Vendor Management

Just to wrap up my last post... the thing with Daniel is really over now. That mystery didn't last long. Ok, back to my selacious stories.

So I started a job a couple months ago, and as a project manager, one of my main job responsibilities is managing vendors. My team outsources everything. We hire sites to do research, auditors to oversee the sites, trainers, website developers, and actually, I'm a contractor so I guess even I'm outsourced. Last month we had a meeting in Chicago where we brought representatives from all of the sites together to train and schmooze and drink until middle aged women did embarrassing things. And of course, we hired an event management company to organize the meeting.

The organizers did a great job, and the event went off without a hitch. When we finished on Friday, I had about an hour before I had to leave for the airport. I had been up for 10 hours and still had 8 hours of travel ahead of me, so I decided to go take a shower in the hotel gym. The locker room was quite small and had two showers in it. I walked into the first one and took a nice slow shower. As I dried off I realized I still probably had 50 minutes and nothing to do. I decided to just go sit in the steam room for a while and relax.

When I entered I noticed there was another guy in the room. At first I just sat and looked down, but after a bit I realized that I recognized the guy. He was part of the event management team we had hired. I had seen him around a couple times, and while I thought he was attractive, he had that normal-guy-from-the-middle-of-the-country aura that allowed him to sneak under my radar. I said hello, and we talked about the meeting a bit. He said his name was Eric. I then thanked him for his help over the week and said goodbye. I had to take one more shower to get the sweat off me, but the one I had been in before was full, so I walked past it to the other one and got inside the stall.

A minute or two later I was startled by someone opening the door to my shower stall. I turned abruptly so that I could tell the person that it was occupied, but what I saw was Eric. As I stood there confused, he reached in and handed me a key. "I think you left this in the other shower," he said. He was right. I had left my locker key in the shower the first time. I took it and thanked him. He closed the stall door.

I continued showering, but then I noticed that he hadn't actually closed the stall door all the way. And I also could tell that he was still standing outside a couple feet away. I thought he might be waiting for one of the showers to open up again, though it also occurred to me that he might just be waiting for some attention. I caught his eye through the gap in the door. That was all the acknowledgement he needed. He opened the door and came in.

But instead of looking at me or reaching out or doing anything suggestive of sex, he hung his towel on a hook and started the shower next to me. I hadn't realized it until then, but there were two shower heads in the stall and they were actually far enough apart that it was possible for two people to use the shower at the same time. I thought, hmmm, he looks like he's from Kansas but maybe he's from Europe and doesn't realize this is a bit weird. He wasn't looking at me and I was too confused and uncomfortable to say anything, so I tried to just go on about my business.

The uniqueness of the situation caused a little stir in me though, and while my face might have been playing it cool, other parts of me didn't remain so subtle. I tried to angle away from him to hide it, but I didn't have much room to play with. When he saw it, everything changed. He turned towards me, grabbed himself, and said, "Cum for me." I did. He bolted out of the shower.

By the time I rinsed off and made it to the locker room, he was completely dressed. "I think someone caught us," he said. He kept staring at the door as he furiously put his shoes on and closed his bag. No one had caught us, I thought. He was being so paranoid. And then was when I realized that he probably was "straight". He grabbed his bag, and with a nod of his head he left.

Its too bad we only have those meetings once a year. I can't wait to see what happens next time we hire my new favorite vendor.