My wife and I were looking for a fun, brainless movie to cap our Saturday evening. I will spare you the recommendation. It was perfect for our night, and we enjoyed it, but according to IMDB.com, we are in the minority on this front (IMDB Rating: 4.8 out of 10).
Here is the IMDB synopsis of the film:
An awkward and overweight woman, Ruth Patchett (Rosanne Barr) lives in the suburbs with her husband, Bob Patchett (Ed Begley Jr.). She becomes a a monster who wants revenge because her husband is seduced by authoress Mary Fisher (Meryl Streep) who writes trashy fiction
The most poignant part of the movie, to me, is when Bob explains the following to Ruth:
"I'm gonna tell ya something, Ruth... Life is made up of assets and liabilies. As a man I have four basic assets: 1. a home, that is my castle; 2. a family, that is loving and devoted; 3. a successful career that I worked very hard to maintain; and 4. the freedom to enjoy the fruits of my labor. But when it comes to liabillities, I have only one. That's you, Ruth! And I'm not gonna let you ruin everything."
His statement clearly foreshadows the path of the movie. In the end, Ruth destroys his house in a fire (no charges of arson...I guess the 80's were just different times), creates havoc in his relationship with Mary, ends his career, and has him imprisoned by framing him for embezzlement.
The moral?
If you don't pay attention to your liabilities, you may lose your assets.
Look at the Southwest Dental Group, which reached a settlement on a pregnancy discrimination charge with the EEOC for $130,000, in addition to being required to have the offending management officials attend two separate live training programs regarding discrimination issues with an emphasis on pregnancy discrimination. The company is also required to appoint an equal employment opportunity (EEO) consultant, create and implement anti-discrimination policies and procedures, and periodically report to the EEOC regarding its handling of internal complaints and compliance with the decree, if they open a new practice within the next four year.
You know what could have prevented that cost? A contract with HR Consult Team.
A basic compliance contract would have identified their offenses for about 3% of the cost of the settlement (not to mention the cost of training and of an EEO consultant). Southwest Dental would have known that asking questions about a woman's marital status, whether she is pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or if she has children, is not acceptable. Beyond being not acceptable, it creates liability.
This case was a result of the company paying attention to the assets and not the liabilities. Southwest Dental found out it is costly to do so. Bob Patchett could relate.
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