Manny Calavera Taught Me How to Work

Grim Fandango Title Screen

I first played Grim Fandango as a young man, not realizing then how much it would stay with me. At the time, it was just a game—funny, stylish, and full of clever puzzles. But over the years, I’ve come to understand that beneath its film noir and Día de los Muertos aesthetic, it carried a lesson that shaped how I approach work and perseverance.

Manny Calavera is always starting at the bottom. He goes from mopping the floor of a seedy diner to turning it into a bustling casino, from swabbing the deck of a ship to overhauling and captaining it. Every chapter ends with him doing a seemingly trivial task, and when the next one begins years later, he’s moved up. The message clicked with me over time: if you focus on the task in front of you, no matter how small, opportunities will come.

It’s easy to get frustrated with where you are, to feel like the work you’re doing is beneath you or meaningless. But Grim Fandango showed me that progress doesn’t come from waiting—it comes from doing the work, proving yourself, and taking the next opportunity when it arrives. I’ve seen this play out in my own life. Jobs that once felt insignificant ended up preparing me for something bigger.

I didn’t know it then, but Grim Fandango taught me how to work. It taught me that even if you start with a mop in hand, you never know where you’ll end up.

Grim Fandango - Manny's Boat
Grim Fandango – Manny’s Boat
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