Just under the wire. I watched the new Alien movie right after work so I got to it late.
Black Monday
It’s 1987. A man stands by an open window. The Manhattan skyline can be seen from this 50th floor office. The man (Timothy) is wearing a Wall Street suit.
We flash back in time. Timothy is sitting behind a computer and his supervisor is standing over his shoulder. “Jesus Christ, that number isn’t real is it,” she says. Timothy is stone face. “… I … I think it is.” “Jesus Christ. We have to stop this.” “It’s all automated… I…” “Fucking unplug it.” “There’s a supercomputer down the hall….” “Shut it all down. Shut down the power to this floor.”
Flash back. It’s happy hour. Timothy is out with people from work (the hedge fund). It’s a fancy restaurant and everyone orders steaks and lobsters. Caviar and wine flow freely. They talk about how much money they have been making with the computerized trading. Timothy starts geeking out about how fast the supercomputer they built is. He goes on and on about the technical specifications. A coworker cuts him off. “The only numbers I give a shit about are those in my paycheck!” Everyone cheers.
People are pretty drunk as the party moves to a strip club. The older traders convince Timothy to do coke. Everyone is super hyped up and everyone is buying everyone else lap dances.
Flash back. Timothy is sitting in a waiting room. He is visibly nervous. A receptionist says that they are ready for him and leads him to the interview.
Timothy is still nervous. He is being asked really technical questions. After stumbling during his first couple of answers he starts to calm down and get in a groove. The interviewers look impressed. He is brought to the final interview. It’s to determine Timothy’s soft skills. The interviewer brings up the fact they went to the same college. As the conversation continues they realize they were in the same frat.
After bonding and laughing about their initiations the interviewer gets serious. “You seem like a great fit, but I have to know, in all honesty, why do you want this job.” Timothy takes a beat and says, “honestly, I want to make a lot of money.” The interviewer laughs. “I think we can help you.”
Flash back. Timothy is being hazed to get into his college frat. After making him and the other pledges get really drunk, they make them get tattoos of the Greek letters of the frat. They show their tattoos on their butts. Having come this far, Timothy goes for it. He is lying down getting tattooed. The frat brothers say they have a confession to make, they show their tattoos and wipe them off. Timothy jumps up furious. When he discovers there was no ink in the needle he laughs and grabs another beer.
We flash back to a high school kegger. Timothy and his friends are discussing college. They are all complaining about how shitty their high school and their town is and how much they can’t wait to get out. The topic changes to what they will be studying in school. Timothy says, “I’m majoring in whatever will get me a job where I can make the most money.”
We flash back to junior high. Timothy is caught cheating on a test. He is sent to the principal’s office. He admits everything and seems genuinely ashamed. The principal says, “You are a good kid, you just can’t take these types of short cuts.”
We flash back to kindergarten. It’s show and tell and everyone has brought one of their parents to talk about their jobs. It’s Timothy’s fathers turn. He starts joking about how they all know him. He is their janitor. During the whole talk, Timothy has his head hung in shame.
We flash back to Timothy as a toddler. His parents are at a barbecue. They are talking with friends about how their money has been tight, but they have been managing to save money. They will give Timothy a better life than they have by sending him to private school. As they talk Timothy crawls to them, then gets to his feet and takes his first steps.
The camera pans around to the back of the toddler. As he takes a step, we cut to kindergarten. Still showing Timothy’s back, he takes his father’s hand and takes a step out the door. We cut to junior high and Timothy steps out of the principal’s office. He takes a step away from the kegger. Another step away from the frat house. A step out of the interview. A step out of the strip club. A step away from his desk. A step out the window.
The End