Boys Will be Boys by Britguy
Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2025 12:58 am
Boys Will Be Boys
First published 18/11/2017
Remember the seventies? It was a different world back then wasn’t it? Not like now, when you hardly dare hold a door open for a woman, even though you’d do the same for a man. You hear a lot about sexism and harassment, and I suppose there was plenty of it, but not just for women as you will see.
August 1978. ‘Sunny Jim’ was prime minister, Britain was ‘the sick man of Europe’, our industry famous for its inefficiency and poor industrial relations. I was an eighteen year old school leaver doing a summer job my father had arranged for me working at... well, the firm’s name doesn’t matter, it was a pretty typical industrial operation. I was working as a sort of ‘gopher’ for the sales department, which mainly involved filing, fetching and carrying, and talking to production control, trying to get an estimated despatch date for the orders that should have gone out last week and didn’t.
I was pretty shy and nerdy but thought I was dead cool in my black corduroy trousers, black shirt and tie, and multi-coloured sleeveless pullover. Not cool enough to talk much though, like I said I was shy and the secretaries and female clerks I talked to delighted in embarrassing me with suggestive comments.
The Friday of my second week I was invited to the pub at lunchtime for Jim’s birthday drinks. I smiled politely and didn’t answer, which turned out to be a mistake, not wanting to disappoint Jim, one of the salesmen, but not wanting to spend my lunch break in a smoky pub or suffer the effects of alcohol all afternoon.
The salesmen shared an open plan office with the engineers who, unusually for the time, had demanded, and got, a no smoking policy for the office. This disgusted the salesmen, who all smoked like chimneys, but I was grateful for it. It meant that when anyone wanted a cigarette he had to go out into the corridor but the salesmen weren’t there much anyway, spending most of their time on the road. The exception was Friday afternoons when they all stayed in the office, not wanting to risk driving after the lunchtime booze-up.
I had my lunch in the canteen as usual and was back in the office working by 1:30 after the half hour break allowed. The salesmen had left early, before 12:30, but there was still no sign of them so I quietly got on with things. About 2:15 the door opened and the salesmen staggered in. Jim was pretty drunk and the others not much better; no wonder they didn’t want to drive.
“What happened to you then Terry?” asked Jim, looking at me. “I thought you were coming to the pub for my birthday?”
“I... er... no, sorry, I forgot” I stuttered. “I just went to the canteen as normal.”
“Forgot my arse!” said Kevin forcefully. “Didn’t want to more like! Too good for us are you? Or not man enough to drink with the lads? Or would Mummy not approve? Did she tell you not to play with the rough boys?”
Kevin was the alpha male among alpha males, with his top sales figures and his two-litre Cortina. The others had 1.6s except newbie Alan who suffered the shame of only rating an Escort and they all looked up to him and followed his lead. Sales manager Mr Parsons occupied a private corner office but had taken himself and his Granada off to the Golf Club.
“Not much of a man, eh?” asked Steve with a nasty grin on his face. “We should research the question.”
“Yeah, good idea!” said Kevin. “That’ll teach him!”
“What do you mean by that Kev?” asked Gordon, the fourth salesman. Alan said nothing, he never did talk much, I don’t know how he got into selling.
“He needs teaching a lesson, teach him some manners!” replied Kevin, offended by the perceived snub, his inhibitions dissolved in alcohol. “Let’s debag [depants] him! Get his manly parts out for inspection!”
They looked at each other for a few seconds, reached an unspoken decision, and next thing I knew I was on my back on the desk, Steve holding me down while Kevin went for my trouser buttons and the other three just stood there watching making no attempt to help me.
“No! Don’t! Get off me!” I shouted, struggling.
“Ah, shut up and take it like a man!” snarled Kevin. “Don’t fight or we’ll strip you naked and take you down to the typing pool.”
Well obviously they’d never dare do that but I didn’t want to attract anyone else to come and see what all the fuss was about so I shut up but couldn’t stop struggling; no way could I just meekly accept this assault. I felt Kevin’s hands rapidly undo the button on my cords, then the fly buttons, then his hands went inside and I resigned myself to losing my trousers.
But Kevin stuck his fingers inside the elastic either side of my y-fronts and rapidly pulled them down to my ankles, along with the cords. He couldn’t get them over my shoes so started undoing the laces. I lay there wondering why four married men in their twenties were so interested in knowing what I had in my trousers. They weren’t, of course, they just wanted to embarrass me, and it was working. It was impossible to just lie there passively with my legs, and what was between them, exposed to their gaze so I struggled anew but Steve was too strong for me. He wolf whistled and grinned at me. “Now we know what a real man looks like” slurred Jim.
Kevin got my shoes off and then pulled my trousers and underwear off my left leg. Next they came off my right foot and I kicked out involuntarily and felt my foot make contact with something.
“Ugh!” said Kevin. “Oh, shit! Oh, you little bastard! You’re going to pay for that!” He sat on the edge of a nearby desk clutching his hand between his legs.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Steve.
“The little sod kicked me right in the balls” moaned Kevin. “My God, that hurt. I didn’t think he’d have the nerve but he’s really going to regret it!”
“Typing pool?” asked Steve.
“Typing pool!” replied Kevin vehemently. By now Jim was slumped in a chair behind his desk looking queasy. He must have really had a few. Gordon hovered nearby clutching an empty metal waste-paper basket, just in case, and looking disapproving, or maybe just apprehensive, I wasn’t sure.
Just at that moment the door from the corridor opened and in came Malcolm, a young engineer, accompanied, to my horror, by Bernadette Collins. Bernadette, I should explain, was a large and not very attractive girl from my year at school. Unlike most girls she had taken science subjects at ‘A’ level [exams taken at 18] and was going to read physics at university. Like me she was getting some experience, and cash, working here for the summer, in her case helping the engineers. Unlike me she was openly delighted by my state of dress and stared hungrily at me.
“Come on lads” I pleaded. “A joke’s a joke but you can’t keep me here like this with a girl here.”
“We’re not going to keep you here like this” Kevin reminded me. “We’re taking you to see the typists, naked.”
“Oh leave him alone, why don’t you?” said Malcolm. “He’s just a boy for God’s sake!”
“He might be just a boy down there,” replied Kevin, pointing at my groin, “but he’s over eighteen on paper. Anyway, if he’s man enough to kick me in the nuts he’s man enough to take the consequences.”
“Unless you’d like to take his place?” suggested Steve slyly. He knew his man’s weakness. There were still bad feelings between the engineers and the salesmen over the smoking issue and no-one was going to give them an excuse for revenge if he could help it.
Malcolm visibly blanched at the thought. “Did you kick him?” he asked me.
“Well, yes,” I replied “but...”
“Well you’re on your own then” interrupted Malcolm, glad of an excuse to walk away. “You can’t go around kicking people. Come along Bernadette.”
“Can’t I stay and watch?” she asked piteously, deeply reluctant to take her eyes off me. “Please?”
“Yeah, let her” put in Steve. “Don’t be a spoilsport!”
“Well, okay then, if that’s what you want” replied Malcolm indifferently. “I’ll see you later then.” He walked off to join the rest of the engineers, who were all studiously ignoring what was happening at the other end of their office.
Bernadette stood as close as she could without getting in the way as Kevin, Steve and Alan removed my socks, sweater, tie and shirt. I was pulled to my feet, my hands forced behind my back, and my wrists tied together with my own tie, leaving me helpless.
“Time for walkies!” said Kevin cheerfully. “You boys coming?” Steve was, Bernadette chose to consider herself a boy because she definitely was. Alan had work to do, Gordon needed to look after Jim and Jim probably couldn’t walk in a straight line by now.
I was pushed out into the corridor. Kevin and Steve lit cigarettes and then stood just behind me, each holding one of my arms with one hand and his ‘smoke’ in the other. “Orf we jolly well go then” said Steve and I was pushed forwards.
First published 18/11/2017
Remember the seventies? It was a different world back then wasn’t it? Not like now, when you hardly dare hold a door open for a woman, even though you’d do the same for a man. You hear a lot about sexism and harassment, and I suppose there was plenty of it, but not just for women as you will see.
August 1978. ‘Sunny Jim’ was prime minister, Britain was ‘the sick man of Europe’, our industry famous for its inefficiency and poor industrial relations. I was an eighteen year old school leaver doing a summer job my father had arranged for me working at... well, the firm’s name doesn’t matter, it was a pretty typical industrial operation. I was working as a sort of ‘gopher’ for the sales department, which mainly involved filing, fetching and carrying, and talking to production control, trying to get an estimated despatch date for the orders that should have gone out last week and didn’t.
I was pretty shy and nerdy but thought I was dead cool in my black corduroy trousers, black shirt and tie, and multi-coloured sleeveless pullover. Not cool enough to talk much though, like I said I was shy and the secretaries and female clerks I talked to delighted in embarrassing me with suggestive comments.
The Friday of my second week I was invited to the pub at lunchtime for Jim’s birthday drinks. I smiled politely and didn’t answer, which turned out to be a mistake, not wanting to disappoint Jim, one of the salesmen, but not wanting to spend my lunch break in a smoky pub or suffer the effects of alcohol all afternoon.
The salesmen shared an open plan office with the engineers who, unusually for the time, had demanded, and got, a no smoking policy for the office. This disgusted the salesmen, who all smoked like chimneys, but I was grateful for it. It meant that when anyone wanted a cigarette he had to go out into the corridor but the salesmen weren’t there much anyway, spending most of their time on the road. The exception was Friday afternoons when they all stayed in the office, not wanting to risk driving after the lunchtime booze-up.
I had my lunch in the canteen as usual and was back in the office working by 1:30 after the half hour break allowed. The salesmen had left early, before 12:30, but there was still no sign of them so I quietly got on with things. About 2:15 the door opened and the salesmen staggered in. Jim was pretty drunk and the others not much better; no wonder they didn’t want to drive.
“What happened to you then Terry?” asked Jim, looking at me. “I thought you were coming to the pub for my birthday?”
“I... er... no, sorry, I forgot” I stuttered. “I just went to the canteen as normal.”
“Forgot my arse!” said Kevin forcefully. “Didn’t want to more like! Too good for us are you? Or not man enough to drink with the lads? Or would Mummy not approve? Did she tell you not to play with the rough boys?”
Kevin was the alpha male among alpha males, with his top sales figures and his two-litre Cortina. The others had 1.6s except newbie Alan who suffered the shame of only rating an Escort and they all looked up to him and followed his lead. Sales manager Mr Parsons occupied a private corner office but had taken himself and his Granada off to the Golf Club.
“Not much of a man, eh?” asked Steve with a nasty grin on his face. “We should research the question.”
“Yeah, good idea!” said Kevin. “That’ll teach him!”
“What do you mean by that Kev?” asked Gordon, the fourth salesman. Alan said nothing, he never did talk much, I don’t know how he got into selling.
“He needs teaching a lesson, teach him some manners!” replied Kevin, offended by the perceived snub, his inhibitions dissolved in alcohol. “Let’s debag [depants] him! Get his manly parts out for inspection!”
They looked at each other for a few seconds, reached an unspoken decision, and next thing I knew I was on my back on the desk, Steve holding me down while Kevin went for my trouser buttons and the other three just stood there watching making no attempt to help me.
“No! Don’t! Get off me!” I shouted, struggling.
“Ah, shut up and take it like a man!” snarled Kevin. “Don’t fight or we’ll strip you naked and take you down to the typing pool.”
Well obviously they’d never dare do that but I didn’t want to attract anyone else to come and see what all the fuss was about so I shut up but couldn’t stop struggling; no way could I just meekly accept this assault. I felt Kevin’s hands rapidly undo the button on my cords, then the fly buttons, then his hands went inside and I resigned myself to losing my trousers.
But Kevin stuck his fingers inside the elastic either side of my y-fronts and rapidly pulled them down to my ankles, along with the cords. He couldn’t get them over my shoes so started undoing the laces. I lay there wondering why four married men in their twenties were so interested in knowing what I had in my trousers. They weren’t, of course, they just wanted to embarrass me, and it was working. It was impossible to just lie there passively with my legs, and what was between them, exposed to their gaze so I struggled anew but Steve was too strong for me. He wolf whistled and grinned at me. “Now we know what a real man looks like” slurred Jim.
Kevin got my shoes off and then pulled my trousers and underwear off my left leg. Next they came off my right foot and I kicked out involuntarily and felt my foot make contact with something.
“Ugh!” said Kevin. “Oh, shit! Oh, you little bastard! You’re going to pay for that!” He sat on the edge of a nearby desk clutching his hand between his legs.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Steve.
“The little sod kicked me right in the balls” moaned Kevin. “My God, that hurt. I didn’t think he’d have the nerve but he’s really going to regret it!”
“Typing pool?” asked Steve.
“Typing pool!” replied Kevin vehemently. By now Jim was slumped in a chair behind his desk looking queasy. He must have really had a few. Gordon hovered nearby clutching an empty metal waste-paper basket, just in case, and looking disapproving, or maybe just apprehensive, I wasn’t sure.
Just at that moment the door from the corridor opened and in came Malcolm, a young engineer, accompanied, to my horror, by Bernadette Collins. Bernadette, I should explain, was a large and not very attractive girl from my year at school. Unlike most girls she had taken science subjects at ‘A’ level [exams taken at 18] and was going to read physics at university. Like me she was getting some experience, and cash, working here for the summer, in her case helping the engineers. Unlike me she was openly delighted by my state of dress and stared hungrily at me.
“Come on lads” I pleaded. “A joke’s a joke but you can’t keep me here like this with a girl here.”
“We’re not going to keep you here like this” Kevin reminded me. “We’re taking you to see the typists, naked.”
“Oh leave him alone, why don’t you?” said Malcolm. “He’s just a boy for God’s sake!”
“He might be just a boy down there,” replied Kevin, pointing at my groin, “but he’s over eighteen on paper. Anyway, if he’s man enough to kick me in the nuts he’s man enough to take the consequences.”
“Unless you’d like to take his place?” suggested Steve slyly. He knew his man’s weakness. There were still bad feelings between the engineers and the salesmen over the smoking issue and no-one was going to give them an excuse for revenge if he could help it.
Malcolm visibly blanched at the thought. “Did you kick him?” he asked me.
“Well, yes,” I replied “but...”
“Well you’re on your own then” interrupted Malcolm, glad of an excuse to walk away. “You can’t go around kicking people. Come along Bernadette.”
“Can’t I stay and watch?” she asked piteously, deeply reluctant to take her eyes off me. “Please?”
“Yeah, let her” put in Steve. “Don’t be a spoilsport!”
“Well, okay then, if that’s what you want” replied Malcolm indifferently. “I’ll see you later then.” He walked off to join the rest of the engineers, who were all studiously ignoring what was happening at the other end of their office.
Bernadette stood as close as she could without getting in the way as Kevin, Steve and Alan removed my socks, sweater, tie and shirt. I was pulled to my feet, my hands forced behind my back, and my wrists tied together with my own tie, leaving me helpless.
“Time for walkies!” said Kevin cheerfully. “You boys coming?” Steve was, Bernadette chose to consider herself a boy because she definitely was. Alan had work to do, Gordon needed to look after Jim and Jim probably couldn’t walk in a straight line by now.
I was pushed out into the corridor. Kevin and Steve lit cigarettes and then stood just behind me, each holding one of my arms with one hand and his ‘smoke’ in the other. “Orf we jolly well go then” said Steve and I was pushed forwards.