I don’t think she learned anything. Bill’s point with the “this isn’t a game” comment was that you can’t make alliances and get rid of people for personal reasons, and yet that’s exactly what she tried to do. The lesson she should have learned was that Trump will fire you if he thinks you suck, and no alliance can prevent that. But Jenn C’s not the only one; all of these women seem to think they’re playing Survivor instead of interviewing for a job. The mistake they make over and over and over again is to go into the boardroom with a plan for who’s going to get fired when what Trump wants is an honest discussion of who screwed up what so he can make the most informed decision.
Anyway… totally agree with everything else you said.
Going for, yeah – but she definitely didn’t succeed. Not quite chipmunk-cheeky enough to be Minnie Driver … damn, it’s still bothering me. Ichini Sanshigo – thanks for emergining from quasi-lurkerdom long enough to post – I agreed with both of your points. And Moriah – not too spoilerish! After all, who’da thunk that
the men focus on the task and the women focus on being back-biting, incompetent drama queens?
God – even after Bill says to them in so many words “this ain’t a game,” the women still just totally don’t get it.
Agreed. Seems to me that the idea here is that, as a project manager, you should be able to identify the TWO people (out of six or seven) whose contributions most hurt the project. If you bring in three, that means either you can’t determine what went wrong, or you’re trying to hide in the crowd – not a good impression, either way.
And we saw even less of project manager Raj. I wonder if that’s simply because he did such a good job covering all the bases, making decisions, and delegating responsibilities that there was no controversy? [One thing I’d have liked to see: I noted that the guys wore T-shirts, while the women wore evening gowns, and Carolyn specifically dinged the women on that. So how did the guts choose what to wear?]
Perhaps it would have been beneficial to have someone with restaurant experience to participate in this task . . . perhaps someone like Crazy Stacie, a restauranteur? Did that even come up in the episode? I received a couple calls during the episode so I can’t be certain (I know, I should just let the machine pick up), but I don’t think I heard anything to that effect.
And after all I said about Raj in that other thread, I thought he was really perceptive and amusing last night. Go figure. I didn’t feel he was putting on an act at all, just performing as project manager. From the editing he seemed to be really together and decent with the delegating; what an awesome contrast with Jenn C’s style.
I don’t understand how either team accomplished the task of opening a restaurant in two days. Where did they get all their stuff? Who actually was the brains behind this thing?
And I still haven’t figured out who most of the players are with the following exceptions: Raj, Wes, Elizabeth and Stacey.
I thought Stacie J. was railroaded. She never struck me as nuts, just playful in a company that made toys.
I loved when Jennifer C justified the fact she made her team stay up all night with some nonsensical homily from day or graddad or whatever. Also Jen C said she wanted to keep simple, yet not surpisingly the guys seemed to pul their restaurant off almost effortlessly.
I was strangely happy to see Bill last night. And while Raj answering the phone in his panties was just fine, it did make me long for Kwame’s glory days…
WRT the question of taking two or three into the boardroom: I think that taking three could work well, if you could clearly and concisely quantify why you took each one in. Something like “Sandy, because she was responsible for the area in which we scored the lowest. Elizabeth, because she got overly emotional, which hurt the team and makes me question whether she is capable of running one of your companies. Stacey, because she has a poor attitude and seems to purposefully cultivate discord and disharmony.” (Not that I necessarily agree with all that.) And then you’d need to be able to back those statements up with clear and concrete examples if asked. I get the sense that Trump cares less about what exactly it is that you did than that you had a good reason for doing it. But I do agree that it would generally be a better idea to bring in only two.
Jenn C is such an asshole. I just couldn’t believe it.
–Calling Stacey “the little munchkin.” Completely inappropriate. I’ll comment on Stacey below, but even if she did look like she just stepped off of the Yellow Brick Road, that’s no way to refer to a coworker/opponent.
–The anecdote about how if you’re sleeping, then you’re clearly not working hard enough. There’s so much wrong with that! Sleep is necessary. Most people can survive just fine on a night or two or short sleep, but even that can have serious detrimental effects on your performance. While I think the men would have demonstrated more enthusiasm in any case, I think the fact that they got some sleep exacerbated the difference. Besides, there’s the whole “work smarter, not harder” thing. Yeah, you have to put in the hours, but make them count.
–The “Jewish” comment. Frankly, I’m still too upset about it to discuss it.
–Can’t you just shut up?
–Her comments in the cab illustrated that she still thought she was playing Survivor. Talking about issues of trust? I just don’t see that Sandy or anyone else stabbed her in the back. Maybe Sandy shouldn’t have said she would get Jenn’s back in the first place, but it’s also possible that she changed her mind between that conversation and the boardroom.
Regarding Stacey’s physical attributes: It’s unfortunate for her that she is so tiny and young looking. But she really could do a lot more to make herself appear more mature and professional. I haven’t noticed her clothing, but her hair and makeup make her look very young. The styles are pretty neutral, and would be fine on a more mature looking woman, but on her, they read “teenager.” A shorter more chic haircut and slightly more dramatic makeup would serve her well. Her demeanor also exacerbates her immature appearance, but I think she may be pretty hopeless in that regard. Here is a recent thread that touches on this subject.
I missed last weeks episode but it looks like the women have definitely gotten a lot worse. I can’t imagine any of them being successful in the business world since they seem to suck at everything they do and have no ability to work as a team.
I’m pretty sure that Trump went with a crew that would be better TV than real businesspeople.
Forgot to say: Mully: You can count me as a fan of your Raj Ratings. Hilarious, and right on.
I would like to argue with two of your placements, however. Jennifer M. and Chris.
Jennifer M. definitely distinguished herself this week with her comments at the beginning of the episode about the railroading of Stacie J. She impressed me mightily with her willingness to discuss the issue in an open and straightforward manner. She seemed very “businesslike” to me. Also, I’ve read that last week’s extended boardroom showed that she was the only one to go against the grain. While she did say that the Stacie incident was weird, she didn’t overstate it, and may have even pointed out that there was some scapegoating going on. (I didn’t actually see it, so that’s third-hand.) She seems to be pursuing an interesting strategy–flying under the radar and staying as uninvolved as possible while Apex cannibalizes itself, and then emerging from the wreckage as a contender. If nothing else, keeping her nose pretty clean while being an Apexian shows that she’s got some savvy. I’d put her on the Pinafore at this point.
Chris also distinguished himself. Probably in a bad way. But he is definitely no longer anonymous. His lessons in waitering and his comments about the gay customers sure made him stand out. I personally find him very funny, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. I think we can infer that he does not have the diplomatic skills to be successful in this type of business. IMHO, he’s Bismarck material.
I don’t know if you read the TelevisionWithoutPity forums at all, but I find that there is a lot of intelligent commentary over there. Emphasis on A LOT of commentary. Ha ha. You might find some helpful insights over there.
The most telling remark of the night was Caroline’s comment about being “embarrassed to be a businesswoman”. They’ve really pissed her off and had better look to their heels. Trump (or the producers) are going to have to reshuffle to keep Caroline from beheading all of these feckless females. My wife is so disgusted with the lack of integrity in all of them, she refuses to watch the program anymore.
Thanks. I probably should have put more in there about each of them but:
It was late and I was tired and lazy. While that would make me a good candidate for the women’s team it did affect my writing which I shouldn’t have let happen.
I forgot it was Chris doing the waitering
I’m trying to view their efforts as a whole, not just on the most recent action. Those 2 have both been non-entities up until now. But, both probably deserve better classification.
Expect massive shifting next week, especially if the guys lose. The women have been so god-awful that the guys haven’t had much airtime. I am hopeful that Jennifer M. is the project manager. She seems competent so we will get to see more of her personality and I reckon she can lead the team to victory because the guys have to have a dud week coming soon.
I was rooting for her since she was a local gal (from the Albany area). Her family name is fairly well-known here (construction, I believe). I heard a sound bite of her on the local news talking about how when he fires you, it’s like there are tiny bullets coming out of his finger. :rolleyes:
I really wanted to like her, but the jewish thing and the munchkin thing really got under my skin.
Also, one of the random blondes in the boardroom said it best: “She can talk the talk, but not walk the walk”.
Munchkin or not, I hate Stacie. But I also hate Maria because she can’t take responsibility for her mistakes and Elizabeth is too emotional to win this.
I think the only ones I like on Apex are Jenn M. and Sandy.
In weeks 1 & 2, I really liked Jenn C. (I think she came up with the idea to call the restaurants down to the ice cream trolleys so that they could sell to restaurants while scooping ice cream.) But then, she wouldn’t shut up.
And just kept on not shutting up… and talked herself into her grave. (You also know you’re not doing well when Ivana, of all people, calls you a bad leader) She also seemed to talk herself into bad reviews at the restaurant (go away and let the people eat, for goodness sakes).
I hate Stacy. She is divisive, she is annoying, she is a twit, and she does cause chaos in the group. (Again, I wish we’d seen more of the project planning). I want her gone. And Elizabeth did fall apart. She didn’t promote the restaurant (they got the wrong clientele) and it hurt their ratings.
Basically, Jennifer M and Pamela are the only women who should have a shot, right now.
That’s right, the team of women who hate each other, also freely denigrate other women. It’s not just racism, its mysogyny.
Talk about breaking stereotypes: The woman are cold, competitive, aggressive, mysogynist. They suck at communicating well. They are incapable of team work.
The men are personable and cooperative. The communicate well. They not only seem to like each other (ummm, maybe tolerate and ‘get along’), they’ll go and schmooze gay guys. (OK, the guy are also competitive, but they have that in check, unlike the women.)
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Was it me, or did Jennifer C. (the team leader who crashed and burned and was fired) seem like she was drunk? I chalk that up to no sleep. Which she defended as being a good work ethic. Which led her to being so dazed, she didn’t know when to shut up and kept interrupting her judges. Which contributed to her being fired.
O, the Furies are working overtime aided by Karma and Poetic Justice.
