I guess I’m the only person to dislike Pamela in this episode. She equates mindless toughness with effectiveness. This show has devolved into people thinking that success and confidence is all about what you project, but sadly, that isn’t how the real world works. The confidence needs to come naturally from within, from what you know, knowing what your talents are, and from past success. You need to have shit underneath. Pamela was too bossy, too cocksure, too insulting to her team members… in short, a terrible manager.
The tragic part is despite all these flaws, she got the team to perform, so she shouldn’t have been fired
astro, according to both StGermain and Carolyn the sponges were underpriced, and $30 (29.99?) would have been more appropriate.
The grill was slightly overpriced…at $69.99 they probably would have evaporated the women. Did anyone notice how quickly Raj went to Chris and congratulated him on the pricing, ceding his argument completely? Impressive.
Phelan, I agree. I think that 0 for 2 speaks a lot louder than Stacy.
Trying to lead that pack of hyenas was probably a suicide mission from the get-go. Trump might as well have strapped a napsack full of dynamite to Pamela’s back as send her into that nest of vipers.
Did they have to sell them in packs of 30? Who’s going to spring for that many when you don’t know what they’re going to do? $19.95 for 20 or 25 of them might have been about perfect.
And for the record – male dude who was bragging that y’all won because you didn’t drop the price under $70?? You should be keeping your sorry mouth shut – remember the part where you only sold a fourth of your estimate? You might have trounced the women with that lower price. Get an clue.
Side note: I just got a free sample of the Mr Clean sponge that looks just like that today in the mail, and it really did clean gunk off my wall! (No, I’ve never called QVC with a testimonial )
Phelan - Sorry for the hijack, but I’ve got to ask about your UserName. It’s my mother’s maiden name and subsequently my brother’s middle name. (I had a horse I named Phelan, as well). Is it a family name?
DON’T. ANNOY. GEORGE. I mean, seriously. At his worst, grouchiest, and most hardass, George is still the pussy cat in the room. Carolyn has more viciousness in her little finger than George has in his whole body. Even when he was bitching Pamela out about the “tie,” he was still being pretty nice. He seems like a sweetheart to me.
God I hate Stacey. As a short attorney (in-embryo) I feel that she isn’t representing my kind very well. Although I’m pretty certain that I have at least 4 inches on the Handmaiden of Satan.
The objective was (IIRC) to see who could move more total dollar volume. There was no discussion that I recall about winning by generating the maximum gross profit margin. Possibly there as a price floor that we did not get info about, but I did not get the impression that $ 19.95 was out of the question.
astro - You’re probably be right about the goal. But if so, that’s a darned silly way to do things. After all, bottom line is what it’s all about. If they lost money on each transaction while winning the weekly task, that would be appalling.
I can’t believe these morons don’t even know the basic gospels of retail pricing. Each team violated the most fundamental principles. Now, of course plenty of successful retailers choose not to follow these rules, but there’s a difference between doing so out of a sophisticated understanding of your product and customer and doing so because you don’t know your ass from your elbow.
And Pamela, dear…there’s a difference between being “strong” and being “a raging bitch.”
On behalf of female lawyers everywhere, I apologize for the existence of Stacy. She’s like a munchkin gone mad. And, to keep with the tennis theme, she has absolutely no follow-through. Abysmal. She cannot be long for this competition.
I agree that Pamela didn’t have a problem reading anybody. There wasn’t anyone more worthy to come back into the boardroom with her because they actually executed this mission well. It was a matter of one sale, either way. That’s not a failure, that’s one housewife in Peoria who left her purse upstairs and couldn’t leave the kids to go get it to call in and order within the allotted time for the Apprentice task. The only people who weren’t capable of executing their assigned tasks in a meaningful way were Maria and Stacy, but even their failures weren’t all that devastating to the overall effort. It really was a good effort for both teams.
Should Apex have priced the sponges at $19.99? They could have, and they may have made a lot more money. But if the men had listened to Raj and gone with a $69.99 price point on the panini press, they would’ve sold more units as well. (Points to Raj for conceding on the matter to Chris even though he was entirely correct. The man is working strategically, and it’s going to be to his ultimate benefit.) It’s still hard to say that either team was terribly wrong with their pricing or their overall work. The men didn’t actually do as well; they weren’t effective salespeople on screen, the goofy dude talking about having melted cheese on his fingers didn’t move those panini presses, the call-in testimonial from the nice lady from Oklahoma did.
Pamela got the boot because she talked too much, plain and simple. And that sucks. She came in and totally controlled a team that was in utter disarray and made them all work together. If she was brusque, irreverant (whatever Stacy) and “disrespectful” in doing so, so be it. There was nothing in the women’s performance to this point that deserved respect. Pamela made them drop their bitchiness and do what they were there to do, and for that to be ignored in the boardroom with such a close margin of victory (and George, be real, no one loses multimillion dollar real estate deals for $10, it’s not an apt analogy) is a shame.
Shall we start a pool to see how many times the bigmouthed twerp is gonna get hauled into the boardroom, called obstructionist and unwilling to work with the team and to their goals before she finally gets the axe?
I was reading a series which I enjoyed by Elizabeth Moon (The Deeds Of Paksenarrion) when I created my SD account. The name of one the characters was Duke Phelan, and I liked it, so I went with it. Also, I think Matlock was taken.
Does anyone else think that Raj may have seriously hurt his chances of winning with that hit on Trump’s ‘friend’/semi-streak combo?
Because although Raj took it pretty well, he still made himself the butt of ridicule, and as Trump has said on previous occasions, his businesses and employees have an image he is mightily determined to protect.
You’re not alone! I have hated Pamela from Day One. . . and I am glad to see her go! She honestly thought her you-know-what didn’t smell. Well, guess what, honey. It stank to high heaven!
But the cost of the cleaning sponges shouldn’t have been $19.95. QVC never prices their stuff that traditionally. Maybe $19.77. But I did agree that the things were priced way too high.
However, that being said, I think the guys just lucked into that win. I thought their product was overpriced, for QVC especially. And they didn’t look all that swell in their pitches. Sooner or later their luck is going to run out.
And this Stacy is a ferret! She should go. . . soon!
Pammy darling, being tall or good looking does not mean you are better than other people. And while I’m not a man I still don’t think you’re all that good looking to begin with.
That said I agree with her assessement that the result was basically a tie.
Did anyone notice poor John McEnroe looking a little forelorn when the men flocked to Ms. “I Can’t Play Tennis” Kornikova? Now she reminds me a little of Pamela.
Aaaarrrggghhhh!!! I can’t believe Stacey is still there! How many times do people have to tell Trump that she’s devisive and ineffectual before he finally believes that it might just be true?
I think Elizabeth might have some issues with Maria, seeing as how she’s the one who (rudely, unprofessionally) stated how bad she was over the walkie talkie, in full listening range of everyone, even though Pamela was going down to tell her anyway. Just when I thought I couldn’t like these ladies any less…
And also, I love how Carolyn’s statement “You make me ashamed to be a businesswoman” went right over their heads. Ivana: “She’s ashamed because we’re losing!” :rolleyes: Could they be any more clueless?
As for Pamela, she treated them like a bunch of unruly 3rd graders because they act like a bunch of unruly 3rd graders. I don’t think she was at all high-handed, or even bitchy, for that matter. She did read them correctly: they all had jobs in their supposed areas of strength. Maria was scary and off-putting on camera and Stacey was acting rather anal (stickers on the bottles?). And can the little mucnhkin get through one episode without being decietful? Enron indeed. Yeah, Stacey and Maria were the best choices for the boardroom. I don’t think George was too happy with that firing though. Note the vigorous affirmations from Trump and Carolyn at the end of the episode.
Lastly, man, thee girls are stupid. Yeah, Pamela was an outsider, but she got them the closest to victory that they’ve ever been. They just killed probably the one chance of getting out of the hole. Unless Trump puts a dude in charge of their team next week. I’d love to see them try to get Raj fired (assuming a loss)…
A bit more time on the incline bench (like I can talk), but yeah…
I hate Stacy, I hate Maria. I hate them both. A lot. They need firing.
No, she didn’t read them perfectly. But given a team you don’t know and a 2 hour bus ride, she did a pretty good job (what was she supposed to do? “What are your strengths?” “I’m a lawyer.” “Well, I think you’re a crappy one, based on never having worked with you. Go run the floor.”)
And that Enron comment was ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as Maria’s bizarre facial expressions and hand waving during the rehearsal. Or Ivana’s “Pamela’s leadership style…” comment
One of them had better be gone next week or there is no justice in the world.
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