Everyone on staff at your company had all been called to the mandatory meeting for the HR inclusion training. So far, they had stuck the everyone in a room and were now starting to split people up into groups. You ended up having your name called last, so Jennifer from HR asked you over. She had a smile on her face, as she often did.
“So are you excited for this?” She asked.
“For what?” You replied.
“You didn’t read the email?”
You shrugged.
“Well, our company’s inclusivity training is a little different than most. Using the latest technology, we actually all swap bodies with another employee for a week in order to get to understand the challenges of their gender, race, age, and so on! You’re in group 3B, and we’ll just have assign you a room where one of your co-workers will be waiting. You might have a few seconds, but you’ll soon swap bodies with that person!”
“Wait...what!?”
She held out a hat with some folded papers inside. “It’s time for you to pick a room. Pull one out!”
You read the slip of paper, “Room 219.”
Suddenly, Jennifer’s face looked worried. It was the first time you had seen her without a smile. Her brow was now furrow and she looked worried. “That’s this room,” She said, “That means...oh, my God.”
Then you suddenly realized you were now looking at your own face, and it had the same furrowed brow and worried expression that Jennifer had a moment ago. You looked down to see a blue blouse. Of all the people you could’ve eneded up swapping with, you ended up swapping with Jennifer!
“So, remember,” Jennifer said with your voice, “You’re going to be spending the next week in my body. Remember, this is a learning exercise, so try to experience our differences, but...don’t do anything weird with my body, okay?”
“You sound like you were blind-sided by this.” You said.
“I thought the HR staff was exempt from participating, but I guess not! It’ll be okay, though! I’m sure I can cope with being in your body for the week! It’s just...ugh...I’m going to have to send an email to my boyfriend to cancel our date!”
You read the slip of paper, “Supply closet?”
You shrugged and then walked over there. Inside was one of the office interns. You didn’t know her name, but rumor around the water cooler was that she was the daughter of the CEO.
“So can I leave now?” She asked, “Because I have class--”
In the next instance, you were now the one standing there in ballet flats with a lanyard around your neck that clearly identified you as an intern.
“What the hell?” The intern shrieked, “I’m old! And, ugh, I still need to get to class! Or YOU need to get to class! And I have a test today! I hope your a good coder, because if you fail, I’m so going to have my dad fire you!”
It was weird to be yelled at by your own body, but inside the body of the female intern, you felt so weak and unable to stand up for yourself. You quickly asked what university she attended and how to get to the classroom. She gave you the information, and you were off. Once free of the office, you actually felt relaxed. Being in the body of a care-free student for a week actually didn’t seem like a bad deal.
You read the slip of paper, “Executive suite.”
You felt pretty confident to be swapping bodies with the CEO, so you took the elevator to the top floor, and instead found the hot hispanic cleaning lady, Maria.
“Lo siento,” She smiled, “I’ll be finished in a moment.”
But you soon realized you weren’t there to swap bodies with the CEO as the smell of lemon cleaning product soon filled your nostrils and you felt a heavy weight on your chest. And your brain was thinking in spanglish, seemlessly able to pull both spanish and english into your brain. You saw your former body smile, and you smiled back -- but as soon as you did, Maria ran out in your body as fast as she could.
You were worried about where she ran off to, and hoped you’d be able to swap back after a week no matter where she went. You could probably stand cleaning the office for the week, but Maria’s life isn’t exactly one you would have wanted! Which, you imagined, is why she ran. You just had to keep reapting to yourself, “Solo una semana...”
You read the slip of paper, “Conference Room D.”
Conference Room D was almost always booked. You hadn’t known anyone who was able to set up a meeting in there. When you walked in, you found out why. The CEO was sitting there, and it seemed he had set up his entire office in there for some reason.
“Well, this is just perfect,” He said before you two swapped.
You thought being the rich CEO and in charge for a week would be fun. Instead, you felt a pain in your chest and saw your own body give an evil smile.
“It was absolutely perfect timing,” You heard your own voice say but it was starting to sound like it was in an echo chamber, “I didn’t have long to live, and my doctor said this weird swap would surely cause me to have a heart attack. Of course, I wouldn’t be the one in the body at that time. That would be you. Meanwhile, I can continue my work in your younger body. I’m sorry about this, but it’s really just business. And if...”
His voice faded away as everything became black and cold, as you reluctantly accepted death.
You read the slip of paper, “Room 419.”
You took the elevator up to the fourth floor and entered Room 419. The company’s lawyer, Kim Lee, sat there resting her cheek on her hand. She looked depressed.
“I can’t believe I approved this weird swapping week,” She sighed as she looked at you, “Oh, great, I guess I’m swapping bodies with you...”
You thought being a woman as beautiful as Kim would be exciting, but now that you were actually in her body, it was impossible to feel excited about it. In fact, you were struggling with the motivation to feel much of anything at all.
Kim, now in your body, went into a drawer and pilled out a bottle of pills. She was explaining something about her depression or something and how often you needed to take the medicine she was showing you, but none of it was really sinking in. It was hard to pay attention or care, and you really didn’t want to be downing pills every day. But then again...maybe you should?
You read the slip of paper, “Front desk.”
Thinking you were going to be in the body of the receptionist at the front desk, you were pretty excited as you headed down. She was, quite frankly, kind of hot, and you were starting to get giddy at being in her body for week. But she brushed you off, telling you that she where she worked was the receptionist desk, and you needed the front desk.
You headed out another set of doors to see Jan, the head of security, standing there with a smile. It was only a second before you swapped bodies with her.
Your butt felt huge, and you felt quite uncomfortable now that you had her large body. You were sure it was going to be a tough week, but there was a bright spot. Jan was pretty open about being a lesbian but very quiet about who she was dating. The rumor around the water cooler was that her girlfriend was actually quite hot. Maybe when you went back to Jan’s place tonight, you could keep the whole “body swapping” thing a secret. There just might be an upside!
You read the slip of paper, “Room 606.”
Grace worked in the marketing department and was inside room 606. You breathed a sigh of relief. You hadn’t wanted to swap a woman, but Grace was so remarkably average. If you had to be a woman for a week, being a girl next door type like Grace didn’t seem so bad.
She had a slight Mona Lisa smile, but she seemed quite serious as she spoke. “I should probably say something before this whole body swapping thing happens...”
But she was able to get it in. You swapped bodies with her so quickly. You felt a discomfort like you couldn’t explain, but you also didn’t feel as different as you might expect either.
“I’m transgender,” Grace said from your body, completing her thought that she had started earlier, “I haven’t had bottom surgery yet, so you’ll need to keep it taped down. And keep taking my hormone pills! And don’t tell anyone, please! You’re now the only one who knows here!”
You couldn’t believe Grace was transgender, which meant for the next week, you were transgender! As Grace kept describing the things you’d have to do, you hope you’d be able to keep Grace’s secret for her!
You read the slip of paper, “The Pit.”
That was the name for where all the graphic designers sat together on the third floor. Without any more specifics, you were wondering how you were even going to know who you were swapping with, but when you got there, it was empty except for a woman sitting in the corner.
Ye Jun didn’t speak much. She just nodded when she saw you. It was a trip to think you were going to be spending the next week in her gorgeous body!
After sitting together in silence for a few moments, the swap took place. Ye Jun spoke with your body. It was strange to hear your voice and see your lips move without you being the one to do it; it was stranger when you couldn’t make out a word she said. You could tell she was speaking English, but that was about it. The keys on the keyboard had weird symbols.
A sense of frustration came over you. “씨발” You muttered, realizing you were now able to speak Korean, despite losing your English abilities. Suddenly, you were a lot less excited about this week and much more concerned about how you were going to navigate anything without being able to understand it. As Grace kept describing the things you’d have to do, you hope you’d be able to keep Grace’s secret for her!
You read the slip of paper, “Cubicle 10010.”
You rolled your eyes, but you immediately knew you were heading to the IT department -- they had numbered their cubicles in binary. And, of course, that confusing system made it difficult to find exactly where you were supposed to be, but you eventually did.
Cheryl had actually set up your computer when you first started, and she had helped you plenty of other times. She was always pleasant. You shrugged, thinking there were certainly worse people to swap bodies with.
You certainly felt the difference when it happened. You were a little rounder; your pants were a little tigher; there was a weight on your chest. All in all, you realized the week should be pretty painless.
“Before you get too happy about this,” Cheryl warned upon seeing your smile, “I promise you that everyone behind you will underestimate you for either being a woman or being Black or both. And if you think you’ll get a break at home, forget it! My entire family makes fun of me for either being ‘too smart’ or criticizes me for having a job that ‘for white people’ or whatever. Look, I’m not saying don’t enjoy your time in my body, but don’t expect it to be easy either.”
You read the slip of paper, “Room 757.”
For some odd reason, the elevators weren’t working, so you took the stairs up to Room 757. You entered to see Lucy, an assistant to one of the C-Level execs, standing there. She was known as the office flirt, and there were more than a few rumors about her flying around. She seemed genuinely happy to see you, or maybe she was just ready to laugh at how sweaty you were after climbing all the flights of stairs.
“Ooooh!” She squealed, “This is going to be good!”
You didn’t get to reply to that before the swap happened. It was odd being inside Lucy’s body and feeling her curves and wearing her revealing outfit.
“Okay, some ground rules,” She said from your body, “You can experiment as much as you want sexually with my body, but use protection. I expect the same courtesy. In fact, if you want to get curiosity out of the way right now, you might notice that I didn’t wear any underwear today. I know my body better than anyone, so I assure you it would be pleasurable, and it’s probably safest to do it with each other for our first times in each other’s bodies, right?”
You realized you not only had Lucy’s body, but also her libido. You simply nodded; everything she was saying sounded pretty good to you right about now...
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