Boss Bitch

"Yogi, eh? Didn't take you for the yoga type." It was too early in the morning to deal with Adam.

I'd already unrolled the yoga mat and started stretching when he unrolled his. I still needed a cup of coffee, barely able to speak words at this hour. 

Yoga was supposed to be quiet stretching and releasing stress, or at least that was my impression. The class was really hard. And Adam's whispers about how he's an avid yogi (which means person that practices yoga) made the class feel like it was never going to end.

"Did you see my hand stand? Because I sure didn't see yours." Adam took my mat from me to clean it up and put it away. I rolled my eyes as I mumbed out some sort of 'thank you'.

He was really pushing it. I bit the inside of my cheek so I wouldn't snap at him. I just kept walking towards the luxurious locker rooms that were filled morning, noon, and night. A perk of being an employee at Talon. I pushed open the women's locker room and heard Adam yelling after me.

Whoops. Oh well. 

***

I took an extra long shower and made sure to waste as much time as possible in the women's locker room. He couldn't wait outside the locker room all day for me, he has important business shit to do when he isn't being a pain in my ass over his brainchild, the app that will never see the light of day.

"Hello again Holly, I wanted to remind you we have a meeting." Adam's eyes looking at his rolex even though his phone is in his hand. "In 5 minutes, so why don't we start now."

He walked with me even as I quickened my strides.

"Because it isn't for another 4 minutes. Those 4 minutes are my own."

"Or you could enjoy the last remaining 3 minutes of your 5 minutes enjoying a good cup of coffee in my office."

This was a surprise. We usually worked in my office and ever since the first day I had noticed the k-cup selection had increased dramatically. I needed my caffeine fix so I gave in.

As soon as arrived I noticed his office was larger than his brothers. It looked more traditional, all the degrees hanging on the wall, sleek modern furniture, a bookcase. Who has a bookcase anymore? Everything is digital.

In the corner he had a smartboard and I saw 2 cups of Starbucks coffee on the round rolling side table next to the chairs.

"Have a seat and make yourself comfortable Ms. O'Neill. Your coffee is hot and ready to be taken in so we can start our meeting in 3, 2, 1... Holly so great to see you! How did you enjoy yoga this morning? It looked like your first time."

Obviously, we are both competitive people and that was a jab at my abilities. Now I'll need to learn yoga outside of work so I can show him how much better I am at it.

"Let's just start where we left off last night. You have no protection for children under 18 years old which is a huge red flag. Who uses apps? The answer is children to young adults, so a lot of your demographic shouldn't even be allowed to download your sick twisted baby of an app."

He sipped his coffee and relaxed back on the other chair, muttering something to himself.

"Do you have a way to stop pediphiles from using your app?"

His looked shocked. "Uh, no. Do you?"

Actually I did have a solution to the sex predator issue but it's not like we could weed out every bad person with mal intent using our app.

"It public knowledge, sex offenders, so if we scrubbed a list weekly we would be out of the woods for any lawsuits."

Adam nodded. "Taking the offensive instead of the defensive approach. I like it. Get that to Derrek by the end of the week."

"I'll need to see where we can pull the data from, what permissions we will need, find out how much it might cost us to purchase the list if need be, and create a statement for PR." Not like this will ever actually go anywhere.

"That's what your team is for and I like that you are already thinking about the public image but this stays inhouse on lockdown until it's ready for launch. So, what's next...kids?"

The rest of my month went buy in a blur. I had worked with multiple groups to basically create an entirely new app. We still hadn't decided if it would be paired with their dating app or a stand alone, but I couldn't believe we were actually up and running.

In2MeSee was a multiple platform social app for singles. The couples version would be a work in progress since I needed to narrow the issue down and get something rolled out to show progress being made by the end of my first quarter with the company.

The app's main use was to send sexually explicit messages to consenting local anonymous adults. It would probably be added into the dating app and people would have to sign up for this interaction, checking boxes that they are over the age of 18 and were consenting adults.

There was a random naughty words generator for those that were stuck on what to say or wanted to practice their dirty talking skills. A social platform that gave a quick glimpse of the stranger you are talking with general info such as age, sex, and if you have a specific kink or request. We even had a 'noob' button so people could start messaging a group fellow new members and either practicing or observing what people say.

This project was long from over but we finally got one part of Adam's dream come true and put it into beta testing within the company right away.

***

"As you can see, our algorithm connects you with strangers, within a 50 mile radius, that have the same, or at least similar, sexual affinities. We've seen a lot of good communication because of that."

Presenting to the board was a daunting task and something Adam should have really took point on, but he seemed to like to see me squirm.

"But the point of this app is to turn the other person on via words. Why aren't I seeing that in the examples?"

Because there is a little thing called sexual harassment lawsuit. Before I could answer Adam chimed in.

"Yes, we understand that, but see, Holly has been working on this version with colleagues. She has saved us a lot of money by keeping it above board to avoid any sexual harassment lawsuits."

So he does listen to me. Hmm.

I gave him a nod and decided that now was the time to go out on a limb. I had been working on the apps ability to hide identities, even from the most tech savvy people, and added in some new features. I cleared my throat loudly and asked for their attention again.

"I'd say it's a successful first round using the group and direct chats, even if they aren't sexual in nature and I've already looked into a way to keep Talon Tech from any future sexual harassment lawsuits so we can put the app into beta testing for the company's employees." I paused for a moment. "First, we ask for consent. All parties must consent to directly message with a randomly picked and completely anonymous HR representative who will keep hold of the wet signatures and make sure that everyone understands they cannot sue the company."

I got a few head nods and positive sounding grunts.

"After forms are returned to HR the emails will be released to my data team lead. He's doing all of the names scrubbing to insure we don't have anyone we don't want able to use the app. Instead of just my team we will be opening this up to everyone from the college interns to you, the board - with you approval of course."

At the words interns they were smiling. I had them by the balls.

"NDA's will be signed and a person from my team will be able to trace back to the source if there are any breeches of contract or internal issues." I could tell how excited they were and looked to Adam who was giving me a golf clap.

"When do we start?"