Dressin' Up – Jennifer Jinxed

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Dressin' Up – Jennifer Jinxed; 10/19 recap
Topic Started: Oct 20 2005, 05:11 AM (627 Views)
crpsaiyan	Oct 20 2005, 05:11 AM Post #1
ART Appreciator Posts: 95 Group: New Member Member #11 Joined: February 28, 2005	Last week, Dawn was fired from Matchstick, due to her lack of contributions to her team. Back in the loft, Jim felt that Leslie would return, while Dawn would be sent home. Both he and Marcela stated that the conference room was embarrassing. In an interview, Marcela said that her team had lost 4 times in a row, and didn’t feel that the number of losses added to the team's morale. She expressed her frustration by stating that she wanted to go home. As Jim anticipated, Leslie and Bethenny returned to the loft, and received a warm welcome from their teammates. A few minutes later, Julia called the loft, and asked both teams to return to the conference room. Ryan shouted towards each member of Primarius to head to the conference room. As the candidates rounded up near the door, Jim was nowhere in sight. A few seconds later, Jim joins the rest of the apprenti... in his pajamas. Just as Leslie exited the loft, Jim slaps her on the butt. As each candidate filed into the room, Martha was surprised that each apprenti were still dressed; Jim corrected her statement. Martha then expressed her dismay towards Team Matchstick's four-week losing record, and felt that the teams needed to be reorganized. She turned to Primarius and asked two people who have never been project manager to step up to the plate. Martha chose Jennifer and Ryan. She then asked the remaining apprenti to line up against the wall, while the new project managers select their team. Jennifer chose Howie, Sarah, Carrie, Bethenny, and Jim, while Ryan chose Dawna, Amanda, Leslie, David, and Marcela. Each team consisted of six people each; Jennifer's team was the new Primarius, while Ryan's team would be the new Matchstick. Martha informed all of the candidates that the name of a team has nothing to do with a team’s success or failure. With that said, she informed both teams that they will receive their next task the next morning, and said good night to each of them. As the apprenti entered the suite, Jim makes a comment about being chosen last. Ryan stated that his strategy in choosing his team was to work together. He figured that because Jim was on the opposing team, conflicts were bound to rise. Jim arrogantly expressed his status as a team player to the people of Team Primarius (being the strongest player) by kissing his muscles. In an interview, Jim described himself as the most desperate person in the loft because he wanted to be able to support his family. Meanwhile, Ryan has a chat with Marcela, and stated that the reason why she was chosen last was because of her ability to follow orders, but not to take charge during a task. Marcela agreed with Ryan's statement, and said that she was ready for the next challenge with her new team. The next morning, Bethenny expressed her excitement of being able to work with a new team, and that she was not satisfied over the fact that both she and Jim were the only ones to work on the team. Moments late, the phone rings in the loft. Ryan anxiously runs towards the phone and grabs the receiver before Carrie. Julia instructs both teams to meet Martha, via videoconference. Martha gives the teams their fifth task -- to create a limited edition salad dressing for Wishbone. They will create their own recipe, design packaging, and sell their new product at one of Stew Leonard's locations. The team that makes the most money from selling their product wins. Team Matchstick immediately got into the van, and drove all the way to the Wishbone test kitchen in New Jersey, to begin working on their salad dressing. Once the team was in the kitchen, Ryan then asked Marcela to take the responsibility of creating the dressing. In an interview, Ryan felt that Marcela would be the obvious choice, since her specialty was cooking. Marcela felt that because she was the last person chosen to be on a team, that it was her chance to prove herself. On the other hand, she felt a little pressured, on account of Bethenny being a much more experience chef than herself. Marcela first created a Latin dressing that contained cumin and cilantro. Although the taste was good, some of the team members were concerned that the green color would be an issue. Dawna felt that Marcela's first dressing sample is comparable to something that would be found in a health food store. Because of the first sample, she felt that Marcela needed to be watched closely. However, Marcela was not even finished. She decided to work on a few more samples before making the final decision on what should be sold. Meanwhile at Team Primarius, Project Manager Jennifer's strategy was to delegate specific functions to certain people in the group. She placed Jim in charge of the labels, while she placed Bethenny in charge of creating the dressing. Bethenny started off with an Asian Vinegarette. In an interview, Bethenny describes herself as a natural foods chef, and that salad dressings are her specialty. Bethenny also stated that although she respects Marcela, she felt that she is a far much better chef. She felt that this was the first task that she could contribute to since cooking was her thing. Jim states that although he was last picked on Primarius, he felt that the more that he contributes to the team, the better he would look. Bethenny asks her team to taste the preliminary dressing, and the entire team agreed that it should be sold. Back at Matchstick, Amanda mentioned that rosemary was such a popular herb. Marcela took Amanda's words into consideration, and decided to add lime to the rosemary to give the dressing a little twist. After sampling the dressing, Marcela asked her team what they thought. Ryan said that he liked it. Marcela was not convinced. Ryan tells her that the dressing was fine, but Marcela was not impressed with his answer. She felt pressured to win because she felt that should her team lose, that she would be brought into the conference room. In the end, Matchstick agreed on the rosemary lime dressing, and decided to name it Rosemary Lime Vinegarette. We cut to a scene where Team Matchstick markets their salad dressing at Stew Leonard's. Ryan felt that $3.49 would be the best price for their product in terms of revenue. The customers loved their product, and Marcela was very anxious as to how well the product would sell. Dawna's negative opinion of Marcela changed after seeing how in control she was. "I literally just wanted to hug her, and tell her what a great job she was doing," she said. "Thank goodness, we picked her -- whether it was last or first -- thank goodness we had her on our team." Team Primarius began marketing their product at another Stew Leonard's in Connecticut. Jim started using lines, such as, "don't be shy; give it a try." In an interview, Sarah stated that they priced the item at $3.99, and wanted to make sure that every bottle would head out the door. Again, Jim went on with the catchy sales pitch -- "Asian vinegarette; have you tried it yet?" Howie was unimpressed with Jim's sales tactics. He felt that although sales were doing well, that Jim's sales pitch sounded a bit crass. Sarah felt that Jim's sales approach was embarrassing, and was upset that Jennifer didn’t do anything about it. Jim then makes a comment to Howie saying, "they don’t have f&%#ing balls." A customer is disturbed by Jim's comment, and immediately reports him to the Stew Leonard’s manager. Les, the manager, approaches Jennifer and Jim about the profanity used during sales. He gives Team Primarius an ultimatum, saying that should another customer complain, their demo is over. In an interview, Jim argues his case by saying that he was doing most of the selling, and because of that, the bottles were going off the shelf, even if he had to step on people's toes. As Primarius dealt with the egotistical Jim, Leslie's tactic for Matchstick to persuade the customers for purchasing their product, turned out to be a bad idea, when she took it upon herself to sell multiple bottles; Charles is supervising the team. Dawna wasn’t impressed with Leslie's sales pitch, when she placed the bottles in people's carts and baskets. Amanda pointed out that most of the customers were bringing back the bottles like crazy. "When you give someone two bottles -- when they get to pay, they probably think, 'I probably only need one.' So that was probably why some of them were being returned," she said. About 30 bottles were being returned. However, Project Manager Ryan wasn’t the least bit concerned. He felt that his entire team was doing a great job in sales. Ryan stated that they needed to sell at least 40 or 50 bottles after the fiasco that happened earlier. Back at the Stew Leonard's in Connecticut, Jennifer informed Bethenny that the team had received a warning for Jim's cocky attitude. Again, Jim comes up with the shoddiest sales approach -- "who likes Asian Vinegarette? Anyone? It's perfect on cereal." Jennifer then asks Howie if she should pull Jim from sales. Howie doesn't answer her. Jennifer wanted to pull Jim from sales, but was afraid of the reaction she would get from him. Carrie stated that she would be furious if they lost the task because of Jim’s sales tactics. On the other hand, she said that she would blame the failure of the task on the team manager. Alexis comes in to supervise the demo, and said that it was hard to tell what Jennifer was doing. She said that although Jennifer was doing the work behind the counter with Bethenny, she didn’t participate in the selling. The demo is over, and Howie felt that his team had a better chance over Matchstick. In the end, both teams met Martha and her associates in the conference room. Martha confronts David as he smiles with confidence. He stated that his team had a lot of fun, and they sold as many bottles as they possibly could. Martha complimented on David smiling for a change. She then turned to Primarius and asked them how they thought they did. Jennifer felt that her team did well, and that they sold as many bottles as they could. First Martha tried Bethenny's Asian Vinegarette dressing. She asked what was in it, and Bethenny told her that there was sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, honey, wasabi, peanut butter, olive oil, and ginger. Martha loved the dressing and felt that it would be a great addition to sesame noodles. She then turned to Matchstick, where she tried Marcela's Rosemary Lime Vinegarette dressing. Ryan described his team's product as a dressing, a dip, and a marinate all in one. Martha was impressed with both recipes; Charles concurred with her. She then asked Alexis how Primarius did with their product. Alexis stated that Primarius sold their salad dressing bottles at $3.99, sold a total of 391, with a total $1,560.09. Charles stated that Matchstick sold their dressing at $3.49 a bottle, sold a total 453, with a total of $1,580.87. In the end, it was Matchstick who was dressed for success. Martha asked Ryan for his opinion of Marcela and David, and he said that all the things mentioned in the past regarding the original Matchstick members were untrue. He said that Marcela was one of the hardest workers than he had ever seen, while David had a great personality. As a reward, they would have the opportunity to ride on an 1893 schooner known as the Betty G. Howard. Unfortunately for Team Primarius, the only dressin’ up they will be doing is finding the proper attire to wear for their trip to the conference room. While Matchstick enjoyed their reward (particularly Marcela and David after 4 losses) back in the loft, Team Primarius discussed their hatred towards losing. Jennifer asks her team, what they will tell Martha in the conference room. Bethenny stated that she has been in the conference room so many times, that it's impossible to know what's going to happen in there, and that it's important to be honest. Carrie asked Jennifer who she would chose to go into the room with her, and she immediately said Jim. Carrie agreed that Jim was very bright, but scary; Jennifer concurred with her statement. Bethenny thought it was ridiculous for her team to be scared of Jim. Later on, Jim asked the team why they felt Jennifer shouldn’t be responsible for the loss. Carrie had the same question. Again, Jim uses his arrogance to prove that he is of value to the team, on account of him creating the label, the name of the product, and by working the sales. In an interview, Carrie felt that it would be best to have Jennifer on her team because she knew that Jennifer is least likely to hurt her while she's sleeping. However, because Jim sold 20 bottles, while her PM sold only 5, she placed the responsibility of the team's failure on Jennifer. Jim gives his team an ultimatum by saying that if anyone tries to drag him down, that they will pay. Although Howie agreed that Jennifer didn’t do a good job with her team, he felt that Jim's sales tactic was so outrageous and unacceptable. Howie confronted him on his mistake, and they two dish it out by yelling and cursing at each other. In the conference room, Martha addressed Jennifer, Carrie, Howie and Sarah for their first trip there. In addition, there are two new candidates -- Jim a graphic designer, and Bethenny a skilled chef. Martha again informed Primarius about their task. She felt that they created, but didn't sell. She turned to Jennifer, who stated that everything went accordingly. She said the he delegated Jim on the labels, and felt that he did a terrific job, and that she put Bethenny in charge of coming up with the dressing. She informed the team that she has shopped at Stew Leonard's so many times, and noticed that there is a sign in stone that read, "Rule 1: The customer is always right", followed by, "Rule 2: If the customer is wrong, refer to rule number 1." Martha didn't think that Primarius made a connection with their customers. Sarah stepped in to say that Les, the store manager became frustrated from the way a customer was insulted with Jim's sales pitch. Jim denies it. Charles was interested in knowing what sales approach Jim used. The 36-year-old ad executive said that he used phrases like, "Asian Vinegarette – have you tried it yet?" Sarah steps in when she points out the outrageous comments Jim made. In an attempt to avoid conflict with Sarah, Jim lashed out, "excuse me! I don't think they were asking you! They were asking me!" Sarah didn't say a word. Jim continued and said that once he was given a warning by Les, he changed his sales approach. Charles chastised Jim for making a sales pitch comment such as "good for your bunions"; Martha agreed. Jim tried to argue his case by stating that people wash their hair in beer. Charles was not amused and told him that his sales tactic didn't work. Jim said that he used those lines to be witty, and Charles felt that he was half right in his answer. Charles wanted to know what Jennifer did, when Jim used his foul sales techniques. The prosecutor from Los Angeles said that she was primarily helping Bethenny with setting up the dressing. However, Martha was not pleased when Jennifer didn’t take immediate action in removing Jim from sales, after the warning that was given by Les. Martha wanted to know why Jennifer kept Jim in sales, knowing that he has a history of being overly enthusiastic and verbal. She felt that he should've only been kept in design and marketing only. Alexis then jumps in and says, "if he works hard, have him help Bethenny." Martha stated that as a prosecutor, Jennifer should’ve known how to keep Jim in control. Jennifer used the issue of not removing him from sales, because she was afraid that he would act in such an explosive manner. The ad executive from Gilbertsville described her as, "a scared little rabbit, who would hide under the table and let the lion do all the work." Charles turned to Carrie and asked her if Jennifer is a scared rabbit. The 31-year-old creative director believed she was. Jennifer argued her case that she wasn't a rabbit, and felt that she made a calculative decision, and kept Jim on because he was reprimanded of his actions. Jim arrogantly stated that Jennifer couldn't sell. Jim stated that Martha’s company had at least 10,000 Jennifers, and not enough Jims. Martha informed that ad executive that there was a reason behind that. Jennifer cuts in and says that Jim made a comment – 'when Martha looks in a mirror, she sees me'. Jennifer disagreed, and thought that all you see out of Jim is a raving lunatic. Again, Jim accuses Jennifer of hiding, and states that she led by not leading. Charles asked Carrie why they lost the task, and she said that it was a sales task. Martha asked who was at fault for the loss, and the creative director from San Diego said that Jennifer was at fault. Charles then turned to Bethenny, and asked her if Jennifer was a good leader. The natural foods chef from New York didn't think she was great because they didn't have a massive sales plan. Charles than turned to Sarah for her opinion on Jennifer's delegating skills. Sarah felt that she was good at delegating. Martha then asked Jim who he would send home, and without hesitation, he said Jim. She then asked Jennifer, and she said, "I would absolutely send Jim home without a doubt." Martha then states that Jennifer and Jim are the only people that she would speak to, and with that said, she sent the remaining members of Primarius (Carrie, Howie, Bethenny, and Sarah) to return to the loft. As the two remaining candidates awaited their fate, Martha and her associates felt that although Jim is aggressive and noisy, they felt that Jennifer couldn't manage him, and that the loss is entirely her responsibility. With that said, Martha called Julia to have the two candidates return to the conference room. Martha Stewart explained to both candidates that they have a lot of types of people working -- people who are creative. She looked at Jim and said that he flies off the handle, and that he's experimental. Jim said that he was fighting for his life in the game. Martha reminded him that the whole experience is a serious job interview, and not a game. She asked Jim if he felt he was better than Jennifer. The 36-year-old ad executive wasted no time in defending himself by saying that in every shape and form, that he is far superior. Jennifer states that Jim is a better liar, and that she has been genuine and not misrepresented. However, Jim throws in a curve by stating that she lies because of her occupation as a prosecutor. He then conceitedly adds that he doesn't lie for a living. He stated that he sells, and that he makes friends. Jennifer fends for her life by saying, "if he's so great, why hasn't he been project manager, and why has he been in here three out of five times?" Martha didn't have an answer for her question. Again, Jim uses the issue of being a salesman. Jennifer then chimes in with, "he's a salesman, and he's selling a story right now.” Martha had heard enough and says, "selling was part of this task -- the one part of the task that failed." She went on by saying that it was a waste to have such a good product and not be able to sell it in a clear and thought out fashion. Although this was Jennifer's first time in the conference room, Martha didn't think that Jennifer managed her team the way she should've. She then turned to Jim and said that although he tries to get the work done, his behavior is inappropriate. However, it was Jennifer who couldn't control Jim, and that she refused to remove Jim from sales on account of being worried of how he would react. Martha didn’t think that Jennifer could defend herself, and for a D.A. giving her that message. With that said, she said goodbye to the prosecutor from Los Angeles, and the two candidates exited the conference room. Martha felt that it was better to have a live wire around than someone who was an ineffective manager. Charles stated that the company was not built on Jennifers. Martha's Letter Dear Jennifer: Thank you for being an "Apprentice" candidate. I hope you found it an interesting diversion from your regular job. We're sorry that it didn’t work out. We wish you well. Travel safely. Cordially, Martha Stewart My Opinion: I don't agree with the decision. I will say this much. Yes, I can understand that Jennifer should've taken more of a leadership role when it came to Jim, and that she should've put him in his place with his horrible sales tactics, and the fact that she was given a warning from the store manager. There is no question in my mind that the failure of the task falls directly in her court. However... I felt that she should've been given the benefit of a doubt simply because of that past things that she had done with Primarius. Not that I wouldn't take my eyes off her, mind you. As for Jim, he's been in the conference room so many times, and I don't like the cockiness he possesses, nor do I like the abrasiveness that demonstrates towards his team. To top things off, his attitude showed when he rubbed the customers the wrong way. With that said, I would've put Jim out of his misery by having him sent home. Another thing I don't agree with is how Martha had selected the final candidates to go into the conference room. It is in my opinion that Martha is patronizing the candidates. I don't think she's allowing them to be independent, and if I were owned a company, I would rather have someone who thinks independently, and someone who is quick on their feet. Also, if you look at Donald Trump, notice that he lets the PM make the decision, regardless of whether it's right or wrong. Either way, each candidate learns something from The Donald and his associates.



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