Late for work

Laura worked for a prestigious company. You could tell because all employees were always dressed in their finest: suits and ties for the men and women alike. Casual wear was highly discouraged. Sometimes, Laura wondered what it would be like, wearing something more comfortable at the office. Would the added comfort increase productivity, or would the lazy attire induce laziness?
Sitting at her desk, her bright white blouse, blue tie, short pencil-skirt and soft nylon stockings weren’t what was on her mind this morning however. She’d received a carefully worded email from her boss.
Well, not Laura specifically, this mail had been sent to their entire team. At first glance it was a polite reminder of the starting and ending hours of their work-day. Reading behind the lines however, it was obviously meant as a reprimand for her and her colleagues for arriving late and/or leaving early.
Laura did not feel targeted at all. She always arrived early and left late. Her boss Erica had of course sent this mail to everyone, without bothering to pick out her specific colleagues who needed this reminder. Yet the subtly worded rebuke still sent a bit of a shiver down her spine.
The young woman secretly had a bit of a kink for office discipline: firm worded reprimands or scolding, threats of disciplinary actions, fantasies of being called into the boss’ office, dreams of bending over the boss’ desk for a swift spanking from a firm hand or sturdy ruler…
Despite these fantasies however, Laura was a model-employee, never getting in trouble, always on time, good work ethic, … She knew where to draw the line between fantasy and reality.
As she finished reading this email, Laura looked up from her desk, around the open-plan office. She was looking for empty desks specifically, colleagues of hers who might be late this day, so she might fantasize about them being called into Erica’s office.
Her boss, Erica, was about seven or eight years older than her, beautiful, with bright red hair and a matching temperament – though not naturally. Though there were still several layers of bureaucracy above her, and many other departments, Erica was in charge of their team and she did a good job leading them.
Laura wasn’t really sure whether she had a bit of a crush on the beautiful older woman, or whether she was just attracted to her authority.
As always, it was the same people arriving late, and as always, they were not called into Erica’s office, not for a scolding and definitely not for a spanking. In fact, Erica herself arrived last of all, though Laura couldn’t be sure whether she was late due to meeting clients, or just late like the rest of them. She sighed as she focussed back on her work, ignoring the fantasies that had momentarily come to mind after reading her boss’ email.