Suffering harassment

Chapter 9

Monica and the gang were in apartment 20 anxiously awaiting Chandler's return.

He came in with a huge bang, Monica ran to hug him and gave him a passionate kiss.

"Okay, okay, stop kissing him and let him tell us" said Rachel laughing.

Chandler told them in great detail what happened at the meeting,

"When McNeil asked for her to undergo a psychiatric examination, that bitch exploded and showed everyone, especially her bosses, that she was crazy"

"And they will let her continue working there" asked Ross

"I have no idea and I am not interested, I just want to go to that meeting where they will have to apologize to us and recognize our ability and that will definitely end this nightmare"

Meanwhile Scheffer, Willy Baker and Steve Monroe go to the Agency to inform the rest of the executives about the result of the mediation and Priscilla's behavior. Scheffer advised them during the meeting, "Look, taking into account the evidence in the EEOC file, the history of similar events that she allegedly had at Mackenzie & Mackenzie, and Priscilla's worrying, completely out of control reaction, I advise you to order her to undergo a psychiatric examination, because if you don't, if she continues in her position as if nothing had happened, she will feel empowered, protected to do whatever she wants." And he continued

"This time it was very cheap for you financially, although the negative background for the Agency will remain in the EEOC if you do not clearly and conclusively show that you have made decisions regarding correcting or removing the harassers"

"Sorry Scheffer, but after what we saw today, she will never agree to undergo an exam, she will make a scandal" said Willy

"Willy, we cannot continue keeping that woman with us, I read the rejected proposals and they were excellent, we lost two, no, surely four good copywriters, based on the criteria of a madwoman, we were deceived into believing in a professionalism that clearly never existed, we have to stand up to her, either she takes the exam or she stops being part of the agency" said Steve firmly.

"But if the exam shows that she has these psychiatric problems, how can she follow us?" said Johnson, another executive

"If she has these problems, we will give she a chance, as long as she gets therapeutic treatment, we will check that she carry out the recommended treatments, and she will have to accept control of the work, before being rejected, everything must go through one of us and if she refuse, there will be no other option but to break the work relationship" said Steve

"But if we break the work relationship, it will cost us a lot of money" said Willy and added "as long as her team is all women, we will have no problems"

Steve clearly angry out loud asked "Willy, are you hot with Priscilla? … or has she threatened you with something…?"

"No, you are crazy…" he answered clary annoy

"Then stop taking care of her or being afraid of her, we cannot submit to her whims, or rather, to her insanity, just so that she does not get angry and cost us money. We can't hire people according to their unfounded demands, we will hire the best women and the best men regardless of their sex and the eccentricities of that woman"

"And who tells her that she has to take an exam" said Willy

"God man, what's wrong with you... don't worry, I'll tell her, but we'll all be there" said Steve

The next day Priscilla arrives at the Agency and the secretary tells her that she has been called to a meeting at 11 am.

Priscilla entered her office thinking, surely that bunch of useless people are worried about yesterday's meeting, but they know that I am the best professional, those idiots will never have a better professional than me.

After the mutual greetings Steve takes the floor "Priscilla, next week there will be a meeting with the staff to proceed with the claim of Bing and Morrison, and we want to know if we can count on you to be there"

"I will never, ever apologize to those two useless people."

"Priscilla, I spent an entire weekend reading all of Bing's and Morrison's proposals, and they were all good, even several of them excellent. I also took the time to compare them to the ones you approved, and clearly theirs were superior," Steve explained.

Priscilla jumped up in her seat. "I can't believe you're judging my criteria. What professional basis do you have for that? You're just another incompetent. Just because you're the Agency's vice president doesn't mean you're even a good publicist. You're just a mediocre publicist. Most of you would be nothing. You wouldn't have an advertising agency with any prestige if it weren't for me," she answered angrily.

Now it was Willy's turn to speak. "Look, we're trying to fix the problem. The EEOC has its sights on us, and the documentation they have doesn't help us, much less you. For that reason, we want to show them that we are trying to improve relations with the collaborators, if you accept the psychological exam we could demonstrate that you do not have the problems they suggest and if you do, you will demonstrate that you are willing to deal with them. They would see the willingness of you and us to overcome any harassment situation that may have arisen in isolation."

"With your studied and restrained words you are trying to manipulate me into submitting to that exam… and what happens if I don't?" Priscila said in a very loud and defiant voice.

"We would evaluate whether it is possible to continue with the working relationship" Steve answered, always in a low tone.

Priscila stood up furiously, while she grabbed an ashtray and threw it against a glass partition in front of her, shattering it, she shouted at them "I AM NOT CRAZY, I AM NOT GOING TO UNDERGO ANY PSYCHIATRIC EXAM, THERE IS NO BETTER PROFESSIONAL THAN ME, WITHOUT ME THIS AGENCY DOES NOT EXIST, IF YOU TRY TO GET RID OF ME IT WILL COST YOU A FORTUNE, I WILL MAKE SURE THAT NO CLIENT HIRES YOU" and she left slamming the door, grabbed her briefcase from the office and left the Agency. The SEOS remain silent, afraid of what the sick woman might do, so Steve tells them, "On Scheffer's advice this meeting has been filmed and recorded, we will give it to him, he anticipates that it will be very helpful to us in dealing with any demands this lady may make of us."

A few days later Steve informed all the staff that there would be a meeting in the auditorium that afternoon and everyone had to be present.

They were all already gathered when they saw all the managers enter along with Chandler, Wilson and a man unknown to them. President Willy Baker asked for your attention "We call you together to be present in our sincere apology to Messrs. Chandler M Bing, Tomas J. Wilson, which is extended to Messrs. Mickey Robinson and Robert Anderson, even though they are not present here, for the mistreatment, harassment, humiliation and bullying they suffered at the hands of a senior member of the company, Ms. Priscilla Hoffman, who put personal trauma before her obligation to act with impartiality and professionalism when evaluating the work of her collaborators. We have reviewed all of the rejected submissions to Mr. Bing and Mr. Wilson and found that they were not only excellent, but in several cases were significantly better than those that were approved" at which point Alice's face turned red and she lowered her head…. "We regret that we did not listen properly to the complaints that were sent to us at the time. We were so convinced of Mrs. Hoffman's professionalism that we turned a deaf ear, and that cannot happen again. None of you have to endure what these two professionals suffered at the hands of a terrible leadership and our indifference. We regret having lost four excellent professionals, but this should serve to tell you that our doors will always be open to such regrettable situations as those suffered by these people" … "Mr. Bing, Mr. Wilson, our apologies will never be enough to repair everything that you suffered not only professionally but also by seeing your physical and emotional health affected" … "That's all, you can return to your tasks"

Chandler just looked at Willy and thanked him for keeping his promise, and left with Wilson and McNeil

Chandler arrived home happily, with his face full of satisfaction, everything was over and he felt calm.

Monica was anxiously waiting for him, eight months pregnant with the twins, she also wanted to see her husband arrive, and as soon as he entered the apartment with a huge smile and trying to avoid her enormous belly, he gave her a passionate kiss.

He told her how the meeting had been, a story he had to repeat over and over again as his friends arrived.

The last to arrive was Joey, he was so happy that his friend had received the recognition and apologies he deserved.

"I put a bottle of champagne in my fridge last night, I'm going across to get it."

Joey leaves apartment 20 without closing the door and enters apartment 19.

Chandler had stopped to go get the glasses and water for Monica, and was walking towards the kitchen when he sees Priscilla Hoffman standing in the doorway, totally distraught, who as soon as she sees him yells "I CAME TO KILL YOU, SON OF A BITCH, USELESS" and points a revolver at Chandler. Monica screams and with difficulty because of her pregnancy manages to stand up, saying "oh god, Chandler."

Chandler, guessing what's going on behind him, yells, Monica sit down, and tells Priscilla "put the gun down, it's not worth risking everything."

BECAUSE OF YOU, USELESS, I HAVE NOTHING TO RISK ANYMORE, I HAVE NOTHING LEFT, BUT I HAVE BULLETS FOR ALL OF YOU. STARTING WITH YOU" and points directly at Chandler's head

At that moment, Joey, who had heard screams and was holding the champagne bottle, hits Priscilla hard on the head, who, as she falls, manages to fire a shot.

Everyone screams, Chandler tells them "I'm fine, it didn't hit me" but Rachel who is next to Monica screams, Mon is bleeding, she has blood running down her chest!, Chandler flies to her side.

My love, where did she hurt you, while he tries to open her blouse and screams at Ross, call 911 and the police. -

"Chandler calm down, I think she only hurt my shoulder, it hurts a little, but nothing more"

"Oh god, that bitch, she could have killed you" he wanted to hug her, protect her, but the wound prevented him from doing so.

As Ross grabbed the phone to make the calls, he yelled at Joey, "Don't touch anything, not the bottle or the gun that's still in her hands, just make sure she doesn't get up until the police arrive."

The paramedics and police didn't take long to arrive. Ross, who was the most composed, explained to them what happened, "That woman came armed to kill my brother-in-law, she even threatened us all, my friend came up behind her and hit her in the head, and as she fell she shot and wounded my sister."

Priscila was still unconscious on the floor, the police took photos and took the revolver from her hands and put it in a bag to protect the evidence, they also kept the pieces of the broken bottle. They took a brief statement from everyone, although they were told that the next day they should go to the police station for a full statement. Meanwhile, the paramedics checked Monica's wound. Fortunately, the bullet had only grazed her shoulder. They checked her blood pressure, but because of her advanced state of pregnancy, they decided to take her to the hospital to make sure the babies were okay. Chandler accompanied her in the ambulance.

The paramedics checked Priscilla's vital signs, confirming that they were okay. They only bandaged her head where she had a small cut and the police took her into custody. She was charged with attempted murder.

Two weeks later, they were all gathered in apartment 20. Lately, Monica had a hard time going up and down the stairs, so they held meetings in the apartment.

Ross asked Chandler how the job search was going, since he knew that temping in it wasn't exactly what he liked to do, and Chandler told him, "I had a couple of interviews for writing teams, but I know that there were quite a few applicants for that search, many with backgrounds in the sector, so I find it difficult, but I'm still looking, the agencies will let me know when there is an opportunity for what I want."

Monica got up from her chair, the chair was no longer a suitable place for her to stand up by herself, intending to go to the bathroom, but as soon as she got up her water broke so everyone ran to the hospital.

After several hours of hard work, two beautiful babies were born, both very similar to Chandler, Daniel Jack Geller Bing and Alek Charles Geller Bing.

The names had been chosen a couple of months ago. Daniel was the name Monica had dreamed of, to which was added the name of the maternal grandfather, and Alek's name was chosen by Chandler, it was the name of his paternal great-grandfather, who had arrived from Scotland, and as a middle name he was given the name of his paternal grandfather.

Joey had been somewhat discouraged, because his name had not been chosen, but Chandler promised him that the next one would be named after him.