Last season he was laid off and couldn't find any work at all in LA. He finds a job in San Francisco and suddenly he is absolutely killing it financially. That high-rise apartment that he was living in, with the incredible view of the city, probably costs more per month than their house. Plus, he is flying back to LA every weekend. This job must pay 2-3 times what he was making before.
shareAnd still that is not enough for Kate. I hate her her so much. She has a good man, who loves her morbidly obese self. He loves the children and wants to take care of them as well as possible. And still she finds something to whine about.
In answer to your question. Toby does stuff with information technology. One of those jobs that is hard to describe. That is why he told Kate at the party not to ask anyone what they did.
I guess the big question is, when he said the job offer in LA didn't pay as well, was he factoring in the exorbitant living/travel expenses that he has living in San Francisco? The apartment in San Francisco has to be at least 3K a month plus utilities. Plus, the round-trip flights every weekend have got to be $150-$200 each. This all adds up to around 50K per year. That is after tax dollars, so he would need to make around 65-70K extra per year to afford this. Did the job in LA really pay over 70K less? It seems pretty extreme.
shareIt does seem pretty extreme. However, when you factor in that the place they are currently living in LA is probably LESS expensive that the house he showed her in San Francisco, it makes you realize that he is doing very well for himself in San Fran. Also, the fact that management in the company where he is currently working seems to love him means that he is probably getting non-salary benefits— like “performance shares” or some other type of “golden handcuff” arrangement.
When you get to the age that Toby and Kate are, it is very hard to start over. Places are not just handing out senior positions. I thoroughly dislike Kate. I think she needs to trust in Toby. I am sure there are schools for visually impaired kids in San Fran.
I totally agree that Kate caused the divorce. It doesn't seem like Toby really did anything wrong. Like you say, the San Francisco job was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. He even gave the once in a lifetime opportunity up to make her happy and that wasn't enough.
She basically wanted to leave him because he got his life together.
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Kate really annoys me. I could understand why she was put off when Toby had it all planned out for them to move to San Francisco. I think he was trying to surprise her in a good way, but it came across as pushy and controlling and one-sided. If he was a different kind of guy that could be a major red flag to get out. And with Kate's history, that would give her a very bad feeling. But Toby was never that kind of guy, and I don't think that was really her problem with it anyway. She was already uncomfortable with him changing and growing as a person, first when he lost weight, then seeing him enjoying his job and gaining more confidence in himself.
Then when she sees his life San Francisco, her reaction is understandable, but it just seems like she made no effort at all to understand his needs. He was deeply insecure about himself and his history of depression. I think he wanted to prove that he could "be the man" and take care of his family. For someone with his personality and his background, the type of job you have and the environment it puts you in can really make you or break you. But for anyone, it can be hard to find a job that really makes you happy. And this really seemed like a once in a lifetime kind of job, something you can't just replace with another one.
Kate really liked her job too, and she found a lot of fulfillment in it, but was it really that irreplaceable for her? It's hard to say, but she seemed unwilling to even consider the possibility. She immediately asks them to consider her for a promotion. If she's wanting to move up, why not seek a similar position in San Franscisco? But when she makes that phone call, she's made the decision to stay where she is. That means either Toby has to move back there, or else face splitting up his family.
So Toby ultimately sacrifices his own happiness and takes a job he obviously dislikes for the sake of keeping his family together. She can't appreciate that and it's still not enough for her.
Agree agree agree with everything you said. Kate is just a spoiled selfish woman. The big variable in her life seem to be Kevin. When the series began, Kate was Kevin’s personal assistant at his job. Given that he was the star of a successful TV show, he probably made a ton of money.
Kate does not seem to think about money AT ALL. I think a lot of that is due to what she made while working for Kevin.
It’s a terrible thing for poor Toby to be the only one of the couple who cares about providing. I would not want to be in his situation at all. Now— back to Kevin. If Kate did not have a connection to a millionaire, how would she be? Chances are, she might be more inclined to think about money and appreciate Toby a bit more for trying to provide for his family.
Good points! You can see the subtle differences in attitude between Kate and Toby on money, but it never gets verbalized.
Toby complains that her music job "doesn't pay anything", while Kate doesn't seem to care, as long as it pays enough for the Oreos bill.
He's the San Francisco HEAD co-assistant to the 2nd and/or 3rd generation of assistant graphic artist whose fast go-go team supplies simplistic binary code to a live social media time frame (or frames) in an eco-friendly [carbon friendly] environment while creating an existential and/or entertaining user experience for users like me and you to enjoy that is...the Internet.
This is what he does. And he takes it very, very seriously!!!
This is my personal favorite trait of Toby throughout the 6 seasons...his work ethic you cannot deny or right off as just 'ugh...
It's so very fluent, real and palpable.