Was recently poking around the MythBusters website, and found this video tour of M5, Jamie’s business and the show’s home base.
While the tour was cool, things got a little awkward when Jamie… well, to me he started acting like someone I’d rather not work with much (kinda reminded me of my Dad when he is feeling particularly grumpy).
The first time this shows up is in the third segment, when he becomes agitated over the contents of a “station”. This is a little cubby that is supposed to contain a calculator, some pencils, a pad of paper, a tape measure, one sharpie marker, and some paper towels nearby. I can totally understand why you wouldn’t want these cluttered, but he gets really worked up when there is extra paper, another calculator, and pens at the station as well.
From there on he kinda gets in a bad frame of mind, and is constantly pointing out how messy things are, and then has another little freakout when batteries are not at the charging station. Again, I can see how it would be annoying, but acting like everyone is stealing your things is a little much.
They’ve showed Jamie being grumpy about messes and his shop before, but they only do it rarely, probably because they realize how unlikeable it would make him. They’ve said before that Adam and Jamie aren’t best buddies, and don’t hang out when they aren’t working, and it’s not surprising, if Jamie tends to act like that often. I can’t see the constant energy that is Adam and the Jamie in the video getting along well.
On a completely unrelated note, the breathing noises from the camera operator were getting more of my attention than the tour by the end of the whole thing.
He’s always come off as a little grumpy to me anyway, but the thing that killed me is when he’s mad about the paper towels not being there and they’re right behind his head in a package that says “towels” in three inch letters.
Now I want to go in there and just dump out all of those boxes of bolts and stuff.
Yes, that part with the stations was a bit awkward, especially since Jamie admitted that they guy responsible for their upkeep was the guy holding the camera! No wonder the camera guy was sighing so heavily at the end of the tour.
Jamie reminded me of my ex-boss, and not in a good way, either. I could totally see her doing the same thing if we filmed a tour of our work area.
A business like Jamie’s is not just about creativity or being able to build wacky things; it’s about being able to build them right and build them fast. When you have hundreds of tools and thousands of parts in a shop like M5 you have to be able to put your hand on what you need when you need it and without putting a lot of time and effort into it. Given the size of their projects, even a little bit of disorganization could add up to days of extra time.
Being a total bitch about an organized shop is probably a big reason why Jamie has been so successful at what he does.
Jamie’s demeanor reminds me of most of the way successful chefs tend to come off as bitchy when they’re working. You just have to ask for what you need without a lot of bantering about, sugar-coating, etc. Things are what they are. If the station is a mess, you don’t struggle for a nice way to say the station is a mess; you just say it’s a mess. I think I’m that way with my nursing staff, and it puts them off at first because they don’t realize I’m not making a value judgement, I’m just pointing out what needs to be done.
Complaining about a mess is one thing. It does not eliminate the need for diplomacy though, and it certainly does not justify complaining loudly in front of the camera. Such tactics might help the staff become organized (and even that’s debatable), but it can have a tremendously adverse effect on morale.
The more I watch this show, the more Jamie reminds me of my father (emotionally reserved, demanding, perfectionistic, unwilling to admit when he’s wrong, etc.). When I began watching, my sympathies lay with Jamie because I know from (my dad’s) experience that someone so conscientious must find working with someone so goofy really frustrating. But now I think Adam is the one who deserves props for being so good-natured and patient with Jamie 97% of the time (at least on camera). I mean, I only put up with my dad because I’m his spawn (and, oh yeah, I know he’s a good man underneath the bear suit) – I would never want to work for him.
Actually, that’s one of my favorite aspects of the show – watching the two of them play off each other. I love it when Adam or the narrator act surprised when Jamie laughs, and when Adam impersonates Jamie by making his fingers into a moustache. I don’t know about the operation, but the show would definitely suffer if either one of them weren’t there.
