Wrong Department, by Megs

Chapter 1
Chapter One – Shift Change

Chapter Description: By Megs

Another day, another dollar. Tina hoped if she kept chanting that in her head that somehow this job would seem better. It had been months since Tina had a steady job, not since she had been laid off from her job at the factory. Her boyfriend had dumped her three weeks later, calling her "fat and lazy". It wasn’t her fault she got laid off, but he didn’t seem to care. The temp jobs never lasted more than a few days. Tina just wasn’t the pretty kind of girl who belonged in an office.

Not that she was ugly. Tina had brown hair, was average height and had just enough weight on her to still look like a woman but never fit in a size 0. But nowadays when girls where expected to look like teenagers into their twenties, Tina just didn’t stand a chance. So here she was, ringing people through a register at the local Z-Mart, wondering if the torture would ever end.

Her current customer was a giant of a woman; she was 5 feet 8 high and wide, and draped her Hutt-like girth in a flowered tarpolin. Someone had once thought this thirty-something monstrousity attractive enough to breed with her, and in her cart she had a snot-nosed young boy in his twos or threes. The women had cart-loads of diapers for the brat, who was busy crushing every chocolate bar he could reach in the impulse bins. The bovine mother would take the chocolate away from her spawn as soon as she noticed, put it back, and giggle as if this was charming.

Once Tina had finished ringing through the stack of diapers, potato-chips and other junk food the mother hardly needed, she hit the total sale button and read aloud the bill. "That will be $107.98, please," she announced, as politely as she could manage.

The woman handed over her credit card, and the transaction was finished. Loading her bags the mother trundled off, towing her brat in tow. With a sigh Tina moved her hand to flag over the next customer when her `till phone chimed. It was early, but it must be break time, Tina concluded. When she picked up the phone with a "Till Six" to greet, her heart sank. The voice of the manager, Mr. Woolson, came through the phone in all his nasal intimidation.

"Tina, did you not notice your last customer had an extra pack of diapers under the cart?" he chided, as if the question was actually a question. If he was calling, it meant she hadn’t noticed.

"No sir," she admitted, trying not to sound like a scolded child. "I didn’t notice at all, I was –"

Woolson cut her off. "That’s the third time someone has walked out of the store with unpaid merchandise from your till, Tina," he nasally informed her. Tina’s heart was caught between fear and rage. She hated being talked to like a child, but the fear of being fired was much stronger at the moment. "I think you had better come up to my office, Tina. Close down your till."

The next five minutes was torture for Tina. She had to close down her till, then walk across the store to the back, up the stairs and to the manager’s office. The entire way she attacked her own stupidity in her mind. She was supposed to check under each cart as it left the store, she knew that. She had been so busy being disgusted by the slovenly woman she hadn’t done her job. The manager was going to fire her, and she would be out of work, maybe even out of her apartment...

She swallowed deeply and entered the office. She hadn’t been in Woolson’s office since she had come for her interview. It was the same as she recalled it. A small, white room with irritating flourescents overhead, a large desk centrally located with a comfortable chair behind it. In front were three much less comfortable chairs, folding chairs. On the wall were a bank of screens with cameras all over the store being displayed. Woolson was watching them, and seemed to pay her no heed as she entered, the back of the chair turned to her like he was some Bond villain observing his fleet of ICBMs.

Tina waited for a good, long moment, then cleared her throat. "You wanted to see me, Mr. Woolson?"

Woolson spun around in his chair. He was a short man, balding with a well groomed mustache. His voice was a particularly annoying pitched whine that belied none of the authority he should have. Woolson made up for this shortcoming by being authoritarian, rude and overbearing. He was playing with a pen, and seemed to look over Tina as if she was a growth that the janitor had missed the evening before.

"I should fire you," he began. It didn’t get better from there. Woolson spent the next ten minutes lecturing Tina about the cost of theft to a company, speaking as if Tina herself had walked out with the diapers. He then moved on to Tina’s many apparent shortcomings, eventually coming around to her fate. "So, it seems, you are not suited to be a cashier. I’m afraid I’m going to have to demote you Tina."

Tina blinked. Her heart was fluttering, her mind racing. She wasn’t fired! She was demoted! Then she started to think. What was lower in the company than a cashier? Z-Mart didn’t have greeters. Her cashier position was an entry level position; what else was there? Shaking herself from her thoughts, Tina nodded in understanding. "Thank you sir, that’s completely fair, understandable..."

Woolson nodded. "Go home for the day, relax, and show up tomorrow at nine AM for your new placement," he instructed, calmly. He was acting like he had just put her on Schindler’s List. Tina couldn’t help but feel elated regardless. She rose, smiled with all grace she could, and scurried out of the office before he changed his mind. It was as she was going down the stairs that she realized she had failed to even ask him what she would be doing the next day.

Better to not go back and bother him, Tina concluded, and went home for the day. The night went by agonizingly slowly; television did little to distract her from whatever lay in store the next day. Tina struggled against a sense of rising dread. Was it just some jest Woolson had made to fire her without fuss? Would she get a call first thing in the morning saying "don’t come in, you’re fired"? Eventually she broke down, took some sleeping pills and slumbered deeply and dreamless throughout the night.

The next morning Tina arrived at work for quarter to nine, clocking in. She waited patiently in the break room for nine, wondering if someone was going to come fetch her for her new position, or if she ought to go see Mr. Woolson again. Both appeared to be true. At nine on the dot, Woolson walked into the break room, his finely polished shoes squeaking on the floor. Tina rose as he came in, but Woolson waved his hand to have her sit again. He sat down across from her, looking over her critically.

"Since you did such a lousy job of watching for theft at your till, I am assigning you to a undercover position within the store," Woolson informed her. Tina felt a tad confused. She didn’t know there were undercover employees at the store. "You have to patrol a few departments, watching for people trying to steal, vandalize, mistreat merchandise and fixtures, employees goofing off, and the like. This morning I want you to look through the maternity section."

Woolson then pulled up a large, simple white maternity dress and put in on the table in front of Tina. "You’ll wear this for the morning; your body shape is sufficiently out of shape that you could be mistaken for a pregnant woman, so you’ll attract no attention."

Tina’s temper flared. She was a tad plump, with a gentle belly, but she hardly looked pregnant at all. But Woolson’s stern gaze shut her up before she protested. She was two steps from being fired as it was – a rude outburst would be the final step out of the door. Resigned, and trying to make light of it, she picked up the maternity dress. "Guess there are some advantages to being a big girl," she joked.

Woolson pointed to the change rooms. "Just leave your street clothes in your locker, and keep your eyes peeled in the maternity section." And he rose, pausing at the door. "At noon come see me in my office, and we’ll see which section you’ll spend the afternoon in."

Tina looked at the dress balefully, but took it up and headed into the change rooms. She peeled off her pants and blouse, looking down at her pale, flabby body in frustration. She was overweight for certain, but not obese. Her belly stuck out, but not even passed her bust. She pulled the dress over her head, the soft cotton feeling blessedly good against her skin. As she smoothed it over her belly she was surprised how excellent it looked on her. The dress was empire waisted, sucking in under her breasts in such a way to give her belly maximum freedom. Already she could see what Woolson meant – her small belly seemed somewhat more prominent in the dress. She could be a woman in her fourth month, just beginning to show.

Tina brought her own clothes back to her locker, stowed them within, and wandered out onto the sales floor. She moved into the east wing of the store, heading dutifully for the maternity section. And here the next hour slowly dragged on. Tina had found her way around the maternity section in under the hour, and had now checked out the same collection of dresses a dozen times. The entire time not one woman had visited the section, and Tina was thoroughly bored. A few staff members wandered by now and then, but none of them seemed to recognize her. Tina was fairly new, and stuck to the front of the store, so this didn’t shock her.

At 10:30, Tina noticed a pregnant woman enter the section. She was a beautiful black woman in her late twenties, and large; the baby in her belly was at least in its eighth or ninth month, and she waddled as she walked, clothed in a red maternity shirt and blue pants. Tina spent several minutes watching the woman, trying not to appear obvious. After parousing a few outfits, the woman waddled over to where Tina was consulting a collection of dresses. She smiled as she came closer.

"Hello," she greeted happily. "How far along are you?"

Tina giggled. She put her hand down over her belly, intending on smoothing the dress down against her belly to demonstrate just how small it was. To her sudden shock, she felt the belly just slightly under the bustline. Her belly was swollen, and with incomprehension she looked down at it. She could just see her belly passed her breasts, the fabric of the white dress easily containing her swollen size. She looked pregnant.

The black woman laughed. "Somedays it’s like that, isn’t it? You just look down and wonder `how the heck did I get that big?" The pregnant woman rubbed her belly, soothing herself, while Tina stared at herself. The other woman went on to look at the dresses, no more suspecting the truth of Tina’s wonder than she aught to. Tina, meanwhile, wandered away from the woman, over to one of the courtesy mirrors. She stood in front of it, then turned sideways to gauge her profile. The dress was definitely puffed out around her belly, and running her fingers over her belly she could feel the flesh underneath. The belly was slightly firm, unlike the pudge she had felt when she first put on the dress.

Tina’s mind raced. This wasn’t possible, was it? She looked back at the customer; the black woman was seeming to decide between a few dresses, and paying Tina no heed at all. A thousand possibilities ran through Tina’s head, but without even thinking about it Tina marched to the back of the store to talk to Mr. Woolson. She must be having a medical emergency or something. People didn’t swell up in an hour like this unless something was seriously wrong. As she reached the edge of the maternity department, with bras and lingerie to its north, she encountered Woolson, out on his rounds.

"Mr. Woolson, I think I need to go to the hospital!" she urgently told him. "My stomach had swollen up!"

Woolson looked at her and rolled his eyes. "Tina, you’re not swollen, you’re pregnant, remember?"

Tina blinked. What the hell was he talking about? She hadn’t had sex in months, she couldn’t be pregnant. Then realizing Woolson was likely mistaking the loose dress for the reality of her situation, Tina pulled the dress more taught over her belly. "No, sir, look! It wasn’t like this just this morning!"

Woolson nodded. "Of course not, Tina. You couldn’t be undercover in a maternity department without being pregnant, it would be ridiculous. Now get back to your post, or you’re fired." And he walked on as if she had been complaining about a loose shoelace.

Tina stood for a minute in mute shock. In anger she stormed to the break room, opening up her locker and grabbing her street clothes. This was the last straw. She could find a different job. Woolson had pushed her for the last time. She went into the change room and pulled off the maternity dress, dropping it on the floor. She looked down at her stomach, and had to stifle a scream. It was larger. Now she could see her belly passed her breasts, a large, round, pale dome of flesh. Right before her sight her belly button pushed out as the belly seemed to grow in front of her eyes. She could feel the weight pressing down on her, her innards being pushed towards her back. She tried to pull on her pants, but leaning over had become difficult with her swollen belly.

Then she felt a kick. A small pressure from inside her belly. At the same moment she felt her bladder being pressed, and realized just how badly she needed to go to the bathroom. Tina squatted, slowly, her belly still growing, grabbing the maternity dress from the floor. She pulled it over her head, noting how snug it fit now, the smooth white cotton gliding over her sensitive skin. She waddled for the bathroom, shocked at how difficult it had become to walk normally. As she left the change room she found herself standing face to face with Woolson.

"Do your business then get back to the maternity section, Tina," he ordered. "A woman in your condition needs breaks, but they can’t be this long."

Tina tried to say something, but she felt out of breath, and without another word she bolted for the bathroom, waddling as fast as her legs would take her.