A Day in the Life of a Company Manager

Hi. I’m Jeff.

I’m a company manager.

I’ve been working for NCT for two years now and this is my first show as company manager. So far the job has had its fair share of stressful moments (i.e. an actor missing a flight or a middle of the night crisis) but along with them there have also been some really great parts. One part of my job consists of arranging or organizing flights to and from RDU airport. I have to arrange for either myself, an associate, or a taxi to pick up an actor/crew member. It seems as if I spent the better part of 3 days sitting and waiting at the airport.

On one of my last trips I thought about the last scene in “Love Actually.” Hugh Grant is narrating this montage of clips of people greeting each other in an airport. He states, “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinions are starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends…. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion, love actually is all around.”

After picking people up from the airport for the past five days, I’ve started to really think about all the people standing outside of baggage claim waiting for their rides. The place is filled with emotion. There are the overtly stressed people, the people who look lost and confused, and then there are the people who look flat out worried. But no matter what those people look like, all those feelings disappear when that ride comes. Smiles and hugs emerge once that familiar face arrives. One of the best examples I can give is a pickup I had this week. I was picking up an actor who had been flown in from California for the show. When I drove up to get him he had this really disoriented look on his face. His eyes were searching through the line of cars, trying to find me. Once he did, his eyes instantly lit up and a smile grew from ear to ear. It was like someone dumped a whole bucket of relief on him; you could see the tension wash away. I got out of my car and hugs and genial banter began. We hurriedly put his bags into the car and hopped in. And as I started the car and began driving, I took one last look at the people. Next time you’re there…take a look and see if you see what I see.