How I Met Your Mother S03E15 – The Chain of Screaming

How I Met Your Mother S03E15 – The Chain of Screaming

Marshall doesn't know what to do when his new boss yells at him at work. The whole gang has advice to offer. Ted buys a new car.

 After Marshall witnesses a work buddy get yelled at after handing in a report, he becomes paranoid that his boss, who is nicknamed "Artillery Arthur," will do the same to him after failing to complete a report on time (which is nicknamed the "Ninja Report" for easier understanding for the gang). Marshall explains that he doesn't know how to face Mr. Hobbs the next day. Robin suggests that he threatens him with a gun, but Ted comes up with another solution of talking like Abraham Lincoln. Marshall tells Ted that it isn't possible and tells him what he would say to Arthur, but he just calls security. Marshall doesn't think that any of these ideas would work, but Barney gives him an example of Gary Blauman and what happened to him during a meeting. A guy yells at him in front of other people, but he interrupts him and tells him to "Kiss my ass!" since his cousin just had a website start up and was making money. He then stands on top of the conference table and tries to pee, but he gets performance anxiety and then eventually gives up. Barney tells him that the cousin's website eventually ended, Gary started working as a janitor, and eventually died. Barney tells Marshall that the moral of the story is to not yell at your boss because there is something called the "chain of screaming" and that it starts at the top. He gives an example of Artillery Arthur and tells everyone that Arthur's boss's boss screams at Arthur's boss, then on down the chain it goes until it gets to Lily who screams at a student who then screams at her father who turns out to be Arthur's boss' boss. Barney explains that Marshall shouldn't deal with it - the way that the chain (or circle) of screaming works is that one person screams at someone "below" him, then that person screams at another person, and so on. The next night, Lily and Ted are in the apartment looking at carpet samples for the new apartment and Marshall calls Ted and tells him to come downstairs without letting Lily know that it is him. Ted walks outside and finds Marshall stuffing his face. He explains that he and Barney went to a diner and was urged by Barney to scream at the waiter, but couldn't do it - the waiter screamed at Marshall instead. The next day, Marshall finally lets out his feelings towards Arthur and, in the end, quits his job at Nicholson, Hewitt & West.

Meanwhile, Ted has bought himself a new car. All of his friends think a nice car is totally unnecessary in New York City and proceed to eat ice cream and smoke cigars inside the car, despite Ted's protests. Eventually, Ted sells the car and gives the proceeds to Marshall to help pay for the apartment since he no longer has his high-paying job.