Film Selection #1 - The Company Men (2010)
Synopsis - taken from the DVD jacket:
Bobby Walker is living the proverbial American dream: great job, beautiful family, shiny Porsche in the garage. When corporate downsizing leaves him and co-workers Phil Woodward and Gene McClary jobless, the three men are forced to re-define their lives as men, husbands and fathers.
The truth...
This movie doesn't pull any punches. It's probably why it's one of my favorite business-centered dramas to be released in the last 10 years. It reflects a pretty accurate depiction of corporate employees and the fallout after a layoff.
- People were living way beyond their means - The film opens with interior shots of beautiful homes - immaculate kitchens featuring every useless appliance known to man, a giant TV surrounded by little used video game equipment of every variety, a pristine pool with perfectly still water from lack of use. It sets the stage for the devastation to come by showing how all the main characters were living beyond their means in the first place. Most people do this without even realizing just how overextended they really are. If you think you aren't one of these people, take a good look around your house when you get home tonight and tell me you don't see excess almost everywhere. It's not pleasant, but if you really evaluate your wants versus your needs against your income, you can find plenty of places to cut. In the film, Bobby and Phil were similarly situated in that they were out of money almost immediately. Gene on the other hand was an executive VP and was already a millionaire. His biggest hit was to his ego.
- The severance offered was minimal - Bobby gets to work at his usual time and is promptly ushered into a meeting where he is told that due to redundancies, his services are no longer required. He is given 12 weeks of severance in recognition for his 12 years at the company. This is pretty standard severance for corporate layoffs, and it's a tragedy. But a company that is barely staying afloat, can't really afford to spend more money for you to find your next career. I was very lucky that at my company 12 weeks was the minimum severance granted.
- Phil and Gene think they're safe only to be axed a few months later - Once a company starts having issues that result in a layoff, you're never safe. In fact, you weren't safe from the beginning. We put so much faith in these big corporations, but at the end of the day, they don't owe you anything.
- All 3 characters suffer extreme emotional distress at the loss of their careers - Bobby lives in denial for a bit (rolling his eye at the career transition support, still playing golf at the club and getting his Porsche detailed), while Phil starts drinking (eventually committing suicide to escape the mounting debt), and Gene ends up leaving his wife. The loss of a job can affect you in a very profound way. I know it cut me pretty deep, and I'm just now getting over the hurt of some of it. I'm still dealing with a feeling of being disoriented and not really knowing what to do with my time. Apart from a few drinks the week of the layoff, I have managed to not go down that rabbit hole. I have an awesome support system between God, my husband, and my close friends and family. I also have the benefit of good financial planning and plenty of severance, so I have no fear of ending up like Phil. Suicide may seem like an extreme reaction on Phil's part, but losing a job can bring existing problems into sharp focus, and for him, suicide seemed to be the only solution.
- Life at the company was dismal after the layoffs - The people in the movie were left to look at rows of empty desks, while tackling sales targets and travel schedules that were all but impossible to meet. There's no way to sugar coat what the folks left at my company are facing right now. There's got to be loads of uncertainty while tackling a larger pile of work with fewer bodies to do it. Not to mention, productivity is near zero.
- Any jobs offered came with a massive pay cut - When Bobby had some decent interviews, he was surprised to find that his old salary of $160K was going to be replaced with jobs paying no more than $70K, and that's only if we was willing to relocated halfway across the country. Phil couldn't even get interviews because of his accelerated age. I'm looking at changing careers entirely and starting over salary wise is just a necessary reality of that. I'm still wrapping my head around it. That will take some time.
The lies...
There aren't a lot of inaccuracies about the way this movie portrays a layoff and the emotional turmoil that ensues. That being said, there are a few.
- Bobby and Phil likely would have been laid off in a mass meeting - The company in this film was laying off thousands at a time. There's no way they would have been able to have individual meetings for all those firings. But a mass meeting feels extra cold and doesn't allow for the employee to have any kind of immediate emotional response. Ask me how I know.
- Bobby's wife pitches in immediately and helps out - I'm not dogging his wife here, her character was one of my favorites from the movie. But in general, women who are used to being stay-at-home wives don't jump back into a graveyard nursing job at the first sign of financial trouble. It would be awesome if more women were like her. You should never get so used to living a cushy life that you don't remember how to make ends meet with a little elbow grease.
- Bobby's kids start pitching in too - This is also not typical, but it's something that made me love this family even more (especially while Bobby lived in fantasy land). Bobby's kids figured out pretty quick that things were bad, and they returned their Christmas gifts to help out. They also didn't complain when the family had to move-in with the grandparents, and the brother and sister suddenly had to share a room. Your family is the most important thing. Anything you can do to instill a sense of togetherness in a time of crisis is a far better use of your resources than a new XBox.
What did we learn?
If you want to know what it feels like to get laid off, watch this movie. If you just want to see great acting from Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, and Chris Cooper, then watch this movie. If you want to laugh and be entertained, please watch something else. This movie is shockingly realistic regarding the layoff experience. I can remember seeing it in theaters and just hoping that would never be me. Now that it is me, I can see plenty of lessons to learn from this flick.
- Try not to take it personally - I'm continuing to struggle with this myself. It all feels personal, because it affects my life in a very personal way. But it was in no way personal for the company. It was just business. Some execs may care when they go home at night, but they don't work for you, they work for the shareholders, and if they aren't careful, they'll be in the unemployment line next to you. For whatever reason, the layoffs had to happen, and I got caught in it. It had nothing to do with me. I still have to remind myself of this on a daily basis.
- Budget like a crazy person - The characters in this movie struggled with making drastic but necessary changes to their lives. In the end, all they did was speed up the inevitable. Luckily, I already budgeted like a boss, so I knew immediately how much money it would take to live. I also know immediately where I can cut if needed. My husband currently has a job, but you never know when his job will go away because, now more than ever, we can't predict the future. We are living in a way that safeguards my severance as long as possible, while keeping all essential bills paid. In the end, I'll flip hamburgers at multiple places to keep a roof over our heads, if that's what it takes. Hopefully, it won't come to that.
- Don't turn your nose up at the people and opportunities you have - Bobby was a little slow to respond to his particular crisis, but in the end, he saw what his stubbornness was doing to his family and he took a menial construction job kindly offered by his brother-in-law. Getting back to work (in any form) not only helped support his family but also renewed his sense of purpose and allowed him to confidently pursue a new opportunity with a much more realistic world-view.
- You might actually be happier living on and with less - In the end, the movie has a happily-ever-after wrap-up that feels convenient but needed after 2 hours of depression. Gene takes his millions and starts a new, smaller company based on the values that he felt his former company had abandoned. He brings Bobby on in a managerial role. He's funding the entire operation himself, so he takes no salary and pays the employees fair wages, but less than they are accustomed to. Bobby is happy to have a job that pays $80K per year, but tells his brother-in-law at the construction site that he might actually be happier doing physical work rather than corporate. His brother-in-law quickly steers him back to the office and the big salary, but Bobby will no doubt tackle this new opportunity with a much better perspective than he had before. His wife, similarly is pleased with their new, simpler lifestyle. In her words, "you were never here before, and now you are." At the end of the day, you can't put a price on your emotional health and the time you have with people you love.
Today's Accomplishments
- Got up at 6am!!
- Met my trainer at 7am and worked on creating my new workout plan; ended up doing about 30 minutes of cardio
- Did my Bible study for the day
- Made breakfast
- Got dressed
- Inquired about the job from yesterday - it sounds interesting, so I went ahead and emailed my resume to the hiring manager - we'll see what happens
- Had a coaching session with my national career coach
- Worked on my resume
- Handled some budget stuff
- Cleaned the kitchen
- scrubbed the bathrooms
- Wrote this blog
- Made dinner - turkey feta burgers with baked potato wedges and brussel sprouts
- Enjoyed a movie date with my husband
I will be taking the weekend off like any normal working girl, but I'll see you bright and early Monday for week two of my unemployed adventure.
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