Ever wander into one of those Verizon or AT&T stores, attempt to have a conversation with one of the smartly dressed salespeople, and whisper to yourself, "What kind of emotionally awkward humans end up working in a place like this?"
Well, I have good news for you.
Ricky Gervais, who made David Brent perhaps the most painfully sympathetic character in modern television in the original BBC version of "The Office," has been asking himself the very same question. "Phone Shop" a new British sitcom, enjoys Gervais as its script editor (he reportedly took one look at the idea and volunteered his involvement). The pilot airs Friday evening on Channel 4.
"Phone Shop" will explore the life of salespeople in a soul-sucking mall cell phone shop.
(Credit: Channel 4)Unlike "The Office," which gained existential pleasure from the old-world business of paper manufacture, "Phone Shop" is set in a mall cell phone store.
The pilot episode follows the troubles experienced by trainee salesman Christopher, who has to sell a cell phone by 6 p.m. as part of his one-day trial.
Clearly this series will reside in the emotional halfway house that has just two difficult residents--comedy and tragedy. And one wonders just what impression will be left by the arduous task of pushing yet more portable technology on a populace that bristles with sensory overload.
I am deeply concerned that the cell phone business will not come out so beautifully in "Phone Shop."
You see, The Independent quoted Angela Jain, head of the E4 Channel, which has bought the series. And beneath her words I sense a little cackling: "Everyone's got a mobile phone and has had some encounter in a phone shop. It's also about those difficult dead-end jobs that everyone has at least once in their lives."
So the Droid and the iPhone are being pushed by people in dead-end jobs? What has become of our brave new, smartphoned world?
Struggling handset maker Motorola now characterizes the dismissal of its chief financial officer as "for cause," marking a shift from its initial explanation last month, according to a report Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.
In the company's quarterly financial report early last month, Motorola announced that CFO Paul Liska would be immediately replaced and noted its decision stemmed from postponing the spin-off of its cell phone unit, according to the Journal.
Liska, who was hired by Motorola last year, had previously worked at private equity firms, where he was tasked with running troubled companies and turning them around.
In announcing Liska's departure on February 3, Motorola CEO Greg Brown touted Liska's efforts:
We appreciate the contributions Paul made toward the Company's planned separation and in managing our cost-reduction activities.
But two weeks later, on February 19, Motorola made a decision to fire Liska "for cause," according to the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this week.
In this week's SEC filing, Motorola noted it paid Liska a $400,000 sign-on bonus in two installments during 2008, but because his termination was "for cause," the company was seeking a repayment for the full amount.
A day after Motorola made its decision to fire Liska "for cause," the former executive filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in Illinois, according to a source cited in the Journal.
Motorola declined to comment, and Liska did not return phone calls to his home.
However, in a statement to the Journal, Liska said he was fired on January 29, following a board meeting, and that for the next three weeks he and his attorney were told by the company the firing was "without cause."
Motorola's fourth-quarter results showed a revenue decline of 26 percent year over year and a $3.6 billion net loss.
- prev
- 1
- next
