“Whose round is it?” asked one of the six women.

The six were celebrating a good Christmas Season for their Company. They all worked in the Offices doing various Admin and Clerical jobs apart from one of then, Elise. Elise was the boss, the Managing Director and principle shareholder in the company. They were at a pub in the market town of Sudbury in Suffolk. The locals were always willing to stress that it wasn’t Essex but the more salubrious and, in their opinion, the frankly superior county of Suffolk. Many of the staff came ‘over the border’ from Essex. As a result, when episodes of TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex) were on TV, there was much talk about the lifestyles of ‘Essex Girls’ the following day.

Elise had founded the company twelve years before with three friends. All four of the original employees still worked at the company. One of the remaining five at the small celebration, Sally Barnes was one of the that three.

“It is your round, I think,” said Sally to the women who had raised the question, Megan Collins.

“I got the last lot in,” complained Megan.

“Yeah, but only after Elise had given you the money,” said another of them, Chloe Davis.

Grudgingly, Megan rose from the table and disappeared towards the bar.

Elise followed her and headed for the Ladies.

Conversation then switched to a rumour that had been doing the rounds of the company.

“Is it true that Danny Rice wears a bra?” asked Chloe.

“That’s what Freddie Harper from the Loading Bay says,” said Lauren Samuels.
“He saw it when they got changed after the last shipment left on Tuesday.”

“He does seem to be developing a bit… upstairs,” said Chloe.

“It is almost as if he was becoming a woman,” remarked Megan as she returned with the tray of drinks.

“Who is becoming a woman?” asked Elise as she returned from the Ladies toilet.

“Danny Rice,” stated Chloe quite bluntly.

“Is there anything wrong with that?” asked Elise.

Elise looked at Sally who was clearly having a hard time keeping a straight face.

“Well, I don’t want him using the Ladies loo,” said Chloe.

“Same here. It just isn’t right,” added Megan.
“The ladies loo is for proper ladies only,” she said firmly.

“Come on now Megan,” said Sally.
“You all went on that gender equality training. You know what the law states.”

“Sod the law, it just isn’t right. A Man in the Ladies loo just won’t do!”

Her joke was lost on the rest so she didn’t press it.

“What about Hassan Ali? He’s a man and he cleans the toilets,” asked Sally.

“That’s different. None of us are there when he does that.”

“So, you are saying that as long as you aren’t in the building, it does not matter if a man goes into the ladies?”

Megan didn’t answer.

“No man should ever go in there. Period,” stated Chloe with a determination that surprised everyone around the table.

Elise had had enough.

“Here’s enough for another round. I’ll see everyone next Wednesday. Have a great Christmas.”

She put down a couple of twenty-pound notes and left the four of the five women wondering what had just happened. Only Sally knew the real reason and she wasn’t telling anyone. For one thing, Elise just happened to be her Sister.

[The following Wednesday]

“Did you see this email?” asked Megan.

“Yeah. So?” replied Sally

“It says that we have to respect people at all times especially if they are LGBT.”

“Yes. Isn’t that common sense?”

“Is ‘she’ in yet?” said a slightly angry Megan.

“Why? Why are you getting angry?”

“It is because of what I said in the pub about… about you know what.”

Sally did her best to supress a smiled. She knew what was coming.
“What about ‘you know what’? I don’t know what you are rabbiting on about.”

“Oh, for Christs sakes, Tranny’s in the Ladies Loo!”

“Oh, that. I don’t see what has changed. There has been a ‘Tranny’ as you put it but the proper description is ‘Transgendered’ person using the Ladies for the past four years and you have not complained before.”

Megan did a very passable drowning fish impression.

“Who? Who are they? I’ll soon put a stop to that,” she said indignantly.

“It isn’t for me to say. Why don’t you go and see the boss? I’m sure she’ll listen to you.”

Megan began to speak but just glared at Sally before storming out of the office in search of Elise.

Sally quickly sent a one-word text to her sister. It simply said ‘Incoming’.

It didn’t take long for Megan to find Elise. She was talking to two new hires and introducing them to where they were working and their immediate boss. Thankfully, Megan had enough sense to not interrupt Elise.

Megan was still angry when Elise was able to talk to her.

“Sally said that a ‘Tranny’ has been using the Ladies for years. This is not right. You must put a stop to it. I can’t use it in case they want… want to do …”

Then she stopped. Elise was grinning.

“Oh shit!” exclaimed Megan.

After a slight pause Elise said,

“Megan, I think you need to take some time off to get your mind right. Yes, I’m the ‘Tranny’ as you put it. I transitioned almost ten years ago. Like you, I have to sit down to pee so I’m no danger to anyone. We as a company have a policy of tolerance and understanding towards the LGBT community. If you can’t get your head right then I’m sure that there are other jobs out there for you.”

“What? Are you sacking me?”

“No Megan I’m not. I’m telling you to go home and think carefully about what you do next. If you come back to work then great. You are a valued employee but if you decide that you can’t handle having a ‘Tranny’ as you put it as a boss then I’ll have to let you go. That is all part of the contract of employment you signed when you started work with us.”

Megan glared at Elise before disappearing back into the main office. There, she grabbed her coat and handbag and left the Office.

Elise arrived just after Megan had left.

“She’s gone,” said Sally.

“I guessed she would.”

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing her again. She’s too proud to back down.”

Megan never did come back to work. It turned out that her husband was having an affair with another man which went some way to explain her behaviour. Danny Rice did transition a few months later and most people just went about their jobs. It was nothing special to many of them. Only Elise celebrated it by giving Dana as she was now called, a huge bunch of flowers from everyone in the company.

Megan did have her fifteen seconds of fame when her soon to be ex-husband was arrested for a series of armed robberies. She made sure that when she was interviewed for the ‘TV’ as she put it, she lived up to the true colours of an Essex Girl including the fake tan, white stilettos, big black eyes topped off with huge false eyelashes and didn’t forget the oh, so essential chewing gum.

Everyone at the company had a bit of a laugh at her virtual caricature on TV but many also felt a bit sad at her downfall. If only she’d been a bit more accepting then there would have been many sympathetic shoulders to cry on at the company.

It takes all sorts to make a world but some are hard to live with even at the best of times.

The End.