This is my second attempt at a story. Let me know what you think.
———
I’d been working at my big city law firm for about three months now. It was my first job out of University and I was incredibly excited when I got the offer. Three months in and I was hating every minute of it. It wasn’t the work, it was the “mentor” that they assigned me to. Toby. Every first year trainee was assigned to someone that had been at the firm for 10 years, someone that would lead you on your work and show you the ropes around the office. They were supposed to make your first placement easier and help you get settled in, give you advice and help you navigate your way around your clients and senior partners.
“Get me a coffee you little queer”, “You such a stupid prick, do you know that? How did you even get in here?”, “Don’t you fucking make me look bad in there. I’ll make sure you fucking regret it”. The abuse never quite got physical, but it felt like it might at times. It didn’t help that he was pretty physically intimidating to start with. Toby was about 6’ 2” and pretty big. Broad shouldered, solidly built. Clearly works out a lot. He had a strong jaw line with designer stubble and short spiked hair with a lot of product in. Combined with his deep green eyes, he would be pretty hot if it wasn’t for him being a complete cunt.
It was getting to the point were I would be drinking a lot when I got home and sometimes even holding back tears. I was increasingly considering quitting. “Why don’t you just report him? This cant be allowed. Get him his marching orders.” All of these were reasonable questions my friends had asked me. There were two reasons why I didn’t.
Firstly, it was my dream job. You hear all the time of people not being believed and it backfiring. Toby seemed to be pretty in with the Partners as well. I didn’t want to lose the job that I had worked the best of part of the last 10 years for. Ever since I was 13 I new I wanted to be a big city lawyer. And yes, it was heavily influenced by Ally McBeal.
Secondly, I found it easy to be physically intimidated by Toby because of my own slight frame and smaller stature. I’m a pretty slim 5’ 7”. But I have been smaller than everyone else for a long time. Combine that with the fact that I am gay, and you know pretty quickly when you meet me that I am. I’ve got shit from people for a long time. I’ve become resilient and have developed my own way of handling it ever since high school. I was determined to solve this my way, I was just hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with this again.
The key was always the same thing. Beat them at something they care about. It always works and stops the shit. You just have to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to open up. And it was three months in that I got the opportunity.
Ben, another of the first years, was given the job of organising the office squash tournament. Toby came back from lunch with some of his office friends. They were arseholes of a lower order, but remained arseholes. I overheard the back end of his conversation. “I’m so going to kick both of your arses this year. Smith and Brown both love squash. Winner will totally get their attention. You get invited to their club for dinner if you win as well. That fucker is mine... what the fuck are staring at you little queer”. He’d spotted me staring at him as he was chatting. I quickly turned back to my screen and got on with my work. But I had him now.
I knew squash was my opportunity to deal with this prick, and I knew how to do it. Always play to your strengths and this was totally my wheelhouse.
I knew Ben pretty well. We had been at University and had applied for this placement together. It didnt take very much for me to get him to arrange for me to be up against Toby in the first round. Ben and I were a bit of thing in University. I’m not bad looking. Not amazing, but my mum always says I’m handsome. Besides, I am pretty good in bed. The prospect of another fuck was all I needed to put on the table to make sure I was scheduled against Toby Tuesday night at 8.30 in the courts at the bottom of the office building.
———
I’d been working at my big city law firm for about three months now. It was my first job out of University and I was incredibly excited when I got the offer. Three months in and I was hating every minute of it. It wasn’t the work, it was the “mentor” that they assigned me to. Toby. Every first year trainee was assigned to someone that had been at the firm for 10 years, someone that would lead you on your work and show you the ropes around the office. They were supposed to make your first placement easier and help you get settled in, give you advice and help you navigate your way around your clients and senior partners.
“Get me a coffee you little queer”, “You such a stupid prick, do you know that? How did you even get in here?”, “Don’t you fucking make me look bad in there. I’ll make sure you fucking regret it”. The abuse never quite got physical, but it felt like it might at times. It didn’t help that he was pretty physically intimidating to start with. Toby was about 6’ 2” and pretty big. Broad shouldered, solidly built. Clearly works out a lot. He had a strong jaw line with designer stubble and short spiked hair with a lot of product in. Combined with his deep green eyes, he would be pretty hot if it wasn’t for him being a complete cunt.
It was getting to the point were I would be drinking a lot when I got home and sometimes even holding back tears. I was increasingly considering quitting. “Why don’t you just report him? This cant be allowed. Get him his marching orders.” All of these were reasonable questions my friends had asked me. There were two reasons why I didn’t.
Firstly, it was my dream job. You hear all the time of people not being believed and it backfiring. Toby seemed to be pretty in with the Partners as well. I didn’t want to lose the job that I had worked the best of part of the last 10 years for. Ever since I was 13 I new I wanted to be a big city lawyer. And yes, it was heavily influenced by Ally McBeal.
Secondly, I found it easy to be physically intimidated by Toby because of my own slight frame and smaller stature. I’m a pretty slim 5’ 7”. But I have been smaller than everyone else for a long time. Combine that with the fact that I am gay, and you know pretty quickly when you meet me that I am. I’ve got shit from people for a long time. I’ve become resilient and have developed my own way of handling it ever since high school. I was determined to solve this my way, I was just hoping I wouldn’t have to deal with this again.
The key was always the same thing. Beat them at something they care about. It always works and stops the shit. You just have to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to open up. And it was three months in that I got the opportunity.
Ben, another of the first years, was given the job of organising the office squash tournament. Toby came back from lunch with some of his office friends. They were arseholes of a lower order, but remained arseholes. I overheard the back end of his conversation. “I’m so going to kick both of your arses this year. Smith and Brown both love squash. Winner will totally get their attention. You get invited to their club for dinner if you win as well. That fucker is mine... what the fuck are staring at you little queer”. He’d spotted me staring at him as he was chatting. I quickly turned back to my screen and got on with my work. But I had him now.
I knew squash was my opportunity to deal with this prick, and I knew how to do it. Always play to your strengths and this was totally my wheelhouse.
I knew Ben pretty well. We had been at University and had applied for this placement together. It didnt take very much for me to get him to arrange for me to be up against Toby in the first round. Ben and I were a bit of thing in University. I’m not bad looking. Not amazing, but my mum always says I’m handsome. Besides, I am pretty good in bed. The prospect of another fuck was all I needed to put on the table to make sure I was scheduled against Toby Tuesday night at 8.30 in the courts at the bottom of the office building.