S05.E09: Curbside Pickup

[Aulty]

Quote

As part of a new corporate initiative Dina is spearheading, the employees have to rush items directly to shoppers' cars. Amy's brother, Eric, visits and Amy thinks she sees a spark with Mateo. Garrett is impressed by a customer's high-tech purchase.

Original Air Date: 11/21/2019

[BuckeyeLou]

This episode seemed all over the place.  Have we seen Amy's brother before?  I don't remember him.  Amy trying to push her brother & Mateo together was annoying.   Garrett & Jerry bonding was sort of funny.  

[Irlandesa]

6 minutes ago, BuckeyeLou said:

Amy trying to push her brother & Mateo together was annoying.

I liked the story about Cloud 9's new initiative.  And the Jerry and Garrett stuff.  But Amy was annoying again this episode.  I was hoping the show wouldn't go there with Mateo and her brother. Just because they're both gay doesn't mean they're going to want to date.  And it'd serve Amy right if they didn't.

[biakbiak]

I was distracted by how not hot I found the brother. I wouldn’t have thought anything about his looks but they kept mentioning it that it made me notice how not hot I found him. 

[chocolatine]

I didn't like the A-plot, but there were several small details I enjoyed, like the reveal that Marcus and Justine have a cousin in common so they should stop "doing stuff", Glenn bringing out increasingly elaborate apology snacks, and Myrtle (RIP the actress who played her) being given the task of moving the washing machine. I also loved how good Dina was at fulfilling the curbside orders before she got hit by the car.

It pains me to say this because I love America Ferrera, but Amy has become the weak link of the show for me. 

[Aulty]

The story with Sandra and Jerry coaxing Garret into a boys night with Jerry was oddly sweet. So far making the actress who plays Sandra a regular has played out well.

Is it just me or does Sandra and Jerry's apartmentl layout look very similar do Dina's?

Oh man, don't get me started on Amy and her brother.  I'm totally with @Irlandesa that it was annoying that Mateo and Eric did make plans to go out in the end. I hope they don't pair them up just to tie Mateo and his fate even closer to Amy and Jonah.

Of course Cheyenne would just pull the plug on the order machine. What kind of ordering service is this anyway where you can order (a) "pot" without any further specification so that Garret was left wondering whether the customer wanted to cook or get baked?

The customer shots in the pick up area, with their impatience and already stuffed cars were hilarious though.

[Skyfall]

I'm done with this show. Just not funny anymore. Creed/Sandra types are always better in small doses.

[Harvey]

1 hour ago, Skyfall said:

I'm done with this show. Just not funny anymore.

I'm curious if many others are feeling the same. I still like the show but the departure of the show runner is definitely noticeable. And this is like the 7th episode in a row where they do this "Amy does something bad and overcompensates in a crazy way"  plot.

[fishcakes]

So Mateo runs the optical shop now? Er, okay.

Cheyenne insisting on a double thumbs-up before handing over the bag to the customer was very Cheyenne.

11 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I was distracted by how not hot I found the brother. I wouldn’t have thought anything about his looks but they kept mentioning it that it made me notice how not hot I found him. 

But they're a hot family! Everyone's talking about it!

1 hour ago, Harvey said:

I'm curious if many others are feeling the same. I still like the show but the departure of the show runner is definitely noticeable. And this is like the 7th episode in a row where they do this "Amy does something bad and overcompensates in a crazy way"  plot.

They've messed up with Amy. She started out as a smart, sensible person who was stuck in a dead-end job, which was interesting to watch and gave the audience someone to root for. She was the straight-man to everyone else's weirdness and that worked. Now she's a dumb, incompetent manager who spends almost all of her time on her own personal problems.

[Empress1]

I know it was kind of a cheap gag but I howled at some of the physical comedy in this episode, like when Dina got hit by the car and when Jonah and Cheyenne were sprawled in the spilled dog food. Also when Cheyenne calmly asked Jonah if he wanted to quit his job with her.

[janie jones]

4 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

So Mateo runs the optical shop now? Er, okay.

I thought that was weird, too.  Shouldn't that person be an optician?

There are always so many people standing around doing nothing in this store that it annoyed me that they didn't pull someone from somewhere else to help with the orders.  I mean, if you can pull someone from the register in the middle of a transaction to apologize to people, you can pull someone to fulfill orders.

I thought that Cheyenne's line about the cord giving the printer power was so clever and funny, I made my husband explain the joke to me to make sure he got it.  (He wouldn't let me explain it to him because he insisted he got it.)

[lavenderblue]

5 hours ago, Aulty said:

Of course Cheyenne would just pull the plug on the order machine. What kind of ordering service is this anyway where you can order (a) "pot" without any further specification so that Garret was left wondering whether the customer wanted to cook or get baked?

Yeah, the logistics of this service bugged me too much to be amusing because so much contrivance was necessary. Why wouldn't customers be ordering from a website/app storefront, which would mostly prevent weird vague written-out requests? Why were so few staff put on delivery duty? I know the answer is more or less "because Cloud 9 is incompetent" but the show overall is no longer funny enough to gloss over these sort of goofy practical issues for me.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Is it just me or does Sandra and Jerry's apartmentl layout look very similar do Dina's?

Yep, I thought the exact same thing.

Oh, Amy. No way in hell I'd push that brother on Mateo. Let us set aside the fact that Mateo is in this country illegally and his status is up in the air. But Mateo is just not attractive, at all. Sorry, he just isn't. He was fine for Jeff but Amy's brother is several numbers higher than him.

I've never used curbside pickup before but the logistics of it do seem like they could be a nightmare. 

[proserpina65]

1 hour ago, lavenderblue said:

Why were so few staff put on delivery duty?

Having worked retail, but thank god not on anything like curbside pickup, I can tell you that no store has enough people on that duty or any other new initiative at first.  And some never had enough people.  That's why I found it funny.

[Harvey]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

But Mateo is just not attractive, at all. Sorry, he just isn't. He was fine for Jeff but Amy's brother is several numbers higher than him.

Also Amy knows Mateo so she knows he is kind of a pain in the ass, why would she want her bother involved with all that. I know the answer is simply "because she wants to pawn him off to anyone she can" but that just makes her look selfish.

[Commando Cody]

I thought the scenes with Amy were so cringe worthy, that I had to fast forward through those parts.  I think this show could be great again if they got rid of Amy and did not replace her with another actor.  They have enough with the actors they have now. 

I enjoyed the rest of the episode. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I found it cringey exasperating as well. I turned it off halfway through. 

[TheLotusFlower]

I don't understand all of the Amy hate.  Someone here actually called her dumb.  I don't see that at all.  Compared to all the other Cloud 9 employees, her character certainly isn't one that I would consider dumb.  As for her trying to get Mateo and her brother together, she's only doing it because her brother has been staying at her house and she's trying to get him out of her house.  Selfish?  Perhaps, but it's just a sitcom, and I think some people are taking it way too seriously.  I personally thought one of the funniest lines in this episode was Amy talking about being in a hammock "chillin' and swangin'."  I love America Ferrera, and there's no way I'd keep watching if they get rid of Amy.

[chitowngirl]

America Ferrera is a producer. She’s not going anywhere.

[TheLotusFlower]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Oh, Amy. No way in hell I'd push that brother on Mateo. Let us set aside the fact that Mateo is in this country illegally and his status is up in the air. But Mateo is just not attractive, at all. Sorry, he just isn't. He was fine for Jeff but Amy's brother is several numbers higher than him. 

Physical attractiveness isn't the only thing that matters in a relationship.  I don't find Mateo all that unattractive, but even if he was why should that matter?  Some people aren't shallow enough to completely disregard someone because of their looks.  I think his immigration trouble and his elitist attitude are issues that should be concerning, but not his looks.

[Sile]

Did anyone manage to match up all of the last names on Dina's roster with their respective owners?

I got (forgive some of the spellings) Jonah (Simms), Garrett (McNeill), Justine (Sizowicz), Sandra (Kalaukaloni).  I thought that Cheyenne's husband's name was Bo Derek Jackson, but I didn't hear a Jackson.  And I just realized that Cheyenne Jackson makes both of them a celebrity twin!

Quote

As for her trying to get Mateo and her brother together, she's only doing it because her brother has been staying at her house and she's trying to get him out of her house. 

I don't get her reasoning on that.  She think he's going to move in an apartment with Mateo, Marcus and Tita? 

I'm assuming that she kept the house in the divorce (are they actually divorced already?), so staying with Amy, Jonah and Emma seems like a better deal.  Put him on child care duty with Parker to earn his keep.

Edited November 23, 2019 by Sile
to add quote response

[TheLotusFlower]

1 hour ago, Sile said:

I don't get her reasoning on that.  She think he's going to move in an apartment with Mateo, Marcus and Tita? 

I'm assuming that she kept the house in the divorce (are they actually divorced already?), so staying with Amy, Jonah and Emma seems like a better deal.  Put him on child care duty with Parker to earn his keep.

I don't think she's expecting him to immediately move in with Mateo, just that maybe dating someone will give him an incentive to get out of the house more.  I got the impression that he has just been hanging out around the house all the time, having dinner with them every night, etc.  If he's dating someone, he'd likely still be staying at Amy's but just not hanging out there all the time, and she and Jonah can go back to having some alone time at home.  I'm pretty sure Amy kept the house, but that doesn't mean she wants her brother living there with her.  I know I wouldn't want my adult siblings living with me.  Having family move in can be stressful, to say the least.  I'm not sure where he moved back from or what his whole situation is, but I was wondering why he doesn't just stay with their parents until he gets on his feet.  They mentioned their mother stopping by Amy's house, so their parents can't live all that far away.  I completely agree that he should be babysitting Parker since he doesn't appear to be working elsewhere. 

[luvly]

2 hours ago, Sile said:

Did anyone manage to match up all of the last names on Dina's roster with their respective owners?

I got (forgive some of the spellings) Jonah (Simms), Garrett (McNeill), Justine (Sizowicz), Sandra (Kalaukaloni).

 It was (Jonah) Simms, (Garrett) McNeill, (Cheyenne) Thompson, (Justine) Sikowicz, Vasquez, Bradley and (Sandra) Kaluiokalani. There were two other employees standing there when Dina was explaining the whole thing to Jonah and Cheyenne so I guess they're Vasquez and Bradley.

[AnimeMania]

17 minutes ago, luvly said:

It was (Jonah) Simms, (Garrett) McNeill, (Cheyenne) Thompson, (Justine) Sikowicz, Vasquez, Bradley and (Sandra) Kaluiokalani. There were two other employees standing there when Dina was explaining the whole thing to Jonah and Cheyenne so I guess they're Vasquez and Bradley.

As well as the only truly funny scene of the show, Myrtle Vartanian, moving the washing machine.

[fishcakes]

7 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

As well as the only truly funny scene of the show, Myrtle Vartanian, moving the washing machine.

I wonder if that was a clip from an earlier show that never made it to air and they decided to use it here. Since the actress has died, I think it would be a nice tribute if they did a an episode where Myrtle has died and they all attend the funeral or a wake and find out that she had this tremendous life outside the store.

[Commando Cody]

I don't think anyone really "hates" Amy.  It's just the way Amy is written in the show, these days, that may be turning some people off.  She makes things worse, but not in a funny way.  The way she tries to "fix" things is exasperating and it makes it difficult to watch.  

I never had a problem with her in the beginning. She was always the smart one in a circle of offbeat employees.  Now that she's a manager (a terrible manager) she makes terrible decisions, she doesn't know when things aren't working and she keeps at whatever stupid plan she came up with. It's just frustrating to watch.  

The other employees are fun to watch though, when Amy isn't involved with the plot.  I liked the curbside Pickup bit, but I thought stuff could be ordered ahead of time.  I've never used it so I don't know. 

[iMonrey]

Yeah I was surprised to see that shot of Myrtle moving the washing machine since they did a special "in memoriam" to the actress last week (or was it the week before?). Apparently she was in more episodes before she passed away. Worked up to her dying day. 

Since when does a store like Cloud 9 sell washing machines, anyway? Cloud 9 is supposed to be like Walmart or Target, and neither of those sell large appliances. Even if Cloud 9 is supposed to, we've never seen their large appliance department. And we've seen pretty much the extent of that store.

Quote

Physical attractiveness isn't the only thing that matters in a relationship.  I don't find Mateo all that unattractive, but even if he was why should that matter?

Someone like Eric isn't going to get all flustered and flirty just meeting Mateo. I'm not talking about relationships I'm talking about meeting someone, and Mateo is nothing to look at. I'm not sure why they decided to make Amy's brother gay when there would have been more choices for him if she were trying to pawn him off on a female employee. This just made it seem like the writers thought any 2 gay guys would be attracted to each other.

[AnimeMania]

I think it would be a nice tribute to the actress that played Myrtle Vartanian, if when you go to the Cloud 9 corporate headquarters there is a twenty foot tall hologram of Myrtle welcoming you to Cloud 9.

[foxfreakinmulder]

On ‎11‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 8:28 AM, fishcakes said:

They've messed up with Amy. She started out as a smart, sensible person who was stuck in a dead-end job, which was interesting to watch and gave the audience someone to root for. She was the straight-man to everyone else's weirdness and that worked. Now she's a dumb, incompetent manager who spends almost all of her time on her own personal problems.

I agree. I don't like the character anymore.

Dina trying to fulfill the online orders was the funniest part. And Glenn with his apology treats.

I guess this is the future of shopping with the current lazy society. Instead of standing in checkout lanes we'll be waiting in long lines in our cars, lol.

[fishcakes]

9 minutes ago, foxfreakinmulder said:

I guess this is the future of shopping with the current lazy society. Instead of standing in checkout lanes we'll be waiting in long lines in our cars, lol.

I can see why it would be helpful if a person is disabled and has a hard time shopping or has five kids and no babysitter, but otherwise, I don't see the advantage of curbside pickup, especially if you're buying food. You know they're going to give you the oldest produce and meat and all your cans will be dented. And in this Cloud 9, if you buy deodorant, chances are good they'll give you the one that super sweaty customer opened up, applied, and then put back on the shelf.

[geauxaway]

That wasn’t a realistic portrayal of online shopping and curbside pickup at all.  I’ve been picking up my groceries for almost 2 years now and it is a HUGE timesaver for me.  I love it.  I don’t have to drag my son around the store. And for the record, I’ve never gotten moldy produce or dented cans, my local grocery store is actually VERY good at this.  You schedule your pick up time and they have cutoffs for when your order must be placed to be ready at your chosen time slot.  This 30 minute fulfillment was nonsense.  
 

Other places do have same day pickup but they message you when your order is ready, you don’t just a show up there if they haven’t told you to come by.  Just ran to Target this morning to pick up additional Christmas tinsel, I ran out last night and knew my store was out of stock because I had bought them all when I was in there yesterday, so I ordered it from the next closest store and ran up there this morning to get it.  I didn’t want to go inside the store for the 2nd time in 2 days, no need to.   I had also forgot cat food when we were there yesterday, so tacked that on the list, too.  🙄 Brought it right out to my car, easy breezy.  
 

I thought this episode was so much better than last week, humor wise.  The online shopping team was killing me!  And Glenn’s apology offerings 🤣. The only story that I could have passed on was Amy’s.  Both being gay does not equal chemistry, to which they had none. Like negative none.

[Harvey]

17 hours ago, TheLotusFlower said:

Physical attractiveness isn't the only thing that matters in a relationship.  I don't find Mateo all that unattractive, but even if he was why should that matter? 

Of course physical attractiveness is not everything, but what does Mateo have to offer (to anyone)? His mean-spirited, awful, catty, rude personality? He does not have a good body. He does not have money. He does not even have his own place. He is not kind. He is not connected. He works a minimum wage job at a mall illegally. Next to not being good looking, he also does not have any other good qualities.

Now I get what you are saying it's not about all that it's about the connection you have with a person but there isn't much of a connection to be had with a genuinely bad human like Mateo. So yeah, the least he could do is look good. But he doesn't even do that. There is no reason  for Amy's brother to be interested.

[Commando Cody]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Yeah I was surprised to see that shot of Myrtle moving the washing machine since they did a special "in memoriam" to the actress last week (or was it the week before?). Apparently she was in more episodes before she passed away. Worked up to her dying day. 

I think the Network decides which order to air the episodes.  If they think it would be better to air a stronger episode that week, that's the one that we see. 

[DanaMB]

On 11/22/2019 at 7:14 PM, Commando Cody said:

I thought the scenes with Amy were so cringe worthy, that I had to fast forward through those parts.  I think this show could be great again if they got rid of Amy and did not replace her with another actor.  

Omg, yes. I’m so tired of her I’d rather watch all the others. Aside from her, I enjoyed this ep better than others this season. 

Edited November 24, 2019 by DanaMB

[wknt3]

On 11/23/2019 at 10:54 AM, fishcakes said:

I wonder if that was a clip from an earlier show that never made it to air and they decided to use it here. Since the actress has died, I think it would be a nice tribute if they did a an episode where Myrtle has died and they all attend the funeral or a wake and find out that she had this tremendous life outside the store.

On 11/23/2019 at 1:12 PM, iMonrey said:

Yeah I was surprised to see that shot of Myrtle moving the washing machine since they did a special "in memoriam" to the actress last week (or was it the week before?). Apparently she was in more episodes before she passed away. Worked up to her dying day.

It's actually not that uncommon given how far ahead shows film for an actor to appear in several episodes after they pass away. It's pretty typical for a series to do some sort of tribute to the actor before they handle the character's departure in story, if they do so at all. I was just watching the repeats of Hill Street Blues that air on H&I overnights Saturday and they had a title card announcing Michael Conrad's passing although he kept appearing in the episodes. I've also been re-watching The West Wing and they had Martin Sheen film an intro/tribute out of character when John Spencer passed away unexpectedly and then aired the rest of the episodes they had filmed with him. It makes a lot of sense that this is the way its usually done as the makers of the show want to acknowledge their colleague as soon as possible and just about every actor wants their work to live on after them.

[Maren]

On 11/22/2019 at 11:15 AM, proserpina65 said:

Having worked retail, but thank god not on anything like curbside pickup, I can tell you that no store has enough people on that duty or any other new initiative at first.  And some never had enough people.  That's why I found it funny.

Curbside SUCKS!!! As someone who worked in a store when they first implemented a similar program I can say that our program like this was a nightmare and they didnt actually allow you any extra hours or extra people. You were supposed to acknowledge, pick, and scan in the order in a half an hour and run all the other basics of the store including customer service of people who are actually IN the store, usually with one manager and one cashier. Two cashiers if you were really lucky. The only thing that was far fetched was the whole "pot" or "retirement gift for my dad" thing, because it was always specific items people ordered. But it's a sitcom so I let it go LOL.

I do enjoy when this show does these kind of real life retail headaches well. That's where the show can excel. It has been dropping the ball on the personal stories this season tho, sadly. 

[proserpina65]

On ‎11‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 12:08 AM, Sile said:

I don't get her reasoning on that.  She think he's going to move in an apartment with Mateo, Marcus and Tita? 

Maybe she just thought he'd be out of the house more if he was dating Mateo, not necessarily that he'd move out.

On ‎11‎/‎23‎/‎2019 at 3:34 PM, geauxaway said:

That wasn’t a realistic portrayal of online shopping and curbside pickup at all.  I’ve been picking up my groceries for almost 2 years now and it is a HUGE timesaver for me.  I love it.  I don’t have to drag my son around the store. And for the record, I’ve never gotten moldy produce or dented cans, my local grocery store is actually VERY good at this.  You schedule your pick up time and they have cutoffs for when your order must be placed to be ready at your chosen time slot.  This 30 minute fulfillment was nonsense.  
 

Other places do have same day pickup but they message you when your order is ready, you don’t just a show up there if they haven’t told you to come by.  Just ran to Target this morning to pick up additional Christmas tinsel, I ran out last night and knew my store was out of stock because I had bought them all when I was in there yesterday, so I ordered it from the next closest store and ran up there this morning to get it.  I didn’t want to go inside the store for the 2nd time in 2 days, no need to.   I had also forgot cat food when we were there yesterday, so tacked that on the list, too.  🙄 Brought it right out to my car, easy breezy.  
 

I thought this episode was so much better than last week, humor wise.  The online shopping team was killing me!  And Glenn’s apology offerings 🤣. The only story that I could have passed on was Amy’s.  Both being gay does not equal chemistry, to which they had none. Like negative none.

Oh, of course it was an exaggeration of how curbside pickup would go before they worked all the kinks out, but is anyone really surprised that Cloud 9 would screw it up?

I've never used curbside pickup because I want to actually choose my items myself, but I can see how it would be good for people with kids or disabilities or who were just not feeling good that day.  I don't begrudge anyone the service.  But I do know that when the local Walmart started their curbside program it was a clusterfuck for awhile because they didn't have nearly enough people working on it.  Maybe not as bad as Cloud 9, but pretty bad.

[tennisgurl]

The Amy stuff was super awkward and unfunny, especially as her only reason for wanting her brother to get with Mateo to get her brother out of the house more and Mateo is apparently the only gay guy she knows besides her brother, but I actually thought the other plots were pretty good. Also, while Amy's brother is decently attractive, I dont know if I would go on about it. "They're a hot family! Everyone talking about it!" I think America is doing fine in the role, I just dont think that Amy is being written very well lately. 

The Jonah and Cheyenne plot was funny, and I admit I cracked up at a lot of the slapstick, like Dina being dinged by the car, everyone trying to stick stuff into the cars of very unhelpful customers, and Cheyenne and Jonah falling all over dog food. The whole project is so logistically complex (I have no idea how it works in real life) and ridiculous, but its the kind of ridiculous I enjoy in a sitcom. Especially Cheyenne calmly asking Jonah if he wants to quit his job with her. 

The Garret and Sandra plot was also nice, not hilarious but weirdly sweet, especially Garret and Jerry bonding at the end. Garret has been more of a dick than usual lately, so it was good to see him having a plot where he is being decently nice. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Vanderboom]

On 11/23/2019 at 10:54 AM, Commando Cody said:

I don't think anyone really "hates" Amy.  It's just the way Amy is written in the show, these days, that may be turning some people off.  She makes things worse, but not in a funny way.  The way she tries to "fix" things is exasperating and it makes it difficult to watch.  

I never had a problem with her in the beginning. She was always the smart one in a circle of offbeat employees.  Now that she's a manager (a terrible manager) she makes terrible decisions, she doesn't know when things aren't working and she keeps at whatever stupid plan she came up with. It's just frustrating to watch.  

The other employees are fun to watch though, when Amy isn't involved with the plot.  I liked the curbside Pickup bit, but I thought stuff could be ordered ahead of time.  I've never used it so I don't know. 

Yeah. Amy  is pretty much unnecessarily unlikable now. I was hoping that as a manager she'd be more of a Dave from NewsRadio type (only Sane person, but not completely together) . I'm not sure what the writers are going for with her, but that character is becoming a black hole of anticomedy. Even Jonah is better in storylines without her. 

I want Sandra and Jerry to be weird and happy together forever. They shouldn't always have to be pathetic to get attention or goodwill. Oh, and Justine deserves better than Marcus.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Vanderboom

[nikita]

On 11/25/2019 at 2:00 PM, tennisgurl said:

The whole project is so logistically complex (I have no idea how it works in real life) and ridiculous, but its the kind of ridiculous I enjoy in a sitcom.

Knowing how it works (a relative manages the service at a local store) made it less funny to me and wishing they went for a different kind of funny.

First of all, the service took months to set up with hiring dedicated employees and managers. So Dina springing it on them in the morning meeting made me roll my eyes.

Customers go to the store's website/app, log into whatever location they want to shop at, and choose each item themselves. The only way a store employee would choose an item is if a customer selected the option for if an item is out of stock and they'd like a substitution (which some stores even allow you to specify what to substitute with).

The stores have dedicated "pickers" who shop the store, filling the orders. Then they have employees dedicated to taking the orders to the cars. These are not the store associates running in-store services.

Also stores don't take unlimited orders. Customers reserve pick-up time slots and when they're all taken, the service is only available for the next open time slot the next day.

I'm not only a spokesperson. I'm a customer ;)

[possibilities]

Some stores are better managed than others, though.