If you’re a fan of classic holiday movies, chances are you’ve seen “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” more times than you can count. This iconic film follows the Griswold family as they attempt to have the perfect Christmas, but of course, chaos ensues.
One of the most memorable scenes in the movie involves Clark Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, receiving a bonus from his employer, only to find out it’s much less than he was expecting. But just how much was the bonus in “Christmas Vacation”?
According to Clark’s boss, Frank Shirley, each employee was going to receive a “Jelly of the Month” club subscription in lieu of a cash bonus. This news didn’t sit well with Clark, who had been counting on that bonus to cover his family’s Christmas expenses. In the end, Clark’s boss changes his mind and decides to give out cash bonuses after all.
So how much was Clark’s bonus? The actual amount is never revealed in the movie, but we can make an educated guess based on some context clues and simple math.
Firstly, we know that Clark was expecting a bonus of $25,000. This is mentioned several times throughout the movie and serves as a major plot point. When he receives his envelope from Mr. Shirley and opens it up, we see that it only contains a piece of paper with information about the Jelly of the Month club.
Later on in the movie when Clark kidnaps Mr. Shirley and brings him home to show him how he’s been mistreating his employees, we learn that Mr. Shirley earns $320,000 per year. This gives us some insight into how much he might be paying his employees for their bonuses.
Assuming that Mr. Shirley is fairly generous with his bonuses and gives out 10% of his own salary as a bonus pool for all employees (which is not uncommon), this would mean that Clark’s bonus would be $32,000. However, it’s important to note that this is just an estimate and we don’t have any concrete evidence to support it.
Regardless of how much Clark’s bonus actually was, the scene in “Christmas Vacation” has become a holiday classic and is a reminder to us all that sometimes things don’t go as planned, but we can still find joy in the little things (like a subscription to the Jelly of the Month club).