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(This story contains belly-centric male WG.)

Ted managed his sales force pretty much the same way he’d seen Carl do it for the first three and a half months. Then, suddenly, he started to get a sixth sense about what would be best for people he was talking to. He put that knowledge to work, and his sales people instantly got over insecurities, stopped getting too excited at closing, and other behaviors that were keeping each of them from becoming the best sales person they could be. Within two weeks everyone on the sales staff was making sales nearly all the time.

Of course, sometimes, the best thing for a salesperson is to stop being a salesperson. In these rare cases Ted would determine what they’d be best at, and suggested they pursue that within the company.

Sometimes Ted would know that an employee could be a great salesperson, but needed extra encouragement, much like Ted had. The day he’d gotten his other salespeople operating at peak performance, Ted had called such a person into his office.

The man, George, was rather skinny, and extremely nervous. Ted was neither of those things. In the four months since taking over VP of Sales, he had gotten even bigger, and was at a weight that would have immobilized some people. However, he was also gaining muscle, enough so that it showed in his arms and legs when he moved them a certain way. And most of the fat was contained in his belly, which was fairly firm sphere a little over two and a half feet wide. The fat Ken doll he’d been imagining now had a large shot put strapped to his abdomen. Curious, he had weighed it and found his belly alone weighed about 500 pounds. His chair had since been replaced by a much wider one that didn’t swivel, since Ted sat with his belly to one side pretty much all the time when at his desk.

In a scene in which he’d never imagined he’d be playing the other role, Ted started. “George, I have every confidence you can do this, that’s why I pulled you out of quality assurance.”

George muttered, “If you say so, Mr. Lindstrom.” Ted wondered if he had sounded this defeated when he talked to Carl that one day. It was very frustrating.

But Ted had something Carl didn’t have. “George, look at me.” Once he looked up, Ted continued, “You have the confidence you need to make sales. You can be a great salesman.”

George pondered for a moment, and then smiled, “Jeez, you’re right, Mr. Lindstrom! I just need to get out there and make a sale!” He practically jumped out of his chair and bolted out the door. And then came right back in. “Um, I guess I’ll need an account folder,” he said with a sheepish smile. Ted handed him a folder and he rushed out again, excited to go out and make his first sale of many.

Ted sighed with contentment, and then heaved himself out of his chair much more slowly than George had. He waddled a bit as he walked around his desk toward the door. His belly was still small enough to go through standard-sized doors, but he had to approach it head on and go through rather slowly. Once he was free, he went toward the kitchen, but as he passed assistant’s desk he knew he’d get the questioning on his whereabouts.

“Going to lunch, Mr. Lindstrom?”

“No, Linda, I’m just getting some water as usual.”

Linda got a concerned look as if making an internal decision, and inquired, “Mr. Lindstrom, may I ask a question. Please stop me if it’s too personal.”

I guessed what this might be about, but said, “Go ahead.”

“Well, in the last four months I’ve been your assistant, I’ve never see you eat anything, just drink that protein shake mix at lunchtime. But you still…uh…” she glanced down at Ted’s prominent belly.

It was true –three doses of the drink powder made him feel full pretty much all day, so he didn’t really eat anything nearly every day. So it would look odd that he seemed to be attempting a diet but still getting fatter at the rate he was. “Gaining weight? Yeah, I manage to be good here at work, but then go a little crazy in the evening.”

Linda looked incredulous, and Ted remembered that his power didn’t work with lies. “I just wanted to check and make sure you are getting all your vitamins. It’s important to do that when you’re on a diet. Sorry to intrude, Mr. Lindstrom.”

“No worries,” Ted said as he lumbered into the kitchen through the wider-than-average doorway.

Once the day was over, Ted headed home. His apartment was in a different part of town than his old place. It was spacious and modern, and had wider than average doors throughout (something he’d insisted upon). After taking his evening dose of powder, Ted decided to go to his old bar since he hadn’t been there since he moved a couple months prior.

Phyllis was behind the bar, and yelled “Ted!” as soon as she saw him. To her it was like no time had passed. She poured his usual and put it at the seat he always used. He sat in it sideways, like he did at his desk. “How’s things, Mr. V.P.?” They chatted about work, about the bar, about life in general.

After a while, Phyllis got that look like she had just remembered something. “You know, Ted, that reminds me – someone asked about you about three weeks ago. Some lady. She didn’t know your name until I said it, but she described you, and, well, you are pretty unmistakable.”

Ted was intrigued. He’d never had anyone ask after him in the bar before, let alone a woman. “Well, did she leave a name?”

“No, no name or card or anything.”

“Well, what did she look like?”

“You must be Ted.”

Ted looked to his other side to see an attractive woman with brown hair. He immediately recognized her as the friend of the loudmouth from about seven months ago. But the next second it clicked – she was also the woman he had lacked the courage to talk to nearly a year ago, just before this all began.

Phyllis leaned over the bar and said, smiling, “She looked kind of like that.”