Stay With Me

Cold November Rain

APRIL 14, 2003 (Monday)

As if Mondays were not bad enough, that morning Eren came to his desk and saw his chair was missing. He looked all around the cubicle farm, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Eld suggested using one of the spare chairs, but Eren knew from his first days in the company, the spare chairs were horrible for his back, whereas his chair was one he bought himself, ergonomic and set precisely to his comfort, great for sitting at a computer for a whole day.

It took him half an hour to find the chair—up two stories and placed in the corner of a random conference room. When he came back down, he saw Jean watching from his desk, trying hard to hold back laughs.

This time, Eren really did go to Human Resources to file a complaint. This was his private property, and obviously someone had stolen it. He told them to check the security tapes, but Hitch, the head of the HR Department, looked less than enthusiastic at the idea of spending possibly hours watching a video for a simple office prank. Eren had found his chair, so no harm done.

Eren launched into a tirade, listing all the things Jean had done, including his homophobic language on the first day. Again, Hitch looked like someone had switched her coffee to decaf that morning, and Eren was one more annoyance she did not have the energy to deal with.

"You can't prove Jean boiled your coffee, or stole your pens, or hid your chair, and there have been no reports of the sort of language you're talking about. Yes, he started off using a bit more profanity that we usually like, but that was dealt with right away."

"Call up Holger. Have him check the security tapes," Eren shouted in frustration. "I bet you'd see that he was behind all of those things."

"Look!" she snapped. "Jean Kirschtein is an impeccable employee, already has glowing compliments from clients, and he's gotten along well with everyone else. Eld even said he's on his way to being awarded Employee of the Month."

"That's bullshit," he yelled.

"Watch it!" warned Hitch. "If this really does go back to some childhood rivalry between you two, then try to work it out on your own. Have you ever thought that maybe he picks on you because it's his way of making friends?"

His eyes narrowed. She couldn't be that dumb, right?

"Unless he does something against company policy, or you can catch him in the act of doing something that is legitimately harassment and not accidental, there's not much I can do besides call him in and give him an official warning."

"Am I allowed to bring my own camera into work, hook it up to my computer, and record my cubicle whenever I'm away?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know that's a security risk for the company."

Eren yelled, "Then why the hell do we have security cameras at all if you won't check them when there's been a theft?" Eren put his hand up and lowered his voice. "Sorry. Can't you at least move me?" he pleaded. "Put me on another floor, hell, put me in a supply closet. If he's going to bully me, I shouldn't be forced to tolerate it. All these stupid pranks are lowering my productivity. I wasted an hour this morning. When he heated up my coffee and I scalded my mouth, I couldn't talk clearly for hours, and I had an important client I was supposed to call that morning. I had to reschedule, and that looks bad for the company, all so Jean could get in a few laughs and mock me at lunch. All I want to do is work in peace. So please, put me somewhere far away from him."

She saw the weariness in his eyes and sympathized. "I'll talk to Eld about moving your desk, and I'll give Jean a warning." She pouted as Eren sank in defeat. "Get some rest tonight. You look exhausted."