We Don’t Care About Your Precious Office Culture, You Can Keep It
We’re done doing invisible labor.
There’s a scene from the movie Bad Moms where Amy (Mila Kunis) tells her boss over an impromptu conference call that she’s not coming to another one of his pointless meetings where he describes sexually inappropriate dreams in order to cajole her into more work. (He wants her to start selling his organic coffee to hotels and airports!) She makes him look like a fool in front of his entire staff. It’s a vindicating moment for working parents like me, because up until then Amy’s been, well, dealing with a lot of bullshit. She’s running half the company and putting in 50-hour work weeks despite her part-time status and salary, a sacrifice she’s made so she can raise her kids. She blissfully drops this update on her boss from a coffeeshop, where she’s enjoying her first quiet morning in years. This moment has played in my mind quite a few times over the last year.
Unfortunately, Amy gets fired.
Amy’s boss might look like a soft emo type, but in reality he’s a ruthless tyrant who decides to “positively transition” her as revenge. The subtext is clear. He’s not just punishing her for embarrassing him. He’s making an example of her, in order to protect his beloved office culture, which consists primarily of trendy Silicon Valley types…
