Here at Rypple, we believe (almost) any boss can be a good boss. All they need are the right tools. And part of being a good boss is knowing when to let loose and have a good time. In that spirit, Rypple held events in New York and San Francisco to commemorate the opening night of the new movie “Horrible Bosses.” In the Loop contributor Rachel Sklar — a Canadian writer, consultant, and social entrepreneur based in New York City — hosted our event there. She accompanied a group from Techcrunch, The Huffington Post, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Hashable, Bing, and elsewhere to a screening of the movie and then for drinks and snacks. Here’s her account of the evening — and her take on the movie…

Horrible Bosses, Important Lessons

I’m just kidding – there are no important lessons to be learned from the movie “Horrible Bosses,” except that maybe if you take a group of 20 people to see a hilarious movie, you will be popular. Which is what I and Rypple did on opening night last Friday in New York City.

Actually, here’s another important lesson: If you are saving 20 seats in the middle of the theater of a sold-out show, you will be *unpopular.* So bring backup. Otherwise you, like me, will be standing guard like an angry cheetah over two empty rows, snapping and snarling at the circling predators waiting to pounce. Fortunately my intern was not far behind with a bag of Rypple t-shirts, so we slapped them over the chairs and marked our territory. This was before running up and down to give people their tickets, answering various “Where are you?” “I’m late!” “Oops, went to the wrong theater!” emails and procuring enough popcorn, soda, and Junior Mints to keep everyone happily munching throughout five hours of previews. Seriously people, organizing a movie outing is not for the faint of heart.

“Horrible Bosses” is a buddy flick, a bumbling-would-be-murderer flick, and a Jennifer Aniston movie unlike any you’ve ever seen. The premise: Three miserable friends hate their three horrible bosses and decide to kill them. Hijinks ensue. Let’s just say that Rypple’s progressive brand of feedback, coaching, and recognition do not feature prominently in the film. But the hijinks are great, and the cast is a lot of fun — Jason Bateman as the beleagured suit-striver crushed under the heel of a despotic Kevin Spacey; Jason Sudeikis as the good-guy company man whose beloved boss suddenly dies and is replaced by his greasy cokehead son, played almost unrecognizably by Colin Farrell; and Charlie Day as the hapless dental assistant tormented by incessant sexual advances from his boss, the sociopathologically stunning Jennifer Aniston, with the filthiest mouth you’d never expect her to have. The movie also features Jamie Foxx as their “Murder Consultant,” whose character actually provides another lesson: It’s really, really easy to lie on your resume.

A Night Out with Rypple

We took a few great people from the NYC tech and media scene, from workplaces ranging from small scrappy startups to huge media conglomerates. (Our roster: Maya Baratz, WSJ; Brooke Moreland and Ashley Granata, Fashism; Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch; Steve Bryant, NBC Local; Steve Krakaeur and Meghan McPartland, CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight; Stefan Weitz, Bing; Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, Academy for Global Citizenship; Bianca Bosker and Mawell Strachan, The Huffington Post; Orian Marx, Siftee; and my co-workers, John Exley and Katie Felten from Hashable, plus four lucky random winners.) The core difference between us and the people onscreen: we all seemed to really like our jobs, and also to be in much better moods. Another key difference: from the founders to the editors to the directors to my awesome intern, everyone in the group seemed far too competent and dynamic to be as trapped and hapless as the characters onscreen. Of course, we could all have been hiding our silent anguish behind an empty facade and secretly planning terrible deeds, but probably not. Afterwards, we all seemed to agree that Jennifer Aniston was our favorite boss. Or at least had the best clothes. Or non-clothes. Seriously, see this movie.

We then repaired to a nearby restaurant for drinks, fries and brisket, because it was Friday night after all. I confess we did not swap many stories of annual performance reviews gone awry or awesome examples of coaching done right, but we did laugh and hang out, which is always good for business, amongst colleagues, clients or prospective clients. Additional FORHBNs – Friends Of Rypple’s Horrible Bosses Night – included Michael Gersh and David Hersh from Multiply, the rhymingest co-founders I know; Emma Persky, another Hashable-ite; Elizabeth Fuller, cofounder of badge-tracker Score.ly, which fits right in with Rypple; Seth Frader-Thompson, CEO of EnergyHub; and Jessica Loudis of Bookforum. Good times.

The Takeaway

So, back to those lessons: (1) When your intern saves you from an angry, howling mob in a movie theater, both “feedback” and “thanks” are neatly covered by movie, popcorn, drinks and grub; (2) strangers standing awkwardly in a movie theater lobby will become friends eventually, especially if you keep the drinks coming; (3) it’s fun to channel Jennifer Aniston for the rest of the night. Oh and while a bad boss can get better – with a little help from Rypple, of course! – a horrible boss will never want to. So either quit, or murder them quietly. Shhh, it’s ok. We won’t tell.

Top, L to R: John Exley, Jason Kincaid, Maya Baratz, Kathryn Minshew, Katie Felten, Orian Marx, Steve Bryant, Stefan Weitz.
Middle, L to R: Bianca Bosker, Jason Kincaid, Kathryn Minshew (top and middle photo by Rachel Sklar)
Bottom, L to R: Stefan Weitz, Rachel Sklar, Orian Marx (photo by Jason Kincaid)

Special thanks to John Exley & Katie Felten for backup on those two rows of seats!