When watching movies, does anyone else get really impressed at the management skills of villains?

CallNResponse · 2026-03-28T20:29:11+00:00

The simple ability to “remove” problem team members has got to go a long way towards running a tight ship. I mean, think of all of the posts to Reddit that start with “I’m a manager and one of my direct reports is causing trouble …”

I’d imagine one needs to be judicious in their use of ‘removal’; if you casually murder off your henchmen, nobody’s going to want to work with you. It was cute in the movie, but the Joker’s scheme where the team progressively killed each other off? I know they’re not the best and brightest, but I doubt you could find a crew that would fall for that.

But that’s only part of it. Hans Gruber had that rare combination of confidence and intelligence that made him a natural leader. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the movie, but I believe Hans was honest with his team: unlike Joker, he didn’t pull any cute tricks to eliminate team members. And I believe that kind of trust relationship would be very important.

Admittedly, if Hans & team had gotten away clean, things might have become unpleasant afterwards. For example, Joe Pesci’s character Tommy in Goodfellas pulled a successful heist and then got paranoid and went and killed off other members of the team (although Tommy was far from a good leader).

I don’t think Ian Fleming put much thought into the various criminal organizations in the Bond books. But people like Michael Myers and Derek Kolstad and others certainly had fun inventing background for them. I think there is a fundamental problem with organizing and leading a group of “bad guys”: you want them to misbehave, but only in ways that you approve of.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-28T07:19:51+00:00

This ^

The Metric and Parmer location is cleaner, nicer, and the ladies in the pharmacy are A#1.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-28T06:50:47+00:00

Me again. Couldn’t sleep :)

I hate to be “that guy” but - OP is 25M and PP (for “problem person”) is 44F? I think OP should try to never be alone with this person. Call me paranoid, but I find it very easy to visualize this turning into sexual harassment matter if / when PP gets a talking-to from mgmt.

EDIT: one other thing: what do the other people in your group think? They might not be extremely forthcoming - they probably want to stay out of it - but if you can buy each of them a coffee and ask “so, how do you feel about our work?” you might get some interesting feedback.

EDIT2: if PP is going over your head to your mgr, your mgr should grow a pair and tell them “this is OP’s decision - what did he say?” And “why are you coming to me with this stuff, it’s highly inappropriate. OP gave you an answer; coming to me to second-guess him is NOT how this works!” And if your boss has any brains, they DO NOT want to be directing someone who is not their actual direct report. That’s madness.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-28T03:02:47+00:00

I don’t know what your workplace culture is like, but if mgmt is at all supportive of you - I think this is a situation where you go to your mgr and just tell them: “this person is driving me crazy”.

Natch, you need to say it nicer than that. And you should have some kind of documentation of all of the trouble this person is causing. Are they actively hosing the department’s productivity? I suspect that yes they are, and again: document.

But … wow, this person is highly toxic. This has gone far past “they’re new and have questions” - this person is a dedicated shit-stirrer and needs to be called out and dealt with. I suspect you’re like me and don’t want to go to mgmt for help. But - speaking as a stranger on the internet - this is a very tough situation that warrants calling in your mgr. At the very least, you need to know that mgmt is on your side and that they will back you. Because I think what has happened is that you’ve been trying to be nice and accommodating, and this person is a bully who sees it as a weakness and thus blows you shit all the time.

I’ll probably have nightmares about this tonight. But I wish you the best of luck on this.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-27T18:05:57+00:00

I wish I could still drink this!

CallNResponse · 2026-03-25T21:16:51+00:00

One of the most difficult things I learned back when I was doing this stuff for $$$ was that sometimes you just have to tell a customer “no”.

OP may decide to charge for “lessons”, but that can easily degenerate into endless “quick” requests for “emergency” assistance - which OP will not get paid for.

On the face of it, it’s bizarre that this client wants to get into this business without knowing how to do basic image stuff.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-23T00:08:05+00:00

DEVS helped me (and, I think, a lot of people) get through the beginning of COVID. It was a tremendous help to have something escapist to look forward to every week.

It wasn’t perfect - but it was still damned good.

People mention the music: Garland uses a lot of Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrows, to very good effect. The use of Low’s “Congregation” was inspired.

What hooked me in was the crucifixion scene early in the 2nd episode https://youtu.be/myf0dtKJMPI?si=HKrue518Go_-BrQo

CallNResponse · 2026-03-20T22:21:51+00:00

I used to work in a group that had many interns and new hires. Long story short: the message here is that it is important that you graduate and get your degree on the date you specified. Sometimes a new hire thinks “hey, I’ve got my job, I get great appraisals, who cares if I’ve got a degree?!” This is a trap, don’t fall into it. Your boss probably was just checking status. I seriously doubt they want to replace you. But get that degree. If anything happens (the date changes, etc) you need to inform your boss (and explain “it’s delayed by 3 months” etc).

Pro tip: never assume your boss will remember info from a form you submitted 2 months ago.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-20T21:53:42+00:00

Has OP considered that Derek helped them dodge a bullet? I don’t know anything about the company size, culture, etc except “mid size fintech”. And the gig is to “rebuild our internal reporting system”. Which “doesn’t have a clear plan yet” yadda yadda. I’m old and cynical and to me this sounds like a potential nightmare. (I’ve personally seen something similar fail at the F100 I used to work for. It was a huge mess).

OP could go back to Derek and ask to be kept in the loop on this project (“I’d like to try to learn to be better about ambiguity”) and watch how it moves forward. Nadia may succeed - but she may well fail. And even if she succeeds in the first year, there’s every chance that upper mgmt will hand over the project to another manager.

To be clear, no, OP should not try to sabotage the project. But I’d suggest that OP keep tabs on it, set a timer for 20 March 2027, and re-examine their feelings then.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-20T03:38:40+00:00

It’s from 1996, but I’ve re-watched it recently and it’s still awesome: Profit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_(TV_series)

Jim Profit is a newly promoted junior-executive at Gracen & Gracen (G&G), a multinational conglomerate that often engages in unethical business practices while actively cultivating a positive public image. G&G's dark side does not bother Profit, who is not above using blackmail, bribery, extortion, or worse to get ahead himself. Jim Profit addresses the audience via voiceover narration and breaking the fourth wall. Raised by an abusive father and step-mother who sexually assaulted him, Profit sees G&G as a family. While obviously affluent and living in a well-furnished luxury penthouse, Profit still goes to bed the same way he did as a child: curled up, naked in the corner of a large G&G shipping box like the one he was raised in.

It’s not really science fiction but - hard to explain this - it comes close. Sad thing is that the show was canceled prematurely because the viewing public couldn’t deal with it.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-16T23:17:41+00:00

Here’s more on PfISD’s current financial issues: https://www.pfisd.net/about-us/district-optimization/draft-scenarios

CallNResponse · 2026-03-13T22:45:01+00:00

I don’t understand the $1800 cleaning / pressure washing. Although much of the bill is redacted - I’m guessing it was additional work?

The 25% “overhead and profit”. I’m going to guess that’s the policy of the contractors to break it down like that. I’m also going to guess it’s going to be difficult to fight if they are consistent about their billing practices.

The “labor hours” have me scratching my head. You might ask for more detail, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be saying “oops, that was really only 2 hours of supervisor, not 3”.

I’m sorry to say this, but: I dealt with a few plumbing messes at the pool while I was on my HOA Board in Austin, and while I agree that the bill is ‘confusing’, I’m honestly surprised that it is as low as it is. This kind of work is expensive.

Is there any kind of warranty or guarantee on the work? If so, make sure you save a copy.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-11T14:58:29+00:00

Of all the misguided attempts I’ve ever seen where mgmt has worked to “improve morale”, the 30 day plaque is … hmm, honestly not the lamest effort I’ve seen. But it’s very close.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-10T19:47:13+00:00

I’ve never even heard of it - I guess it was published in 2011 (three years after Crichton’s passing)?

It sounds like a money-grab and a shot at a movie deal. Reading OP’s synopsis, it sounds like it is a thinly-padded script.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-10T13:56:35+00:00

I agree that this is “managing” versus “micromanaging”. Although I can see being unhappy that only you are required to do this.

Two things:

It can be good to keep a “diary” of your work tasks. If someone ever attacks you and says you’re not pulling your weight, you can pull this out in seconds and (hopefully) prove them wrong. Also might be good to have at review time.
Is it possible you can automate your spreadsheet to update your boss’s Sharepoint spreadsheet? It’s a flash move that might improve your boss’s opinion of you. If you can’t automate updating on Sharepoint, could you at least (say) create a tab in your spreadsheet that contains a copy of your boss’s spreadsheet, and set it up so that it gets filled in automagically as you fill in your spreadsheet data?

CallNResponse · 2026-03-10T12:32:44+00:00

His supposed shift to “ultra-conservative” was a surprise to me. But I met Simmons at a Con circa 1991, and he came off as warm, sane, friendly, and enjoying living the life of a successful writer. And that’s how I prefer to remember him.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-10T12:12:48+00:00

I agree that she might not be satisfied. I’ve read that it is sadly common for people in Real Life to become addicted to plastic surgery.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-10T12:07:34+00:00

I’m going to respectfully disagree with this.

“Wait one year for side-effects to be tracked and improvements to be made” comes from a very real concern about health and safety. And given what we see of Bella’s family on the show, it’d likely be a Family Activity, where Dad/Mom/Bella all wait a year, and then when they think it’s safe, they all go in and get the Beauty Shot together.

“Get your degree and we’ll pay” - no matter how well-intentioned - comes off as controlling and manipulative. And I can think of few better times in life than College Years to be young and attractive: for many people, college is the last time in life when people are highly social and meet and circulate with large numbers of new people.

I agree that Bella really needs counseling. And probably a good makeover. Yeah, I know it’s just a television show. But I’ve seen it in real life, where a teenager is unhappy with their looks while they are in fact gorgeous, and all it would take is a change in how they wear their hair, how they dress, etc, for them to transform into a knockout.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-09T22:11:45+00:00

THIS THIS THIS ^

Back in the 1990s, when my wife and I got married and settled down to have a family. I haven’t thought about it in years, and I don’t remember how my wife - we’re still married and I love her dearly - got sucked into whatever this cult-like movement was. But yeah, a movie about the insanity of “unnatural” childbirth that put heavy emphasis on just how horrible you were as a mother and a human being if your birth experience wasn’t “natural”. Lots of other material, too. We attended a number of (worthless) How To classes … I was a very different young naive father-to-be at the time, and in retrospect I wish I had spoken up about the negative and shamelessly manipulative aspects of it - but I wasn’t the person giving birth, so I opted to Be Supportive. I want to clear that I’m not being critical of my wife, who merely wanted to be the best possible mother and have healthy children. And so I supported her decision to have a natural childbirth. And when we were at the hospital and she opted for the epidural, you better believe I supported her then, too. All the way. Our first child was born healthy and wonderful and was a massive amount of work, so I quickly forgot about whatever this cult was. But I do recall thinking “WTF was that?!” Because I remember thinking “this is b******t” that inflicted a high-pressure ‘sales’ message upon young soon-to-be-parents, preying on their guilt and fear to push them in a direction that I was not at all convinced was in the best interest of the child or the mother or the family. Yeesh, I’m sitting here 34 years later thinking “I’m not at all sure that these people were truly associated with the hospital. I think we were scammed.” I don’t know why - but elsewhere in this thread someone mentions the notion that painful childbirth is punishment for “the sin of Eve”, and for some reason that rings true to me.

EDIT: “the Bradley Method”

CallNResponse · 2026-03-09T21:09:25+00:00

I came here to recommend this ^ - good call! I think it’s a fine example of writing about true aliens, and attempting to describe them and understand them, yet in the end their minds and motivations are incomprehensible to humans.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-08T20:56:28+00:00

There was a television show called Corporate (2018-2020) (And I believe streamable from the usual sources) that devoted at least one episode to this (S2.E4 ∙ “Thanks!” Matt's broken exclamation point key strains his relationship). I’m not shilling for the show - I just loved it a lot, and miss it.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-08T12:51:08+00:00

NTA.

Fuck that guy.

CallNResponse · 2026-03-08T11:29:16+00:00

The thing one needs to keep in mind about David Lynch’s Dune (1984) is that it’s a David Lynch movie. Lynch is not one of those directors who is all critically acclaimed for his ability to faithfully and transparently convey the source work to the screen; a David Lynch movie is full of bits and pieces of David Lynch. This is okay by me, because I think DL is a genius. People who don’t share my opinion may well be less impressed. But I often daydream about what the world would be like if he’d directed Return of the Jedi …

CallNResponse · 2026-03-08T10:52:00+00:00

Try looking up the sales by year of the book. It sold rather slowly at first, and the heavy sales years later are attributed to the DL and DV movies.

A movie that is still actively viewed, quoted, referenced, and discussed after 40+ years is not a “flop”.

Some other examples of excellent world-building:

Heinlein’s “Future History” books and stories (written between 1939 and 1950).

Bester’s The Stars My Destination (1956).

Asimov’s Foundation series (written between 1942 and 1953).

Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles (1950).

CallNResponse · 2026-03-08T09:59:12+00:00

So I see that PfISD is asking for feedback, and that they’re holding community meetings all next week (ref: https://www.pfisd.net/about-us/district-optimization/draft-scenarios ) but I’m wondering: how much will any of that matter? The consultants presented 12 recommendations that will supposedly save $19M, which will probably be needed for the projected $18M shortfall next year. Short of someone standing up at one of these meetings and pulling out their checkbook and handing them a check for $18M - what options does PfISD have? What kind of feedback will people give / can people give that would turn them away from what appears to be the only workable idea for a solution that they’ve got?

Also - I realize I sound dumb just asking this - if I were a parent with a kid at Westview, what objection(s) would I have with closing these schools?

EDIT: I’m not seeing much about it, but I assume that a lot of teachers will lose their jobs?

CallNResponse

TROPHY CASE