[merritstone]

Office Politics

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Life was full of surprises for Judy recently, and they kept coming. As she walked outside to go to work, she found out someone had stolen her car. Well, not exactly stolen… replaced. Instead of her black SUV there was a bright yellow Volkswagen Bug parked on her side of the driveway. Judy walked around it twice before she even thought to try the key that she had reflexively drawn when she walked outside.

Looking down she saw a distinctive VW imbedded in the plastic key fob.

Slowly the wheels began to turn, she had always loved the look of the Bug, but she had never even spent a moment thinking of buying one. It was too small and impractical for a woman of her height. Of course she no longer was a woman of her height. Quite the opposite, Judy was now a petite little thing and the Bug might even seem roomy.

This shouldn’t seem odd. Not after five days of getting shorter, only to find the world one step ahead of her, but… but this was a whole car!

Each day the world got bigger, but her clothes still fit. Everything in her wardrobe changed to match her new physique. Today she had found high heels mixed in with her other shoes. Judy had never worn high heels before. She never needed to. Of course, it wasn’t just her clothes, her driver’s license flatly declared her new shorter height, old photos had changed, even her husband didn’t seem to notice. There was so much evidence to suggest she had always been the size she was currently (even though that size kept getting smaller) the most logical answer was that she was just going crazy.

Well, maybe it was the crazy talking, but Judy knew she wasn’t nuts.

The key slid into the lock and the bolt popped up. So, it was her car. Shrinking aside, Judy had to admit this she was the first thing that was nothing but positive. She had never loved her SUV. It had been a necessity. This car was just so much cooler. She liked the way it purred on her way to the office, and she didn’t even need to adjust the seat or move a mirror.

It was one of those days at work where she was basically just filling a seat. Everything was typed and everyone on her contact list was called by lunchtime. The rest of the day was spent observing the social network.

A week ago she had been the single tallest person at the company. Well liked, but not connected directly to any of the office clicks. The occasional leer would linger on her thighs or backside, but no one seriously pursued anything with her, even before she was married. This never seemed unusual to Judy, as it more or less reflected the rest of her life. She had a few hardcore friends, but had never casually hung out, or dated much. She had always assumed that it was her height. Judy couldn’t count the number of times she watched a man’s face fall as he watched her rise and rise off of a bar stool. The day Mark worked up the courage to ask her out after he knew how tall she was still one of the most surprising and wonderful things to ever occur to her.

As she shrunk, she found office life warming to her. At first she hardly noticed, until two days ago when she walked into work standing 5’8” and suddenly found herself deeply immersed in the lives of her fellow co-workers. She was flirted with, confided to, and invited to lunch. Carol, Betsy, and Jenny in particular seemed to be tight knit with her, which was awkward. They all acted like they had known her for years, the best of friends. Sadly, it was a one-way street and Jude had to fake it.

Although it was true that they had worked in the same office for some time, Judy had problems separating their names. She thought of them as short girls- she had thought of almost every woman as short- separating them mostly as the redhead, the brunette, and the cleavage monster. From her former lofty height it was impossible to not look down the scoop neck of Jenny’s immodest work attire where she prominently displayed her ample charms.

Jude wasn’t gay but even she marveled that any straight man working with Jen ever managed to get anything done. Even Mark had taken an eyeful the few times he had visited her in the office. Not that she blamed him. Her theory on men and marriage was this: If you stop looking, you’re dead. If you touch… you’re dead.

The biggest surprise was how much range there was in the girls’ heights. Carol was 5’5”, Betsy 5’8”, and little Jen was about 5’3”. At full size Judy knew they were different heights, but it didn’t seem important. It certainly did yesterday. Yesterday, Judy stool 5’5”- Carol’s height. She could feel the unspoken camaraderie with Carol as a like-sized person. How tall Betsy felt (especially in her 2 inch heels) and how Jen still felt like a shorty. These were a matter of 2 or 3 inches of difference in their heights. ‘Insignificant,’ she thought or would’ve before this started happening to her.

Today was once again, new. Today she was the shortest girl in her click, possibly the shortest woman in the office. Even if she wasn’t it felt like she was. Despite having heels in her closet, Judy had zero experience walking in them and refused turn a heel or wobble like a teenager, so she chose flats. Almost – no, make that- All of the other short girls wore heels. Most wore modest one and two inch pumps, but a few wore four inches of clicking, clacking impracticality.

Even Jenny the cleavage monster, who was now a natural inch taller than Judy, wore 2 inch heels. This only served to bring those twin Jello molds that much closer to Judy’s face. Over the course of the day, she caught herself staring more than once. One time even Jen saw her looking, but she laughed it off by grabbing her big boobs and jiggling them ludely in Jude’s direction.

Judy had always wished her own breasts were a little bigger- OK, maybe a lot bigger. She didn’t need anything quite on the scale of Jen’s shelf-like rack, but…

Instead of shrinking, why couldn’t it be her boobs getting bigger everyday? Jude quietly admitted to herself that she’d totally be into that. Mark was definitely a fan of big tits and then she could-

Or Mark could be the one shrinking. He’s shorter than she was anyway (normally). Everyday he’d be a little smaller, a little cuter, and only she’d know. She’d be a kind and loving giantess, gentle and maybe just a bit teasing. Eventually he’d dwindle to fit in her hand and she could take off her top, lie back, and give him bigger breasts then he’d ever dare imagine- Ah, a girl can dream.

She had to shake her head to clear the fantasy. Only to be lightly disappointed to notice how when she sat back in her chair her feet didn’t quite lay flat on the ground. She tried adjusting it, but the stupid thing was as low as it got.

The pecking order had also changed. Two days and six inches ago, Judy seemed to be co-leader of their little group, a title shared with Betsy. She wasn’t sure at the time, but it seemed that Jenny and Carol looked expectantly at Judy more often than they led the conversation. Judy was new to this course of events, but Betsy certainly wasn’t. Judy flummoxed and tripped in her role as leader, only to have Betsy pick up the slack. In a private moment when the two of them were in the lady’s room, Betsy went as far to ask if Judy was feeling OK. Nothing was thought of it at the time, but Betsy asked because they were obviously closer to each other than they were to the other two.

When she got to work today Jenny was her new best friend, while Betsy was slightly more aloof. The chain of command had also changed. It now definitively went Betsy, Jenny, Carol, Judy. One could only assume that Jenny’s over-inflated front is what bumped her ahead of Carol despite being 2 inches shorter. Beautiful, but without any particular out-standing assets herself, Judy could only rely on her height, and that left her at the bottom. Truth be told, Judy did have some impressive assets. Two super-long wonderfully toned legs, but at 5’2” no one seemed to be noticing.

The world was size-ist.

She didn’t really mind her new social standing. Mostly she felt like an observer in her own life, and if nothing else, it was interesting. First she was too big to be included, just some bizarre giantess to be mostly ignored and vaguely respected. Socially speaking, slightly taller than average was ideal. Tall enough to be impressive, but still short enough to be one of ‘them’. Short was OK, too. She was still part of the group but free from the responsibility of leadership. It should get really interesting in another day or two.

What was going to happen when she was a midget? Would she keep shrinking? What about being toddler height? Or doll-sized? What about the size of a bug? There weren’t any people that small, would she still even be technically human, or would Judy become her own specialized race. A race of one.

She just hoped Mark still loved her, regardless of height. She could make it through this as long as that remained true.

The rest of the day was spent looking most women in the chin and men in the chest or collarbone. The office was filled with lumbering ogres and she found herself constantly amazed at the size of everything. Toward the end of the day she was in the supply closet hopping to grab a box of paper clips off the middle shelf. The middle! Betsy happened by and helped out.

“Don’t strain yourself, Judy. Just ask one of us tall girls to get it for you,” Betsy laughed, “At least my height can be good for something.”

A giggle escaped Jude’s lips, getting an odd look from the taller woman. The majority of their interaction before Judy’s diminution involved her getting things off the top shelf for Betsy. In heels Betsy was 5’10”, a full seven inches shorter than Judy… should have been. Instead, Betsy was now eight inches taller.

“Thanks,” Judy said smiling up at Betsy. “Maybe tomorrow you can help me reach something off the bottom shelf.”

“Oh Judy,” Betsy said, eyebrow raised. “Honey, you’re not that short.”

“Didn’t you hear?” Judy said conspiratorially, “I’m shrinking.”