“Come on, they’re not that bad, Savannah! And besides, this is Hooters, titillation is the whole idea!” Lyle exclaimed.

 

“Titillation without any regard for our comfort! It’s bad enough that they ride up something fierce and are giving us all wedgies, but tell me, what are the girls gonna do when they’re on their period, huh? Cause you can’t wear a pad in these!” Savannah, his assistant manager rebuked while holding a pair of orange shorts that more resembled underwear than overwear.

 

“Use a tampon? I dunno, I’m a guy, I don’t know about that stuff!” Lyle shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Exactly! You don’t know! And I’m willing to bet there wasn’t a single woman in whatever department that came up with those shorts!”

 

“Well, it’s an edict from on high, I can’t go against corporate!”

 

“Bullshit! You went against corporate before when they wanted Nia to straighten her hair last year, why are the new shorts any different?”

 

“Listen, I’m the manager and I can’t just kowtow to every demand my employees make. With Nia, if I’m being honest, I thought they had a point.” Lyle said.

 

“What?!” Savannah asked.

 

“That was more my uncle, because he didn’t want to lose such a good server. But if I try to keep fighting corporate when you tell me to, it makes me look ineffectual, especially since the girls treat you like my equal when you’re only my assistant manager.” Lyle replied.

 

“It makes you look like you care about your servers!”

 

“My job isn’t to care, my job is to make sure we make money, and I heard from other branches that those shorts are very popular with the customers and that’s what matters. The takeaway is that it’s my uncle who owns the place and put me in charge, so my rule is law and I’ve got to take a stand on the side of being pro-shorts and if it makes me unpopular, well Machiavelli said it’s better to be feared than loved. I’m the boss and what I say goes. Okay?”

 

“...Fine. But if you expect me to be in your corner, I won’t. I’m telling the girls I fought for them.” Savannah frowned.

 

“Do what you need to do, just remember, what I say goes.” Lyle smiled as Savannah sadly walked out of the office, shutting the door behind her.

 

Savannah walked out to the front of the store where a group of Hooters waitresses, some in and some out of uniform, were waiting around a table with chairs placed upside down on top of it. Savannah was wearing the black variant of the uniform, with the long sleeved top as opposed to the classic tank top that the other girls wore.

 

“Sorry girls, I did my best.” Savannah shrugged as she tossed the sorry excuse for shorts down onto the table.

 

“He wouldn’t budge?” a blonde girl, named Ashlee, asked.

 

“Nope, I think he’s feeling a little inadequate, since you girls come to me when you need help, plus he knows how much we miss his uncle, and so he’s using this as a power trip.” Savannah said. “Hopefully the push on social media will make corporate reconsider, but for the time being, we’ve got to wear the new shorts.”

 

“This sucks! I miss Richie, he always treated us with respect and went to bat for us with corporate. I can’t believe he retired and left us with Lyle...” Ashlee said.

 

“I didn’t mind him much when he was Richie’s assistant, but now I feel that he’s always leering at us when we have one-on-one meetings in his office. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to ask any of us out to be honest.” Nia, a black waitress with her hair in braids said.

 

“I think he knows the limits of his position. But I hate how he never takes our side when it comes to the customers. That guy last week got super handsy and he told me, ‘Just think of the tips you’ll get!’ Like it wasn’t totally degrading!” Ashlee spat.

 

“That’s what happens when you get a job through nepotism, he didn’t work his way up and learn how to deal with any of that and I bet if Richie ever tried to teach him, he never paid attention!” Nia said.

 

“No wonder we’ve had girls quitting left and right, he treats us like crap and Richie always threw in a little extra around the holidays to make up for handsy customers and we’ve got jack squat from Lyle.” another girl spoke up.

 

“I know, but there’s nothing I can do about it, so we’ve just gotta suck it up and hope that those girls in other states who say the new shorts have been doing wonders for their tips are right, at least make it worth our while.” Savannah sighed.

 

“I bet he’d feel differently if he was one of us…” Nia muttered.

 

“Yeah, if he knew how it felt to be objectified even further than we already are, because I can live with how it was, that’s why I took the job here. But if the uniforms are just gonna get skimpier and skimpier…” Ashlee said.

 

“If you were manager, Sav, you’d push back, cause you know how it felt to be one of us!” a raven-haired girl named Deanna said.

 

“You’re right. If only there was a way to make Lyle know how it feels to be us, if only for just a day...” Savannah trailed off.

“Can you imagine Lyle walking around in those orange shorts?” a redhead named Orla tossed her head back in laughter.

 

“Oh my god, that’s hilarious!” Ashlee giggled, which turned into a full on fit of laughter.

 

The rest of the girls, including Savannah, joined in on the laughter fit.

 

“That’s priceless…” Savannah wiped a tear of laughter from her eye. “Although…”

 

“What?” Nia asked.

 

“Deanna is right… If Lyle knew how those shorts felt when you’re the one wearing them, he’d probably see our point of view.” Savannah said.

 

“You can’t seriously be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, Sav.” Orla said.

 

“I think I am. So, do you think a few of you can run some errands for me in the morning?” Savannah asked.

 

The next morning, hours before opening, Lyle sat at his desk in his office and looked over his emails on the computer. As he did so, there was a gentle knock on the office door.

 

“Come in!” Lyle shouted.

 

Savannah pushed the door open and walked in carrying an orange mug of coffee, the mug naturally branded with the restaurant’s logo.

 

“Coffee, boss?” Savannah asked.

 

“I see you’re in better spirits than yesterday. Finally realize that I was right?” Lyle nodded as Savannah handed him the mug.

 

“Something like that, but don’t worry, I think we’re going to be seeing eye to eye from now on.”

 

“I’m glad to hear it,” Lyle said, sipping his coffee. “And hey, I think the new shorts really accentuate your asses, I think tips are gonna be flooding in from now on.”

 

“I’m glad you think so.” Savannah smiled. “Enjoy the coffee!”

 

“Thanks,” Lyle took a big swig of the coffee before returning to his work.

 

If Lyle was as smart as he thought he was, he might have wondered what caused Savannah’s change of heart. But as it stands, he wasn’t wondering that, he was happy that Savannah was finally treating him like her superior. After a few minutes he started to feel really drowsy. He found it difficult to keep his eyes open, fighting against himself to open them every time they closed.

 

“What’s wrong with me today?” Lyle yawned. “I thought I slept pretty well last night… Well, we don’t open for another few hours, I bet I can sneak in a little nap…”

Lyle slowly leaned back in his chair and promptly passed out. After a few moments, there was another gentle knock on his door.

 

“Boss? Lyle?” Savannah asked as she opened the door slowly, smiling when she spotted the unconscious form of Lyle lying back in his desk chair. “Girls, time to get to work!”

 

Soon, the office was swarming with Hooters servers in full uniform, although most of them stayed behind in the restaurant proper to continue prepping for opening, leaving Savannah with her team of Nia, Deanna, Orla and Ashlee at her beck and call, ready to begin their task.

 

“First things first, get him stripped and we’ll need him to be hairless below the eyebrows. Did you bring the razors?” Savannah asked.

 

“I did you one better, I brought Nair. It’ll be quicker.” Deanna said, pulling out a pink bottle and shaking it up.

 

“Perfect,” Savannah said as she started to untie Lyle’s shoes.

 

The other girls followed suit and soon, Lyle’s traditional outfit of an orange polo shirt emblazoned with the Hooters logo on the breast was gone, and he was in just his boxers as he lay back in the chair, dead to the world and completely unaware of what was going on. But not for long, as Savannah slid down the boxers and tossed them into the pile of clothes on the floor.

 

“Looks like he had another reason to feel inadequate, huh?” Nia giggled and elicited a similar response from the rest of the girls.

 

“Focus, girls. We have a limited window for this. If he wakes up before we’re done, we’re screwed. Deanna, start Nairing, and Orla, start with the wig.” Savannah ordered.

 

Simultaneously, Deanna, wearing gloves to protect her hands, started applying the depilatory cream to Lyle’s body, starting with his legs, but also doing the tops of his arms, his chest, his armpits and even his face, to get rid of the paltry excuse for stubble he had going on, while Orla started using product to pull his relatively short hair back so that she could place a wig cap over it, securing the edges of the wig cap with glue, before doing the same with a curly blonde wig, gluing it to the wig cap.

 

By the time Orla finished the wig, Deanna was wiping off the cream, leaving Lyle as nude as the day he was born, but with a very interesting (and sexy) new hairstyle that Orla was still fussing over. With the first stage done, Nia pulled out a package of press-on nails, matching them to each of Lyle’s fingers before gluing down the active-length squoval nails, done in a very tasteful french design. Ashlee, on the other hand, was working on his toenails, a more intensive job as that required Ashlee, whose mother owned a salon when she was a teenager, to shape, groom and polish his toenails by hand.

 

While waiting for his toenails to dry, Deanna handed Savannah a bra and they wrestled it onto Lyle’s chest, not an easy feat when having to lift his dead-weight off the back of the chair in order to secure it. But once they did, they slipped some breast enhancer inserts into the bra and glued them down to Lyle’s smooth chest.

 

“Almost perfect…” Orla held her fingers in a rectangle shape and looked at Lyle’s chest intently. “They just need a little something…”

 

Orla dug into a makeup bag and pulled out a brush and some powders while Ashlee, who’d spend the last few minutes blowing gently on Lyle’s toes to dry them, causing him to stir slightly and his mouth to curl up into a smile, which Savannah took advantage of by taking a few snapshots of him seemingly enjoying his makeover, checked them one last time.

 

“They’re dry! Time to get our new girl suited up!” Ashlee exclaimed.

 

Before they could start on clothes however, Nia took some time to, using some tape, to tuck Lyle’s penis and testicles down, adjusting it so that he could use the bathroom, but only if he sat, while Savannah shoved a tampon into his ass using the applicator.

 

“It’s a shame we don’t have anything to enhance his ass…” Ashlee sighed.

 

“I dunno, we might not really need anything for that, his ass ain’t bad…” Orla said.

 

Once that was settled, they moved on to the uniform. Starting with a requisite Hooters orange thong, they pulled it up over his tucked manhood and made sure it was tightly secured. Then came some tan pantyhose, it took three of them, Savannah, Deanna and Nia, to pull them over each of his legs, but now it was time for the dreaded shorts.

 

The girls took great satisfaction in stuffing Lyle’s butt into the orange shorts, (although again, calling them shorts was being generous) making sure to pull them just high enough so that both the thong and the shorts would get stuck between his buttocks. Once that was done, next came the white slouch socks and then the bright, white tennis shoes.

 

“It’s just a shame that the uniform doesn’t include heels, cause I think that would really be the icing on the cake…” Deanna said.

 

“Unfortunately we have to adhere to the established uniform. It’s an edict from corporate.” Savannah smirked.

 

Pulling his arms up above his head, the girls then slipped Lyle into the requisite white tank top and tucked the tank top into the shorts, as per the uniform code.

 

The final piece of the makeover was his makeup, and as per restaurant rules it wasn’t too overstated, just some simply accentuating of his eyes, curling the lashes and making his natural hazel eyes pop, softening his facial features with blush and foundation, and accentuating his lips with some shiny pink lip gloss. Ashlee even took the liberty to pluck his eyebrows a bit, but not too much as Lyle started to stir more and more frequently.

 

“I think we’re done, girls. Time to meet our newest Hooters Girl!” Savannah clapped her hands happily.

 

As Lyle groggily started to wake up, the first thing he noticed was a strange taste on his lips… what was that flavor? Bubblegum? The next thing he noticed was a heaviness on his eyes. Assuming it was eye boogers, he reached up to dig them out but got startled when he noticed the french tips on the ends of his fingers.

 

“What the hell?” Lyle jumped back and tried to focus his eyes on the nails, breaking through his grogginess.

“Wakey wakey, boss!” Savannah sang.

 

Lyle looked up to see Savannah and some of the other girls standing on the other side of his desk, smiling at him.

 

“What’s going on?” Lyle asked.

 

“Why don’t you take a look for yourself?” Savannah handed Lyle a small makeup mirror.

 

He quickly grabbed it from her hands and his jaw dropped as he stared at his made-up face, framed by curly blonde hair, in the mirror.

 

“Who the hell is…” Lyle muttered, before hopping up and pointing an accusatory finger at Savannah. “What the fuck did you girls do to me?”

 

“Nothing much, we just thought that if you were gonna support the new shorts, you really ought to try them out for a day to be sure!” Savannah said.

 

Lyle looked down at himself and traced the path from his white sneakered feet, up his pantyhosed legs and finally to his chest, snugly resting behind the classic Hooters logo.

 

“I have breasts! How can I have breasts?” Lyle asked, looking down at his surprisingly robust chest.

 

“You are quite endowed, aren’t you? Unfortunately they aren’t real, but they’re the closest thing to it.” Savannah said.

 

“Betcha never noticed I’m as flat as a board.” Orla said, motioning to her chest, which Lyle noticed was flatter than usual. “But add one bombshell bra, some stickyboobs and creative contouring of my cleavage and voilà! Did wonders for you, too!”

 

“T-this has gone on far enough! Help me get this crap off!” Lyle grabbed the wig and yanked, but only served in pulling at his own skin, wincing in pain. “Ouch!”

 

“Yeah, the wig is glued on, and so are the breast forms and nails, and we have the solvent, so you’re playing our game now.” Nia wiggled the glue bottle.

 

“What do you want? You want me to push back against the shorts? Fine, I’ll call corporate right now and lodge a complaint!” Lyle grabbed the landline phone off the desk and started dialing a number, but Savannah quickly snatched it out of his hand.

 

“It’s too late for that. That’s what we wanted yesterday, today we want you to have tangible experience before you make that call.” Savannah said.

 

“And if I refuse?”

 

“Well, first, you’ll never get the solvent to get rid of the glue, and second, check your email.” Deanna said.

 

Lyle, with slight difficulty due to his nails, opened his emails to find several photos from varying stages of the makeover, and Lyle with closed eyes and a smile on his face. It didn’t take too long to connect the dots of what might happen if Lyle disobeyed his staff. It’s blackmail then.

 

“So all you girls want is for me to spend a day as a waitress?” Lyle asked.

 

“Yep!” Ashlee smiled.

 

“Fine. I mean it can’t be that difficult, right?” Lyle said.

 

“Oh, you’ll see!” Savannah grinned. “Now, let’s get you the crash course!”

 

Savannah motioned for Lyle to exit the office and he took tentative steps towards the door. Stepping across the threshold, Lyle felt all eyes on him as the various servers and hostesses knew exactly who he was as he stepped through the door.

 

“First things first, your walk is all wrong, you’ve got to sway your hips as you walk. It’d be easier to learn in heels, but store policy means you’ve gotta learn in flats.” Savannah said. “Watch me.”

 

Savannah crossed the room, every movement graceful and sexy, even while wearing sneakers. The irony being that Lyle could never have stared at her ass as she walked before, but now it was being required of him, not that he could enjoy it dressed as he was. As she reached the counter, she turned around and motioned for Lyle to join her.

 

Lyle complied and began walking, unsteadily as he tried to mimic her movements, but utterly failed. But after a few mid-walk adjustments by Orla, Nia and Ashlee, not to mention words of encouragement from the entire staff, Lyle’s walk eventually became suitable enough for the girls to accept, which was good, because the restaurant was about to open!

 

The day’s first customers began to trickle inside and the hostess began seating them while Savannah and Nia briefed Lyle very quickly on what was expected of him as a waitress.

 

“You always have to smile when dealing with customers, remember that.” Nia said. “Take the orders, write them down, it’s simple stuff.”

 

“I think I can handle taking orders…” Lyle grumbled.

 

“And you might want to try lightening your voice. Husky can be sexy but I bet you don’t want them to know what you’re packing, right?” Savannah added.

 

“Like this?” Lyle strained his voice into a falsetto, although the reactions given by Savannah and Nia told volumes about the quality.

 

“You’ll figure it out!” Nia said.

 

“All right, it’s time for your first customers!” Savannah held out a name tag emblazoned with the name ‘Lyla’ on it. “Remember, pin it to the left side!”

 

Lyle complied and took a deep breath before walking out to the first table where a trio of college-aged guys sat, tittering as they glanced at the menus. But once Lyle approached, mimicking the walk he’d been shown earlier, their attention was firmly on their server.

 

“Hey guys! I’m, uh… Lyla, what can I get started for you today?” Lyle said, his voice dripping with fake enthusiasm. “Maybe some drinks? A pitcher of beer perhaps?”

 

“It’s uh…” one of the guys started, though he seemed as if he was suppressing a laugh. “It’s our first time here, what do you recommend?”

 

“Well, all the food is really good, but we’re famous for our wings. Original, Smoked or Daytona?” Lyle asked, feeling all of their eyes practically burning a hole through both the tank top and shorts, which were indeed riding up something fierce.

 

“Are they made from your finest breast meat?” the second of the guys asked, before the entire trio broke out in raucous laughter.

 

Lyle didn’t particularly find the joke funny, for one thing, wings are made from wing meat, not breast meat. Unless you’re talking about boneless wings, but that hadn’t been brought up and Lyle didn’t think they’d be smart enough for that anyway. But in the corner of his eye, Lyle spotted Ashlee miming laughter while wiping down a table across the restaurant and nodding her head in a way that said, ‘Laugh at their joke! Or else!’ So Lyle did, smacking the table for emphasis and hearing the clack of his fake nails tapping the tabletop.

 

“You’re so funny! I’ve never heard that one before!” Lyle added a giggle to the end for dramatic effect. “So… wings?”

 

“Yeah, original and a pitcher of beer.” the first guy said.

 

“Great choices, I’ll go get that started for you!” Lyle said, writing down the orders. “Be back soon!”

 

Lyle wiggled his fingers as he waved to the guys as he made his way back behind the safety of the counter and handed the order slip to the kitchen staff.

 

“Great job!” Savannah said. “That was a good show for your first time. Let’s hope your next table is as successful.”

 

Savannah pointed over to a nearby table where a hostess was seating a group of three middle-aged men who were already leering over the hostess.

 

“Come on, do I have to serve every table?” Lyle asked.

 

“As our newest trainee, there’s no better way to learn that baptism by fire!” Savannah said. “Now move that caboose before I make you!”

 

Lyle whimpered as he unwillingly sauntered over to the table where the middle-aged men were already undressing their waitress with their eyes. Oh, if only they knew!

 

“Hey fellas! Welcome to Hooters, I’m Lyla, what can I get started for ya?” Lyle chirped.

 

“Hey, dollface, you’re new, aren’t you? I thought we knew all the waitresses here!” the first man, a fat, bald man in a yellow polo shirt, remarked.

 

“Uh, yeah, it’s my first day.” Lyle said, hoping it might mean they’d make his job easier.

 

“Don’t worry ladies, we’ll help you break her in!” the second man exclaimed.

 

Naturally this made the other waitresses and hostesses laugh while Lyle could only blush while gripping his pad in his manicured hands.

 

“We’ll have wings, a pitcher of beer and an order of fried pickles!” the first man said.

 

“You got it, boys, I’ll be back with that in a jiffy!” Lyle said, dripping with saccharine sarcasm as he turned to walk away.

 

“Thanks, sweetie!” The third man spoke for the first time right before he smacked Lyle on the ass as he started to walk.

 

Lyle responded by jumping forward by a few steps and gasping. The room went silent and the embarrassment was palpable, Lyle was about to turn around to give the man a piece of his mind when he caught Savannah’s gaze, and she just shook her head while glaring at Lyle.

 

Lyle just looked down at the floor and quickly made his way back behind the counter to hand in the order slip to the kitchen.

 

The rest of the morning went about the same, Lyle took the brunt of the lunch rush and of the objectification, as he endured comments, flirting and on more than one occasion, touching, but while that wasn’t technically permitted by the Hooters corporate guidelines, it was something that happened that Lyle had turned a blind eye to for far too long and now he was the one paying the price. Finally, during a lull, Lyle had a chance to rest, massaging his aching calves as he waited for things to pick up again.

 

As Lyle rested, leaning on the counter for a moment, the door to the restaurant opened and Lyle immediately ducked behind the counter when he saw who walked in. A slightly balding, rotund man with a thick mustache, who nearly every girl in the restaurant recognized and started to greet, because it was Lyle’s uncle, Richie.

 

“Lyla, what’s wrong? Got a run in your hose?” Savannah asked, mockingly.

 

“Hello girls!” a booming voice announced as it approached the counter.

 

“Richie?” Savannah questioned as the restaurant branch’s owner, and former manager, strolled up to the counter. “What are you doing here?”

 

“What’s up, Savvy?” Richie asked. “I was in the neighborhood and I figured I’d drop in to see how my girls were doing.”

 

“I can’t believe you called my uncle!” Lyle whispered to Savannah.

 

“I didn’t,” Savannah whispered back. “But I couldn’t have arranged the luck better myself!”

 

“Anything wrong down there?” Richie asked, peering over the counter.

 

“Not at all, Richie! Just a new girl retying her sneakers. Want something to eat?” Savannah asked.

 

“You know? I think I could go for wings right now, I’ll go grab a seat, and you can send someone over when they’re free. Oh, and tell Lyle I’m here!” Richie said.

 

“Will do!” Savannah gave him a thumbs up as he started walking towards an empty table. “Oh, Lyla!”

 

“No way!” Lyle said. “He’ll know it’s me!”

 

“Looking like that, I wouldn’t even know it was you if I hadn’t been the one giving you the makeover! Now do it or you’ll never see the solvent!” Savannah ordered.

 

“Fine…” Lyle stood up and brushed himself off, before mustering up all his fake enthusiasm to strut across the floor to his uncle’s table.

 

“Uh, so, what’ll it be, sir?” Lyle asked, trying his hardest to not make eye contact, lest he be recognized.

 

“I’ll have my usual, don’t worry, the guys in the kitchen know what it is. Just say ‘Richie wants his usual’ and they’ll get it started.” Richie said. “I like to make it easy for you girls.”

 

“T-thanks…” Lyle turned and started to walk away.

 

“Hold up a minute, sweetie. Just a word of advice, you’ve gotta be more confident if you want to get those tips. I know you’re new, and I’m willing to bet the ladies told you I was the owner so you’re probably terrified of me, but don’t worry about it.” Richie said. “You’ve got the perfect look, so you’re gonna do fine here. Just remember that the biggest thing is smiling.”

 

“I uh… appreciate that, sir.” Lyle tried to walk away once more, but Richie stopped him again.

 

“You know, I hope you don’t mind me saying but you look so familiar to me. Heck, if I didn’t know any better I’d say that your face reminds me a lot of my own sister’s… Wait a minute, Lyle?” Richie asked, his jaw almost dropping to the floor. “What the heck is going on?”

 

“I… I…” Lyle, flustered, dropped back to his normal octave and couldn’t manage to squeak out an explanation.

 

“Ah, I see you found our little surprise!” Savannah rushed over grinning as she put her arm around Lyle. “I wondered how long it’d take you to notice.”

 

“This is… well it’s certainly a surprise!” Richie bellowed.

 

“I’ll bet it is, I’m sure you heard about that corporate edict on the new shorts.” Savannah said.

 

“That’s right, and I’ve already sent out an email to corporate telling them I think it’s a terrible idea. I figured you ladies wouldn’t be so hot on them,”

 

“You’d be right. But anyway, we got into a discussion about it, and Lyle realized that he couldn’t really be an effective manager if he didn’t understand the day to day operations of the entire staff. I mean he worked in the kitchen when he started, but he’s never been a server, and so he agreed to this little pilot program we’ve got going here. Honestly it was just a coincidence that you came by to surprise us, but I think it worked out for the best.”

 

“Is this true, Lyle?” Richie asked.

 

“Uh…” Lyle started, as Savannah quickly pinched his ass. “Eek! I mean, yeah, it made sense at the time, I mean I bet there wasn’t a woman on any of the marketing teams that came up with those shorts!”

 

“No, I suppose not…” Richie chuckled. “Well, I can’t say I’d have done the same, but I’m glad to see you taking such an interest in protecting these ladies. Of course I don’t think I’d have looked half as good as you do, did you do this all yourself?”

 

“No, he had a little bit of help from all of us. You know how we love to do our part to pitch in!” Savannah said.

 

“Well, it’s unorthodox, but whatever it takes, right?” Richie said. “Oh, and Lyle, do you mind if I borrow the office for a bit? I’ve got some calls to make and I wouldn’t want to interrupt your little… experiment.”

 

“That’s fine, Uncle Rich!” Lyle gulped. “Mi office es su office!”

 

“Savannah, join me inside, I think we’ve got some things to discuss.” Richie said as he walked off to the office, Savannah followed behind.

 

Richie spent the entire day in the office while Lyle continued to join the waitresses, Orla, Nia, and Ashlee in serving their hungry and mildly horny patrons. After the restaurant closed for the night, the girls stood around as they started to pool their tips.

 

“Okay, let’s see who made the best tips!” Deanna said. “Ooh, Lyla, pretty good for your first day!”

 

“Maybe you were right about the shorts, look at these tips!” Ashlee giggled.

 

As the tips were distributed evenly by Savannah, Richie emerged from the back office.

 

“Okay, team! Staff meeting!” Richie shouted, then chuckled. “Feels good to say that again.”

 

“Feels good to hear you say it again, boss!” Savannah grinned.

 

“While this was a… very unorthodox method of addressing your complaints…” Richie started, with all eyes turning to Lyle, who wished he could just sink into the wall he was leaning against. “It’s opened my eyes and I realize now that my nephew just wasn’t ready to take on all my responsibilities. So, effective immediately, I’m promoting Savannah to full manager.”

 

“Congrats, girl!” Ashlee exclaimed, hugging Savannah.

 

“What?!” Lyle exclaimed. “You can’t do that!”

 

“I most certainly can. I retired from the day-to-day operations, but it’s still my name on the franchise agreement. I think we all agree that she’s the most qualified.” Richie said. “And as for you, Lyle, also effective immediately, I’m placing you on a six month probationary period… as a waitress.”

“Huh?” Lyle’s face dropped.

 

“Losing quality waitresses, borderline sexual harassment and running your own little dictatorship isn’t what I had in mind when you took over.”  Richie said, leaving no ambiguity as to what he and Savannah discussed in the office earlier. “I feel that you’ll benefit from learning your way to the top and the best way to do that is to start at the bottom.”

 

“And that means following the uniform rules, so get used to this look.” Savannah said. “You’re gonna be seeing a whole lot more of it.”

 

“Then I’ll just quit, I don’t need this job!” Lyle said, standing defiantly, or at least as defiantly as one can in pantyhose and tiny orange shorts.

 

“That’s your choice, and if that’s what you want to do that’s fine, but if you recall, I lent you the money when you needed a new car, and that was dependent on you making the payments on time. If you don’t have a job, then I’ll be taking back that car. And collecting on the debt. Now if you’ve got a new job lined up, then that’s fine, but if not… You need this job.” Richie said.

 

“Bu-bu-bu…” Lyle trailed off as he tried to process what was happening.

 

“Not to mention those pictures I’ve got. But don’t worry, if you prove yourself, I’ll promote you to assistant manager.” Savannah said. “When the probationary period is over, of course.”

 

“Don’t worry, Lyla, we’ll take you shopping after work to get you everything you’ll need!” Orla said, putting her arm around her newest fellow waitress.

 

“And if you need makeup tips or fashion advice…” Ashlee started.

 

“You can always ask us!” Nia finished.

 

Lyle’s head started to spin as he realized just how screwed he was, trapped as a Hooters girl for the foreseeable future, and his former assistant manager pulling the strings.

 

“Oh, and good news everyone! Corporate started getting a lot of flack on social media about the new shorts and effective immediately, they’re optional!” Savannah exclaimed. “Well… except for Lyla.”

 

The End