it as long as possible it happened all too fast. Mr. Konkel ordered him to turn around and assume the position. In the silence he imagined that the others were commenting on him – especially his stuck out tail and what was dangling below.
Then the universe changed. The paddle slammed into its target with a loud WHACK! Scattergood howled like a little high school freshman getting it for the first time from the coach. The observing crowd kept a tight grip on their mouths for making noise was not something that Mr. Konkel appreciated at times like this. There was increased blood flow to all the genitalia of all the observers.
"Quiet Scattergood!" ordered Mr. Konkel as he raised the paddled again. Over and over he did this until Scattergood was really hurting with a bright red swollen tail and even some tears staining his cheeks. "OK, get dressed and get back out there after lunch and make some sales unless you want more of this next week."
"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir." said Scattergood as he gingerly pulled up his pants. Of course, he had long since resolved to work a lot harder and he was sure that his ass would hurt for weeks as a constant reminder.