Sitting in the backseat, Lester avoids further conflict with his wife, leading him to become an even unhappier and more desperate person. .
Lester's life at work is no better than his life at home. After fourteen years at a job, that is viewed by Lester as nothing more than being a corporate slave at a media marketing magazine, Lester is asked by an efficiency expert at work to write a memo justifying his position. In Lester's viewpoint, his job of fourteen years is now letting him know how replaceable he is. This makes him feel worthless, which decreases his self-confidence. He is now faced with making the first of several choices that will ultimately affect his future happiness. Should he justify his job and continue to provide for his family or choose freedom and a new life. Lester decides that he can not justify his job because his job has no meaning to him. After leaving his job, he seeks a new job with less responsibility. He is hired at Mr. Smiley's, a local fast food restaurant. Making the choice to quit his job and work in a fast food restaurant finally brings Lester his chance to embrace happiness. Going for his old job to his new job symbolizes his transition from a life in which Lester was locked up to a new life in which Lester is now free to control his future. .
Dreaming of a life which is out of our grasps is a common thing. Everyone at some point in his orher own life wishes that he or she were someone else or that he or she could in some way be greater than he or she already is. Lester feels this more than anyone else in the movie. The moment Lester lays eyes on Angela Hayes, Jane's best friend whom Lester considers the "beauty," he falls into a spell of intense infatuation. This is Lester's second snap. He is instantly obsessed with her, and Lester repeatedly dreams about making love to this girl, who is not even half his age. This is having an effect on his daughter.