S02.E08: Like a Boss

[chitowngirl]

After Lillian's boss announces budget cuts, she is forced to make a decision and enforce boundaries between her personal and professional life; Dean and Cory's friendship hits a few speed bumps as they work together for the boxcar derby.

[AnimeMania]

Next Week: (Season Finale) Back-to-Back Episodes 

[chitowngirl]

This episode felt flat to me

[Raja]

I kept thinking wasn't she supposed to be working in a federal agency where the entire set up takes the kind of personnel decisions out of the hands of local managers. Thus Black folk could get in the first place by testing in

[Sarah 103]

On 8/9/2023 at 9:38 PM, chitowngirl said:

This episode felt flat to me

I think it's because they insisted on giving Dean something to do/a plot line. Dean's story didn't really add anything. I would have liked to have seen how the firing tested Bill's friendship. Show Bill struggling/being torn between his wife and his best friend. Possibly show him trying to sneak around to see his friend. It would have been more interesting than Dean and Cory building the soap box derby car. 

[andromeda331]

I felt for Lillian in this episode. She has no choice but to fire someone. The person that should be fired is her friend and her husband's best friend. It was the right thing to do but she gets hammered in both directions.

He really was taking advantage of the friendship by always coming in late and leaving early and not doing any of the work. I can't believe that he named two other employees that should be fired. He knows he does a crappy job right? Bill was right that Lillian never talked to him and she did cover for him. Lillian seemed to think he knew she was covering for him. Then pull that stunt in church. Then to sue the state.

I liked the problems in caused between Lillian and his wife. But it would have been nice to see what it did to Bill's and Coach's friendship. They should have focused on that too. Bill should have been in the same difficult position that Lillian was in. 

I do like at the end Coach didn't take his job back and realized it wasn't a good fit. That might explain why he did such a crappy job. I liked his wife's reaction to that. He's going to be on the couch for a long time.

Lillian's boss is a weasel. He orders her to cut the budget by firing someone and she does it. Then back tracks and pretends he didn't because of the lawsuit. Sadly that's probably still realistic in work today. I loved Lillian turning the tables on him later. Good for her. I love Lillian.

I disagree with how the rest of the employees reacted to Lillian firing him. Yeah, he maybe fun but there's going to be a few if not more who are just as fed up with him always late, always leaving early and never doing anything. But in this case assuming he got away with it because he and Lillian were friends. Those employees would have been happy to see that she fired him and thanked her for it. 

 

 

[cinsays]

6 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I felt for Lillian in this episode. She has no choice but to fire someone. The person that should be fired is her friend and her husband's best friend. It was the right thing to do but she gets hammered in both directions.

He really was taking advantage of the friendship by always coming in late and leaving early and not doing any of the work. I can't believe that he named two other employees that should be fired. He knows he does a crappy job right? Bill was right that Lillian never talked to him and she did cover for him. Lillian seemed to think he knew she was covering for him. Then pull that stunt in church. Then to sue the state.

I liked the problems in caused between Lillian and his wife. But it would have been nice to see what it did to Bill's and Coach's friendship. They should have focused on that too. Bill should have been in the same difficult position that Lillian was in. 

I do like at the end Coach didn't take his job back and realized it wasn't a good fit. That might explain why he did such a crappy job. I liked his wife's reaction to that. He's going to be on the couch for a long time.

Lillian's boss is a weasel. He orders her to cut the budget by firing someone and she does it. Then back tracks and pretends he didn't because of the lawsuit. Sadly that's probably still realistic in work today. I loved Lillian turning the tables on him later. Good for her. I love Lillian.

I disagree with how the rest of the employees reacted to Lillian firing him. Yeah, he maybe fun but there's going to be a few if not more who are just as fed up with him always late, always leaving early and never doing anything. But in this case assuming he got away with it because he and Lillian were friends. Those employees would have been happy to see that she fired him and thanked her for it. 

 

 

yeah, he knew he was not doing what he was paid to do and was taking advantage of the situation.  if i had been his co-worker,  i would have applauded his getting fired because i would probably have had to do some of the work he failed to do.  laziness should not be rewarded and it was the right thing to do.

[ProudMary]

11 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

He really was taking advantage of the friendship by always coming in late and leaving early and not doing any of the work. I can't believe that he named two other employees that should be fired. He knows he does a crappy job right? Bill was right that Lillian never talked to him and she did cover for him. Lillian seemed to think he knew she was covering for him. Then pull that stunt in church. Then to sue the state.

There are lots of good observations in your post @andromeda331!

Lillian is no fool, so I'm certain that when she told Coach that he should put together a productivity report to decide which employee should be let go, she knew damn well that he would be that employee. When he said to her that he didn't include the two of them in the report because they were friends, that was when she should have told him that he was the least productive employee and that he had X amount of time to straighten himself out or she'd have to let him go. Bill was right that Lillian had never spoken to him about his poor performance and she missed her perfect opportunity right there.

11 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Lillian's boss is a weasel. He orders her to cut the budget by firing someone and she does it. Then back tracks and pretends he didn't because of the lawsuit. Sadly that's probably still realistic in work today. I loved Lillian turning the tables on him later. Good for her. I love Lillian.

Yes to all of this.

Lil's boss is most likely aware of the friendship between Coach and Lillian. The boss was probably also aware of which employee had the lowest productivity and should be fired, but he didn't want to be the one to fire "the Black guy" specifically because he was afraid of a lawsuit just like the one  Coach ultimately filed, but he definitely didn't want to fire any of the white employees. It was easier to pass the buck to Lillian and force her to make the decision. I'm sure he never expected Lillian to make the painful decision to fire her friend, even though he was the obvious choice based on productivity. I really felt for Lillian because she certainly understood the manipulation.  I wanted to cheer when she told him she would be hiring a Black employee for the open position. "Like A Boss" indeed.

[Cress]

I thought Lillian's coworkers would respect her more for firing her friend, because it meant she was fair, but instead they seemed to think it made her ruthless. Like "If she fired her friend... does that mean she'll be harder on us?"

[zoey1996]

On 8/10/2023 at 8:50 AM, Raja said:

I kept thinking wasn't she supposed to be working in a federal agency where the entire set up takes the kind of personnel decisions out of the hands of local managers. Thus Black folk could get in the first place by testing in

No, she works for the state. It’s not a federal agency. Her boss was a weasel, throwing her to the wolves the way he did.

I knew that Dean & Cory did a bad job on their car; it was destined to fail. 

Not their best episode, but it’s still a good show overall.

[tennisgurl]

I really felt for Lillian, she was in a really crappy position. 

A bit of a boring episode to be honest after quite a few good ones, but still got some laughs out of me.