The Baileys And Their Staffing Issues

The Baileys And Their Staffing Issues

Bruce Von Stiers

Office workers can be quirky. Anyone who's worked in an office environment has had a co-worker or two that is a bit different. Strange even. These quirky workers have been hilariously portrayed in shows such as The Office and films like Office Space.

One short comedy film takes a few of those quirky office workers and places them in a small accounting business. The title of the film is The Jungle of Accounting.

Charles and Maryanne Bailey own a small independent accounting service. They are being interviewed about some of their past employees. The film is done in sort of a mockumentary format, with the memories of the past employees done in flashback sequences. You see the Baileys as they are at the time of the interview and how they looked during the flashback sequences. These flashbacks are from the mid 1980's.

Despite being efficient office assistants, these employees had such absurd quirks that they ultimately had to be let go. Each employee who was terminated is highlighted by their own segment in the film. The Baileys had terrible luck with their office assistants. They just couldn't seem to hire one that wasn't too quirky to sustain employment with their firm.

First there is Jimmy Doyle. It is always very cold at his desk. Charles refuses to turn up the heat in the office. Jimmy retaliates by wearing the same sweater every day, pulling it from a drawer at his desk. You can just imagine the body odor and other smells permeating from that sweater that is never washed and just stuck in a desk drawer when not in use. A bowl of mints and other devices don't seem to alleviate the stench coming from that sweater. So, Jimmy must be let go.

Then there is Amy Swartz. She is one of those people who feels the need to one-up others. If you've done something, she's done it better. If it's an illness, she's had worse or someone close to her has. Things come to a head when Amy meets with a client who's just had major surgery. Amy one ups poor Mrs. Collins so much that Charles doesn't have any choice but to let her go. A relative of mine used to have that one-upmanship syndrome so I am well versed in it.

And just when the Bailey's think they've hired the perfect office assistant, she ends up being a wanted criminal.

Ray Bergan played Charles Bailey at the time of the interview. Timothy J. Cox played Charles in the flashback scenes. Bergan appeared in episodes of show like A Crime To Remember and Deadly Devotion. Cox has a huge amount to screen credits, including the short drama After and the short comedy Static Cling.

Kathy McCourt played the older Maryanne Bailey and Colleen Sproull played the younger Maryanne. McCourt co-starred in Lost Island and They're Trying To Kill Me. Sproull appeared in an episode of The Mysteries of Laura and the musical drama Hello Again.

Kate McGarrigle played Amy Schwartz. She co-starred in Odd Man Rush and A Ring For Christmas. Erin Patrick Miller played Jimmy Doyle. He appeared in the comedy horror musical Bring On The Damned. Joan Shangold played Mrs. Collins. She's appeared in Goodbye Tango and The Marshmallow Mystery Tour.

Other actors appearing in the film were Coco Conroy, Greer Barnes, Craig Gass, Anthony Ferrara, Maryann Lonergan and Elis Xhava. Michael Drew was the narrator of the mocumentary.

The film was written and directed by Chase Pearson. He also co-produced the film with Emily Mulholland. The cinematographer was Daniel Chang. Pearson previously directed Cash Only and the short comedy thriller Vanilla. Mulholland was a producer for The Fall Line and What Lies In The Woods. Chang was the cinematographer for Cash Only and What Lies In The Woods.

The Jungle of Accounting is definitely a comedy that plays on the quirkiness of employees. In today's office environments, those employees would more than likely be counseled but allowed to keep their jobs. The hygiene, the upmanship and the criminality of those office assistants were just too much for Charles and Maryanne Bailey to keep them on as employees. The acting was done well, especially the facial expressions of Charles at different points in the film.

So, this revolving door of hiring and firing assistants makes The Jungle of Accounting an interesting and entertaining comedy film.

You can watch The Jungle of Accounting for free on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/416499557

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