Richard Linklater’s 5.15/Hr

I’ve worked my fair share of crummy low paying jobs in the past, a staple in my life as an “artist” or “writer” or whatever it fucking is that I do. Tedious jobs. Boring jobs. Annoying jobs. Petty jobs that I took to pay the rent, the kind of jobs one gets when one has no marketable skills, no connections and a degree that motivates people to spout, “What the hell are you going to do with that?” The stupidness of the job compounded by some of the people you work with, who due to a lifetime of powerlessness take the microscopic dose of power they are given and abuse it in petty and ridiculous ways, sometimes driving you to frustration, though most often to derisive mockery for me.

So it was interesting to come across a pilot that Richard Linklater – one of the more interesting and intelligent directors out there (See Slacker, Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly) – did for HBO called 5.15/Hr. The TV show focuses on the lives of workers at a chain restaurant called Grammaws, sort of like a Denny’s or a Waffle House. The elements of the show will be familiar with anyone who has toiled in such an environment. Shit wages for ball-busting work, payday loan and credit card debit and traps, petty managers, pointlessly boring staff meetings, ludicrously funny training videos, the corporate headquarters marketing and products out of touch with what’s happening on the ground, employee relationships of love and hate, desperately trying to make ends meet when you’re a check or two away from the streets, a homeless shelter or a friends couch.

The show is pretty funny, sometimes very much so, especially when it corresponds to the stupider times of your life and history. It’s a bit clunky in parts, but that might have smoothed itself out if further episodes weren’t killed by a high ranking executive. As Linklater explained in an interview, “In the case of $5.15/hr, the pilot was reportedly well received by all at HBO except one high ranking executive, who was paraphrased by writer/producer Rodney Rothman as having said ‘I understand, this is like one of those places you drive past on your way to Palm Springs, right?’”

That comment by the HBO executive brings to mind one of my pet beefs with mainstream media cultural productions, which is their inability to create shows that actually reflect and can be related to by the majority of the population, instead churning out yet another sitcom or drama about New York professionals or glam decadent west coasters, shows that I suspect reflect the Ivy League English department to major studio trajectory lives of the writers. The irony is that when a show reflecting blue-to-no-collar narratives like Rosanne, The Simpsons or King of the Hill somehow make it to the small screen the show becomes a huge hit, a magnitude of times more than yet another annoying sitcom about urban professionals exchanging witty repartee in a hip apartment.

But what the fuck do I care about that shit anyway? I don’t watch much TV anymore aside from staring at a sports game at whatever lounge or pub I’m chilling at and with the development of cheap and ubiquitous media production and distribution tools, people are starting to make the type of entertainment they want anyway, even if it is just kids setting themselves in fire or crying over Brittany Spears.

So if you’ve ever worked a dead-end job or dig Linklater’s movies you could do worse that blow 30 mins watching 5.15/Hr here, then it’s back to work for you, slack motherfucker.