The next part of the book, Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley is about the main character’s struggle to keep his job. He was put on the Oprah show in the last section where he had to go up against 3 anti-smoking advocates and a high schooler who had lung cancer. He came out successful and actually somehow won people over. The only thing his boss told him to say was that the smoking industry would host 500 hundred thousand dollar anti-smoking campaign. I’m not sure if Nick froze up on live television or if he just made a decision on the fly, but he told Oprah, and anyone who was watching the show, that instead of 500 thousand dollars the anti-smoking campaign would spend about 5 million dollars. Nicks boss was furious. Nick thought he might even lose his job.
In comes Mr. Doak Boykin. Boykin is even another level above Nick’s boss BR. He called Nick and told him he wanted to see him. Boykin is a very interesting man. He is very old. He was the one who introduced the filter to the cigarette industry. Obviously this man is rolling in cash. He has nick come to this private restaurant reserved for smokers only. As they are sitting there drinking their expensive drinks and eating their expensive meals Boykin congratulates Nick on how he did on the Oprah show. He likes Nick’s idea of the 5 million dollar campaign. He seems like an alright guy. During the dinner Boykin gives Nick a whole history of smoking. He tells Nick about people who came over with Columbus being arrested for smoking because it was a “devilish act.” He says all this because he wants to remind Nick that he is not the only one who battles with anti-smokers.
Their dinner went well. Boykin seems to like Nick and it even seems like he alludes to the fact that Nick might be getting some sort of promotion in the near future. The last thing Boykin says to Nick is about Nick’s idea of more people smoking in movies. Boykin says that it was BR’s idea and Nick does not correct him. If I were in that situation I would have told him how it was my idea but Nick seems to know how to play this “game.”
When Nick gets back from seeing Boykin he arrives at his office and talks to BR, who tried to fire him less than two days ago. BR asks how the flight was and his jaw drops when Nick tells him that he flew back on Boykin's personal jet. BR did not like that fact that Nick was all of a sudden being treated better than himself. BR then asked how Boykin liked the 5 million dollar anti-smoking campaign and was again astonished at the fact that Boykin liked Nick's proposals. Then, trying to be a smartass, Nick tells BR than Boykin liked BR's proposal to try to get more actors to smoke in movies. BR tells Nick that it was his Nick's idea and Boykin just must have made a mistake. It is quite obvious that BR was just trying to steal Nick's idea. It seems like this will be a huge changing point in Nick's career. His boss is turning into his employee. Nick is starting to move up the food chain (if you can call it that).
Nick is then invited onto the Larry King Live show where Larry gets people to call in and ask Nick questions. Nick gets threatened by one of these callers so when he goes back to work the next day his boss, BR, get 3 bodyguards for him. Three bodyguards whose sole purpose is to protect the spokesman for the cigarette industry.
Nick is then scheduled for an industry with Heather Holloway, who is a reporter doing a piece on all the bad industries; for example the gun, liquor, lead, etc industries. Nick is told by his coworkers that Heather is an extremely attractive woman and that she will use this to his advantage so he should be careful in the interview. Heather starts out the interview by asking him simple questions about why he does this job, to which Nick answers, “to pay the mortgage.” Heather is increasingly intrigued by this and starts to try to woo Nick into telling her secret information. She starts to get a little sexual and Nick handles the situation by asking for a check and insisting on leaving. I think that was the right move for him. If reporters are really like that then I wonder how skewed the information we hear on the news is? It makes you wonder.
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