Eric Dale is fired – Margin Call (2011)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Referenced as the canonical depiction of mass layoffs and canned HR scripts whenever layoffs come up.
What it is
A scene from the 2011 film Margin Call in which risk head Eric Dale is laid off by HR and hands a USB stick to a young analyst. It shows a scripted, impersonal corporate firing.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2022 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Cites Qub3d · 2022-06 · on “Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs”
That is a major plot point in Margin Call , which is a dramatization of the initial housing bubble crash of 08: [this video]
Cites greenyoda · 2022-11 · on “Twitter to start layoffs -internal email”
There's a scene in the movie "Margin Call" (about the 2007-2008 financial crisis) in which most of a floor of employees in an investment bank is laid off: [this video]
Cites pcurve · 2023-06 · on “I’m an ER doctor. Here’s how I’m already using ChatGPT to help treat patients”
Reminded me of this scene where Eric Dale was getting let go and HR was regurgitating canned script. [this video]