It is Career Day at Luke and Manny's school so their parents have to go to school with them and talk about their jobs. Phil, while trying to talk about real estate, is upstaged by his "Nemesis", Gil Thorpe, who is also there for his son, and Phil's presentation is ruined. Later, Gil offers Claire a position at his company, something that Phil does not like and tries to convince Claire not to accept it but she decides to take the job anyway. However, after one day at Gil's company, Claire quits the job since he treats her in a misogynistic way. Jay reveals to Gloria that he always wanted to be a writer and had intended to start writing after his divorce with DeDe, but "life got in the way". Gloria tells him that he can not write and she challenges him to write the thriller novel that he said he put aside because of lack of time. Jay tries to write but he struggles with it and Manny is the one who ends up writing the story. Jay presents it to Gloria as his but after Manny's reaction to her critique, the truth of who wrote the story comes out. Lily loses her first tooth and she waits for the tooth fairy. Cam and Mitch accidentally give her $100 instead of $1. They try to get the money back but Lily does not seem to want togive it back. They ask for Haley's help, who dressed up as the tooth fairy, tries to convince Lily that she has to return her the money but Lily recognizes her. Haley tries another approach which works, leaving Cam and Mitch surprised by Haley's success.
Reception
Ratings
In its original American broadcast, "Career Day" was watched by 9.64 million; down 0.74 from the previous episode.
Reviews
"Career Day" received positive reviews. Donna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave a B grade to the episode saying that the Career Day and the tooth fairy drama are two things that don't happen regularly in real life. Although, she stated: "The conventionality and overexposure of these plotlines isn’t a dealbreaker. Because if you’re a parent watching the show, it doesn’t matter that these situations aren’t really regular occurrences. They’re occasions for reliving the regularly recurring fears, hopes, and anxieties involved with having kids." Leigh Raines from TV Fanatic rated the episode with 4/5 saying that it was a very decent episode. Zach Dionne of Vulture also rated the episode with 4/5 saying: "This was a refreshingly cohesive half-hour, held together — in Manny's immortal words — by the web of lies we all weave for ourselves." Dalene Rovenstine from Paste Magazine gave an 8.2/10 saying that "Career Day" was not a bad episode but with the show having its ups and downs this season, the episode showed that the show had plateaued. Britt Hayes of Screen Crush gave a good review to the episode saying that overall was a solid half-hour. Michael Adams from 411mania gave the episode 7/10 saying that it was not a strong episode to come back from a hiatus but not bad either. "Career Day itself had very little to do with this episode, even though what happened there between Phil and Gil, and Claire's breakdown, was very funny. the Pritchetts didn't grab me at all this week, and the Dads were funny, but nothing special."
