Cross Dressing... and More

We once did a piece of work for a major supermarket.

The boss made an excellent point about all of life being there: 'Because we have so many people come through our doors every week there's usually at least one death and a birth in our stores.'

And the principle holds true for this next stary from our business past.

If you've been training long enough you get to see pretty much everything; from sleepers to... well, yes, cross dressers and transexuals.

Richard started his career at Midland Bank, quite a long time ago.  It was in the days when the country was finally beginning to lighten up and slowly it became okay to talk about the the subject of transgender, homosexuality and so on.  It couldn't have been easy back in eighties, but change was afoot.

Richard worked in a branch of Midland that also housed the area office, which meant the Area Manager was on site.  During his time there a member of staff made an announcement.  He was in the process of changing from he to she and he was going to be living as a woman for at least a year ahead of making the physical change.

This caused an issue in the office... oh, we don't mean anyone had a philosophical objection (or, if they did, they kept it well hidden).  No, the difficulty was rather more practical: toilets.

Clearly, using the men's was out of the question and the women in the office felt the same.  There was nothing for it...

The Area Manager had to give up the keys to his personal executive washroom.

Best pleased he was not.

This reminded us of a story from Renee's training past.

Jump forward a few years: Renee was working for a Police Service... we won't tell you which one for obvious reasons.

The piece of work was interesting but became more interesting when she was told about a Police Officer who was now a woman but used to be a man.  Apparently it was easy to tell who it was (apart from the enormous hands and Adam's Apple) because she was the only WPC who wore a skirt.

Having said that, there weren't many duties the officer couldn't perform as a result of making the life change: in fact, it was policing football matches that caused issues.

One of the guys on Renee's course told her about a 'phone call he had to make to the WPC's home.

He dialled the number and a young lad answered the 'phone - probably about 15 years old, the guy reckoned.

He was slightly taken aback by this, so stammered out: 'Oh, er, can I speak with Rachel (name changed) please?'

'Sure you can,' said the lad chirpily.  He took the 'phone away from his mouth and yelled at the top of his voice: 'DAD, 'phone!'