Suffering harassment

I hope you like the story, and that you tell me your opinions, through them I know if I'm on the right path.

Remember English is not my native language, I hope the translation is correct, check it, but sometimes I miss some incorrect personal pronouns for the phrase, sorry.

I reiterate, I do not own the characters of Friends I only rely on them for the pure pleasure of writing stories without any economic interest, and Monica and Chandler inspire me

Chapter 3

Mrs. Hoffman was considered the best Creative Director of the agency, they had managed, with effort and very good pay, to steal her from one of the largest agencies in the USA, therefore, her opinions were indisputable. -

Reason why Chandler, despite feeling satisfied for having defended the quality of his work, began to feel that perhaps he was wrong, what seemed like a good idea, a good job perhaps, as his boss said, was worthless, he began to feel that probably the problem was his fault, it was he who was not good enough for this activity.

His insecurity and lack of self-confidence began to grow. -

He knew he was intelligent and was sure that his proposals were good, even when he explained some of them Edward nodded his head in approval, and this man had a lot of experience in this area, but none of this was enough to appease that damned feeling of not being good enough that had begun to emerge more and more strongly.

One afternoon while having coffee in the break room Edward came in closing the door, sat next to Chandler and quietly told him not to get discouraged, he thought he had good ideas, but Priscilla was tough and strange, and at the same time she had full support from the General Managers, he couldn't help him because he was afraid of losing his job, but he wanted him to know that it had happened before with others, he didn't understand why the problem was always with the men who joined the team, maybe she was afraid that if they were competent they would try to go after her position.

Chandler thanked him for the advice and the confidence, since he saw in the looks of Edward and Harrison approval of his work, but when Mrs. Priscilla rejected them they lowered their eyes. Despite everything, he didn't want to give up; that damn woman wouldn't make it. He knew he was a good worker; his high IQ had made him climb the ranks quickly. He knew he wasn't incapable, he thought his ideas were good, so he couldn't understand what was happening to Priscila that she had looked down on him so much from the beginning and was putting his self-esteem at risk.

During a large part of his past life, childhood, adolescence and early youth, pain, abandonment, loneliness and disappointments left marks on his personality that weren't easy to overcome.

He had grown up thinking that everything that happened to him was his fault, that he wasn't good enough to deserve anything. But through the years of friendship with the gang, who were now his family by choice, and especially with Monica, his best friend and the love of his life, who undoubtedly helped him the most on the path to overcoming his traumas, making his insecurity disappear completely and his self-esteem grow definitively, Monica with her deep and unconditional love convinced him of his worth, just having achieved the love of that woman, who he once believed was unattainable, made him realize that he was at her level.

And precisely, he owed so much to her and his friends, for having supported him and believed in him in his new work challenge, that he felt that he could not disappoint them, he would die of shame if he did.

He had already been at work for a little more than two months when Mrs. Priscila began to be more aggressive, although she carried out these attitudes outside of meetings, either in her office or in Chandler's, in meetings she was barely more friendly with the proposals that he brought her.

But when she called him into her office, she would address him loudly, belittle his work, tell him that it was obvious that his lack of experience in the sector showed his incompetence, and that she didn't understand how Steve had hired him; it was probably as a favor to someone.

Other times she would burst into Chandler's office to throw a proposal on his desk, all crossed out in red ink and crossing the sheet with a "is useless " telling him that the proposal was terrible, that he was obviously not good for the job or he was simply useless without ability or intelligence.

So, now that insecurity and lack of confidence buried deep inside began to resurface with greater force, what if Mrs. Priscila was right, what if he was useless, insufficient for that job?

It was notable that all the proposals from the three female colleagues went through without any problem, although he realized that many of them were not good, but Hoffman ended up fixing them so that they would prosper.

On the other hand, his boss never took the time to sit down with Chandler to explain where the fault was, the rejection was immediate and without explanation of where the error was. Chandler didn't want to give up, it was his dream job, but obviously it was just a dream that he could never achieve simply because he wasn't cut out for it.

Monica knew nothing about this situation, he hadn't wanted to tell her, but she saw Chandler getting stranger, he didn't make as many jokes, he came home tired, almost exhausted, he seemed stressed, even on weekends he put on his tracksuit and it was hard to get him out of the house, but she attributed it to the fact that the job was complex and he was still adjusting.

To disguise her behavior, Hoffman seemed to accept some of Chandler's proposals at some weekly team meetings, saying "this one could work..."

But later she would burst into Chandler's office and throw it on Chandler's desk again, saying it was a disaster

On those occasions Chandler would answer her "But at the meeting you said it could work..."

"I lie in front of the others, so they don't think I'm being unfair, even though the girls are clear that you're useless."

The following months the situation got worse week by week, she would tear up his proposals and throw them on his desk, "you're useless, you don't deserve the money you're taking, you're stealing it."

And the contempt that Priscilla began to show was no longer only when they were alone in one of their offices, but several times she also did it in front of the group, which embarrassed Chandler even more. One day in his office Hoffman came to humiliate him saying that he did not understand how the incredible woman that he had described as his wife was with an incompetent like him, "that marriage will not last long, or you are already a cuckold"

Chandler at first had been proposed not to let himself be dragged down by his old traumas, but this mistreatment was destroying him, he no longer wanted to go home, going back was starting to pretend and he no longer had the strength for that, he would leave work and go for a walk a little to clear his head, calm his headache and the turmoil in his stomach.

He was not hungry, but he had to eat so that Monica would not notice anything.

Some nights he would get up stealthily and lock himself in the bathroom to vomit.

In meetings with the gang he made an effort to seem funny, but lately not even that was going well.

Monica was still trying to get pregnant and every day it was harder for him to get excited, to make love. Chandler was stressed, depressed, he longed to smoke, that was his escape from these stressful situations, but he knew that Monica would notice and it would be worse.

Monica began to worry, she noticed him more and more distant, indifferent, self-absorbed, he was no longer the one who sought her out to make love, now it was always she who claimed him, and he even seemed listless. He hardly smiled, and although they had dinner together he was losing a lot of weight.

When she asked him what was wrong, if he didn't feel well, he always claimed a lot of work, stress from work, but Monica began to doubt, it even crossed her mind that maybe there was another woman, now he had new colleagues at the Agency and she didn't know anyone from work.

She told her concerns to Rachel and Phoebe, both of whom acknowledged that he looked different, more serious, thinner, but attributed it to work. "Monica, Chandler is not one to cheat, there is no other woman, these are work issues, he is very demanding with himself and that must be stressing him out."

"I hope it is as the girls say," thought Monica, but her concern continued and her fear of losing Chandler grew.

Chandler had been undergoing this treatment for 5 months and decided to go talk to Steve.

"Hello Chandler, how are you?"

"Not very well, I would like to talk to you."

"Yes, of course, Priscilla told me that you cannot adapt to the demands of work," Steve told him, anticipating his complaint.

"Look, maybe she is right about my ability for this job, but I will never be able to adapt if my boss treats me as useless, worthless, cuckold, who steals the money I earn, returns all the proposals crossed out, look at them," Chandler told him, clearly upset.

"I understand your complaint, but as I told you when you joined, Priscila is very demanding and judicious, although sometimes she goes overboard with the words she says or in the way she treats people, but her opinions are always correct regarding the performance of the people on her team, maybe you have to put more effort on your part."

"Yes, that is surely what I am missing" answered Chandler, he greeted him and left.

He arrived at his office, he felt like a child who went to complain to his father about the bad treatment of the teacher and the only thing his father said was that he has to study more. -

Every morning going to the agency was torture, he knew he was going to be humiliated by that horrible woman, he really tried hard, but he felt that he was useless, whatever he did she would throw it in his face. -

To top it off it he couldn't get it out of his head that Monica and the other friends were proud of him, he had gotten the job of his dreams, and he turned out to be useless, incompetent to make that dream come true.

He felt so ashamed, Monica shone in her new position, she was perfect and he was a perfect useless, a good for nothing, he couldn't stand the idea of her feeling disappointed, he couldn't give her a child, although lately the stress was taking its toll on him when it came to making love, and to top it off he was inept at the job she had gotten him.

In addition, he was scared that Monica would think that Priscila's treatment of him was his fault, that maybe he had done something out of place that caused that woman to pursue him.

He couldn't stand the situation any longer, his only way out was to resign and one afternoon in the break room he mentioned it to Edward, who quietly told him to wait.

The next day everyone knew that Mrs. Priscila would have a meeting with a client outside the office. Edward approached Chandler's office without anyone seeing him and locked the door,

"Chandler, I can't help you. I have a son in college and I can't lose my job, but before you resign, which I understand, because if you stay here your physical and mental health will get worse and I don't think the deal will change. I'll give you some advice. Keep going for a few more days, record the meetings, record when she come to your office or when you go to hers. It's the only way you'll be able to defend yourself one day."

"I appreciate your advice, but lately she doesn't even speak to me, she just comes into my office, throws the proposal at me and leaves, a month ago it would have worked, but now…"

"It doesn't matter, you know she has crazy outbursts, she's quiet now, but she can explode, make her explode, listen to me, hold on until the end of the month, bring a tape recorder and save all the rejected proposals" Edward advises her

In reality, Chandler had already saved all his proposals in a folder, one day he would like to read them to see if he was so incompetent. -

Chandler follows the advice, buys a small tape recorder, but with good range since he will have it in the inside pocket of his jacket and for the next 15 days he records everything…

As she anticipated to Edward she hardly speaks to her, then Chandler in the first meeting said to her "Madam, explain to me what is wrong" and from there she exploded. "As usual, it doesn't work" … "another stupid idea" … "

Chandler insists again that she tells him what is wrong, and she becomes more and more upset and increases her mistreatment and her humiliating words "I don't know what you are doing here, you are wasting our time" … "you should leave, resign, maybe a waiter's job would be right for you"

It wasn't much, since he had said much worse things to him and it only covered a couple of weeks of abuse, but that added to the crossed out and scratched out proposals might help, although he wasn't sure what for.

Finally, he writes his resignation, goes by Edward's office, opens the door and so as not to compromise him he just says "Goodbye", Gina sees him leave and doesn't understand where he's going since they're still on work schedule, Chandler passes by her side and doesn't even look at her, he goes to the human resources office to submit his resignation. He doesn't tell anyone, he doesn't greet anyone, not even Steve, he hands in his resignation and leaves.

But now the problem is bigger, no longer inside that fucking office, but in his life, in his marriage, he doesn't know what to do, so he goes to Central Park and sits on a bench watching the children play and run until it's time to go home.