I finally had tricked my wife into a bet where as her forfeit she’d finally do something in the bedroom that she’d absolutely refused to do ever since that first crazy night of debauchery we’d spent together. There was no way I could lose the bet. I was really looking forward to collecting since there was no conceivable way I could lose. I could already smell the sweet smell of victory. The only thing I was worried about was that reality wouldn’t live up to memory.

I lost.

That’s why I was looking at myself in the mirror before going to work that fateful morning. Reluctantly I had to confess I looked good. Actually I looked REALLY good in my brand new purple skirt-suit.

I had had to get up very early that morning and spend a couple of hours at the salon opened just for me by my sister-in-law. I still can’t understand how she’d been able to turn my usually unruly hair into this feminine and sophisticated style. However, even my wife admitted turning my face into something beautiful wasn’t that difficult. People often tell me that I have a ”pretty” face. Not something I usually like to hear but that day it was a help. The high heels gave my stockinged (purple stockings, not pantyhose) legs that extra definition that transformed them from spectacular to absolutely amazing, according to my wife. I think she might have been just a little bit jealous. The jacket accentuated my narrow waist in a very flattering way. The skirt was a little bit on the short side but not shorter than the CEO’s.

Our CEO, Mary Fletcher, is a very beautiful woman despite closing in on forty. Her legs are gorgeous, as she is well aware of. She always wears something that highlights those magnificent long legs. Her vanity in no way diminishes her effectiveness. She is one of the most successful CEOs within the Hutchinson Conglomerate. In particular she has a reputation to spot and nurture management talent in her protégés. That’s why I had been thrilled to get the opportunity to work with her. We were a bunch of handsome (well, pretty in my case if you insist) young men on the make. We were eager and bright. For some reason Mary never seemed to be lucky with the intake of young women. They tended to soon disappear somewhere else.

I had been nervous coming to the office dressed as the consummate business-woman. I found that most people just smiled and complimented me on my outfit. Apparently purple fits me. I had no idea. I just like the colour purple. Considering the Hutchinson Conglomerate’s very clear support of LGBTQ issues I realized that I had been silly to worry. My confidence grew and I felt a kind of buzz that gave me extra energy. I was feeling on top of the world. My wife’s attempt to embarrass me had backfired. I was surprised when we were called to a strategy meeting just after lunch since that had been scheduled for the next week. However, since M. Fleury, a CEO from a French company within the Conglomerate, was in the office Mary wanted to take advantage of that to get his views as well.

The meeting went well. I had prepared for the meeting well in advance so I was much better informed than my colleagues. With my extra confidence I was not afraid push for my own ideas. Usually I was a bit afraid to question my superiors’ ideas and opinions. Not this day! Maybe I should have been more careful picking our CEO’s pet idea into pieces but it WAS seriously flawed and someone had to make her understand that.

At 7pm, just before leaving I was called into the CEO’s office.

- Paul, you are fired!

WTF! What had I done? Oh yes. I had told her that her idea wasn’t viable. In front of lots of people and the other CEO. Bad mistake!

- I’m sorry Mrs Fletcher. Perhaps I should have been more diplomatic when discussing your idea but I hope you realized the weaknesses …

- No, I’m not firing you for that. You were perfectly right. It was seriously flawed. My only regret is that you were the only one objecting. Apparently I have failed to instil critical thought and courage in your colleagues. Your performance during the meeting was stellar. As matter of fact this morning I had decided to fire you for being not bright enough and/or too timid to push your ideas. The way you acted during the meeting proved me wrong and made me change my mind. No the reason I’m firing you is the way you are dressed.

- My skirt-suit? But Hutchinson Conglomerate has a strict pro-LGBTQ policy. You can’t fire me for that!

- Oh, I don’t care who you share your bed with or anything like that. Your skirt-suit is absolutely inappropriate.

- Excuse me Madame but it’s not any more revealing than yours.

- Exactly! It sets off your gorgeous legs too well. Even if you go back to trousers everyone will know that your legs are prettier than mine. That is something I CAN NOT allow! NO ONE in management may have better looking legs than I do!

- So I’m fired because I look pretty in purple?

- You’ve got it! Oh, I could offer you a secretarial position. I don’t mind the secretaries looking better than me. You might like it. It would give you the opportunity to come to work every day in a short skirt looking pretty. We encourage the secretaries to look pretty and you DO look very pretty in purple. Nah, that would be too much like a TG story trope so I’ll just forward Mr Fleury’s job offer. He was also impressed by you during the meeting and we had a long chat about you during the afternoon. Of course this has the extra benefit of you having to relocate.

As she described the position I got more and more excited. A huge step upwards. Really interesting work. More responabilities. More authority. A significantly higher salary. Living in France which had long been a secret dream of mine. I’d have jumped at the opportunity regardless of the circumstances. And just for fun I’d just might be able to come to work in my pretty purple skirt-suit on the odd day. I’d had grown to rather like it and the feeling it gives me. I'd skip the high heels though. As I was standing there my legs were cramping. I almost didn’t catch the last thing Mary said

- The only thing, and here I completely disagree with M. Fleury, is that he thinks that you’d look even prettier in pink!

PINK??!!! I just HATE pink!!!