I like whatever Mike White (a friend of Jack Black) does. Ever since "Chuck & Buck," "Orange County," "The Good Girl," and "The School of Rock" I've been a fan of his writing, which is always quirky and amazingly original. And his new series on HBO "Enlightened" is fantastic: honest, insightful, filled with an incredible array of complex and realistically fucked-up characters. On a human level, it makes me laugh, cry, sigh in recognition, squirm from awkwardness, nod and shake my head – all within the same episode.
Yet, the economist in me cannot stop being constantly mad at the show's protagonist, Amy Jellicoe (played by always fabulous Laura Dern, who shares the show's executive-production credits with Mr. White). And it's not because I don't believe in the phony enlightenment through expensive retreats and self-help books. It seems that the creative team shares my opinion on this issue - the persistent cracking of the artificial facade exposes the impossibility of achieving peace in the realm of contemporary American existence, plagued by social and monetary fights for survival. What really makes this CFO frustrated is the fact that this woman DOESN'T PERFORM ANY WORK, BUT STILL GETS PAID.
There is nothing wrong with coming to realization that there are important things in your life beyond the job. Take if from me, most people work for a paycheck, not for self-realization, including those at the very top of the business hierarchy. That's a sad truth about our lives. However, "WORK" is an operative word. Coming to the office whenever, occupying yourself with personal matters throughout the day, and then waltzing out smiling before anybody else, like Amy does - there is only one word to classify that kind of an attitude: STEALING.
If the job heavily bears on your psyche and you feel that you will not be able to tolerate the meaningless work for one extra second, leave and quit getting paid. That's the honest thing to do. And Amy does find a job, which agrees with her newly-acquired outwardly predisposition. Guess what? It pays only $25K a year and she "cannot survive on that!" If only she could continue getting the regular direct deposits from the bad-wolf corporation, while contributing her time at the shelter – that would be a blissful combination!
Amy seems like a person who wouldn't be toiling for eight hours in front of a computer screen even for the most noble purpose – it's just too much for an "enlightened" person. But she especially despises the fact that her department analyses the employees performance metrics. I am not going to judge here what the corporation does with the results – there is not enough information in the show to do so, only vague hints. Yet, I can definitely say that there is nothing wrong with productivity analysis per se. Companies of all shapes and sizes must to do that, if they want to survive and prosper.
Socialist countries provided most people with work (albeit at incredibly low salaries), regardless of their efforts. Many people there would come to places of employment without any impulse to attend to their jobs. Look what happened to those economies! It's people like Amy Jellicoe who end up at Zuccotti park hanging out and screaming about the disappearance of the middle class, while the real members of that class continue going to work, doing their jobs, helping their businesses to survive. Those, who don't want to work are the reason why the quality of products and services continuously goes down, why the economy deteriorates right in front of our eyes.
The Frustrated CFO 
I singled out dear Amy because she literally doesn't do anything. However, she is obviously not alone (the thing about pop culture is that it's relatable because the subject matter and the characters are so familiar). I've been fighting for higher work ethics my entire career. The young manager on the show, our real-life subordinates and peers who spend work hours on various personal activities – they are all in the same ugly boat. I have very high standards in this regard and the first person I apply them to is myself. This lets me teach my subordinates by example: I keep my door opened and they can see me working. The ones who want to excel don't want to disappointment and try to do their best as well.
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This is an interesting perspective that you bring up. For someone who isn’t in a managerial position, I guess I could agree with you that she is stealing by doing little to nothing.
However, can’t you make the case that she isn’t alone? On the show, her boss is often seen lying around and lackadaisical towards his duties. . . he is a young 30-something manager, who doesn’t seem to have the skills to do it. Is he stealing?
Or let’s take this case into the real world. How many people who work a normal 9-5 day actually for the entire 8 hours? Between email, online shopping, social media, etc, many have access to these distractions that in turn detracts from their work ethic. Are they to be blamed for stealing?
Would enjoy hearing your perspective on this, thanks.
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