Yeap... I love 'THE PROPOSAL' compared to 'THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA'. I've watched it 5x now & the scene that I like to relate myself is when 'Margaret The Devil' is firing 'Bob The Ego'. So, read the scripts followed by my own comment on how Margaret's feel by each lines (I feel her you know!). Seriously I think most people who experienced working with me will quote me as the Margaret! I have no objection to such claim because I know where I stand just like her.
BOB:
Ahh... a fearless leader & her leash. Please do come in!
[I came in to his office & suddenly this brag old man shoot me with such word. Let me guess? He already envy me & by right my reason to be here is to claim his unsettled job but I bet he's gonna get worse now!]
*********************
Note: There are missing lines where I don't want to put up here when Margaret was testing Bob's ego over a cupboard he just bought. Obviously Bob is a selfish ego bastard in editorial line! So watch it yourself if you wanna be sure of what I've said.
*********************
MARGARET:
Bob... I'm letting you go. I asked you over a dozen times to ask Frank to do Oprah, you're fired.
[That's the worst I can think of for an employee who brag over his job but yet did nothing when requested for such an easy task! Bob should realize he has the power to ask Frank to do the interview but he didn't so where did he used his power?!]
BOB:
I have told you that is impossible, Frank hasn't done an interview in 20 years.
[Bob is giving me an excuse over a matter I've already investigated. This fellow stupid or what? Does he think he's speaking to the board of directors who hardly knows everything of what happen in editorial site? Didn't he knows that I'm the one who reported to them & now he figures I know nothing?!]
MARGARET:
Well, that is interesting because I just got off the phone with him & he's in.
[Yes... I'm in charge & I always do my job when I'm in charge. If you think a chief editor or senior editor is a higher status class of employee who do nothing in a department & takes all the glamour, you're wrong! I have to suffer everything just to make sure everyone is in the system so we don't face shipwreck so often!]
BOB:
Excuse me?
[Well this guy really carry a bag full of stupid egos! He acted like I'm telling lie? Feel like want to punch his face but no... my boss said "Don't fight with a pig if I don't wanna be a pig!". So best thing to do is to keep the discussion professionally.]
MARGARET:
You didn't even call him. Did you?
[Thought of just sigh & walk away so I can just ask Andrew to send him a letter of retrenchment afterwards. But why waste my time postpone issue if I can just tell him to his face, right now.]
BOB:
But...
[Hmm... Bob is not giving up being in denial. He still wants to say he is right, huh? What a smug chicken little fellow. The more you lie, the more you gonna get from me & the worst your life will be. I know your ego Bob, but in career life, ego has its limit & I still can keep mine as long I do my work decently.]
MARGARET:
I know, I know... I know. Frank can be a little scary to deal with... for you. Now, I will give you 2 months to find another job, and u can tell everyone you resign. Ok?
[So I tell Bob the real deal. The reason why he didn't call Frank for the interview. This writer named Frank just published his latest book (edited by me) with Ruick & Hunt Publishing. Well, Frank is a great writer but fiercely protects his own private life so he don't simply do public talking without fair reason. So I told Frank he needed to do the promotional tour arranged by me (representing Ruick & Hunt Publishing), because without the right awareness the book won't reach the sales target & next time, no more deal with Ruick & Hunt Publishing. Is it so hard for Bob to persuade Frank the way I did?! So firing Bob is the best option!]
BOB:
You poisonous bitch! You can't fire me! You don't think I can't see what you're doing here,
slam back at me on this Oprah thing just so that you can look good to the board? Because you are threaten by me! And you are a monster!
[Though Bob is not the one who should be angry, but he did. Shooting back at me is the worst act he ever did for being a professional editor. Especially when I deal the matter in the most professional way.]
MARGARET:
Bob... stop.
[I warned him!]
BOB:
Just because you have no 'semblance of a life' outside of this office, you think that you can treat all of us like your own personal slaves. You know what, I feel sorry for you. Because you know what you gonna have on your death bed? Nothing and no one.
[Ok... He already cross my limit & this grown up is still a child! He thought everyone hate me because of me? Bob is wrong, they hate me because I'm pain-in-the-ass type of boss, I'm being to perfect! I maybe an outsider & a lonesome human being ever exist in this world, but critisizing a life that I built with my own self esteem is the most unreasonable act. Nobody has the right to judge my life that way so let me judge his life now...]
MARGARET:
*sigh gracefully*... Listen carefully Bob. I didn't fire you because I feel threaten. No... I fired you because you're lazy, entitled, incompetent and you spend more time cheating on your wife than you do in your office and if you say another word, Andrew here is going to have you thrown out on your ass, ok?
[Yeap... I critisize Bob's life now & it obviously resemble himself that doesn't commit to his responsibilities. He's wasted!]
BOB:
You're...
[Hmm... when someone has a stupid ego as big as Bob... he still play the role of denial maniac!]
MARGARET:
Another word and you are going out of here with an arm escort, Andrew will film it with his little camera phone and he will put it on that internet site. What was that?
[I have my patient & here's the limit. It may sounds like a joke but once I do it, Bob gonna have the worst day of a lifetime. Don't challenge my ability!]
ANDREW:
Youtube?
[I like Andrew... though I know he's a good writer, but he's my best assistant so far. I will grant him his seat if one day he ask me with dignity! He just doesn't know how to impress me brilliantly.]
MARGARET:
Exactly. Is that what you want? Didn't think so. I have work to do.
[So I win, right? Exactly! In a game of truth, always the truth win finally!]
Guess what... that's what most quality editors will do, though heart-breaking but worth to dispose the low-sense editors/writers... or say selfish-brag smugs of journalism? It's the best for the publisher not just for employee's personal claim. Some directors (owner of publishing house) will obviously irritated by the quality editors (who act like the company as their own), but most directors will surely can't live without having them.