S02.E03: Guns, Pills and Birds

[formerlyfreedom]

Jonah is assigned to the gun section of Cloud 9, and refuses to sell to anyone he deems suspicious; Glen tries to buy the store's entire stock of morning-after pills.

[AuntiePam]

I've been trying to equate the 'Guns, Pills and Birds' episode title with the book that everyone was reading years ago -- 'Guns, Germs and Steel' -- but I fell asleep reading that book so don't know if it fits.  It was about the influence of guns, germs and steel on nation building, why some countries became industrialized (civilized, progress, etc.) and others didn't.

Is Amy still married?  When what's his name called and messed up her solitary weekend plans, she referred to him as her husband.  Are they not living together?  He said he got tickets to something so Emma, the daughter, would be with Amy instead of with dad. 

I didn't care for the co-workers' comments about Amy and Jonah 'just doing it'.  I've seen no chemistry between those two. 

I liked Dina's bird knowledge and that she didn't want the crow to be killed.  Crow and Garrett bonding over french fries was nice too.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

10 hours ago, AuntiePam said:

Is Amy still married?  When what's his name called and messed up her solitary weekend plans, she referred to him as her husband.  Are they not living together?  He said he got tickets to something so Emma, the daughter, would be with Amy instead of with dad. 

I thought that Amy's husband called her at work to say that he had tickets to something and asked her to take their daughter Emma camping instead of him doing so.  Amy was obviously unhappy to lose her alone-time. It seems likely that the show is setting up a future separation between Amy and her husband, which will then lead to a "will they or won't they" between Amy and Jonah.  We should take bets on when the first post-separation, immediately regretted kiss will take place.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

It did bother me that as soon as Amy knew that she was going camping, she started dumping hundreds? of dollars worth of camping stuff into her shopping cart.  I understand that it was meant to be a dramatic visual counterpart to dumping all those pizzas and the boxed wine in her cart when she thought she was having a solo weekend (by the way, where, exactly did she put all those frozen pizzas in the middle of her workday? in her car?) but:

1) Can't she use most of the stuff that her husband was going to take camping?

2) If he didn't have camping stuff yet, what was his plan?

3) Can they really afford all that new stuff on their limited income?

[Big Mother]

Are guns really sold just like that in Walmart type stores? What about background checks and stuff? I'm confused.

[ae2]

22 minutes ago, Big Mother said:

Are guns really sold just like that in Walmart type stores? What about background checks and stuff? I'm confused.

Wal-Mart sells rifles for hunting. They don't sell handguns. Presumably all of the background check, wait period stuff still applies. So the show did just a bit of hand waving to push their agenda, but it's mostly accurate. I'm not sure if just anyone can work the gun counter at WM or if there is some sort of training required? Would love someone who worked there to pipe in!

[bonniejmac]

21 minutes ago, Big Mother said:

Are guns really sold just like that in Walmart type stores? What about background checks and stuff? I'm confused.

No. They can only be sold by Sporting Goods associates who have taken the computer module training, which is fairly difficult, depending on your state laws. My dad worked in Sporting Goods and there was one module he had to take like 3 times before he passed it. There's just a lot to remember. Background checks are done and you have to have a salaried member of management there to complete the sale - they have to do a key-turn on the register and then the manager has to escort the customer out of the store. You also can't buy ammo on the same transaction as the gun. I don't think my dad ever denied a sale, but there were definitely a few he was a little nervous about.

[tennisgurl]

I have always found crows to be weirdly cute, so I was glad that Garrett bonded with it, but I was so upset when he got killed! That was messed up!

The gun plot was kind of hampered by the fact that thats really not how people buy guns (you still have to have a permit, wait a few days, etc.) but I get what they were going for. Jonah reminded me of a friend of mine who loathes guns, and starts freaking out just seeing them on display somewhere. I am pretty positive that not any random person can sell guns. 

[possibilities]

I hated Mateo bashing the crow to death. That was brutal and not funny. I've noticed that "jokes" about animal abuse have been numerous lately-- I've seen more in the past week or two than I've seen in the previous several years of TV watching combined. I have no idea why all of a sudden it's happening, but I really hate it.

[iMonrey]

Have they ever said what state this store is in? Because in my state, you can just walk into a store and buy a gun - no background check, no nothing, no questions asked. (And yes, I live in a very red, fly-over state.) Gun laws vary wildly from state to state.

And I agree seeing Mateo bashing the bird was a little too dark. I mean, I get the "dark humor" of the visual, but it was still a little too horrifying for me.

I loved Garrett keeping a list of all of Jonah's dumb white boy things. And the old lady behind Jonah calling him a d-bag.

[Kip Hackman]

22 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Have they ever said what state this store is in?

 I believe it's set in the St. Louis area.

[AuntiePam]

4 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I thought that Amy's husband called her at work to say that he had tickets to something and asked her to take their daughter Emma camping instead of him doing so.  Amy was obviously unhappy to lose her alone-time. It seems likely that the show is setting up a future separation between Amy and her husband, which will then lead to a "will they or won't they" between Amy and Jonah.  We should take bets on when the first post-separation, immediately regretted kiss will take place.

Thanks for explaining this.  I totally missed the camping part, and didn't notice that the stuff Amy was putting in her cart was camping gear. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I believe it's set in the St. Louis area.

Then they would indeed have some very liberal gun laws. Missouri just passed a law that you can "open carry" a gun without any kind of permit or even training.

[proserpina65]

I was loving this episode until the very end, when Mateo killed that poor crow.  Bird murder is not funny!

[HeySandyStrange]

Pretty solid episode overall. I was also liking the Garrett/Crow bonding, until Mateo's act of bird murder snipped that in the bud. Too bad, I could've seen Garrett's bro-ish friendship with the friendly Crow being a fun running joke.

Aside from the relevant training needed to sell guns, why would they put someone who obviously knows nothing about guns on gun duty? Guns and weapons seem to be an area you should have knowledge to answer customer questions, which Jonah obviously didn't have.

I like Glenn, but I hope they don't veer him over into overbearing theist territory. He works best as a befuddled guy is just trying to be open and inclusive with everyone, even if he goes about it in the wrong way. 

[Fostersmom]

OMG, the birds! Pretty much every store I've ever worked in  ended up with some sort of bird, if not other critters too, inside the building. The last big box chain I worked for had a snack bar in some stores and they gave away a little cup of popcorn to kids 10 and under. Yeah, let's just feed the birds! One pair lived in one store so long, they got brave and we would catch them perching on the front of the ice tray at the pop fountain, drinking the melted ice water. One of the mangers had to have her hunter husband come in one night and shoot them with a BB gun, the ceiling rafters were too high to catch them and they were obviously crapping on stuff… and customers. The last small chain I worked for had a policy to keep the doors open and the damn sparrows  would NOT stop coming in. There were days there were multiple birds flying around. That same store was in a plaza that had a chipmunk problem and we had more than one we had to try to catch. You ever try to catch a chipmunk? Good luck! That store was catered towards kids and they thought it was the best thing ever. Yeah, that's cuz they didn't see the poor dead chipmunk we had to fish out, after taking apart a couple of sections of shelving to find his stinky dead body. I was in my office one day at that store and I heard a customer squealing when they walked into the rest room that a mouse that just ran out. Nope, I yelled, it's a chipmunk! LOL! I worked at a few different locations of the above mentioned big box store, and the last one I worked at was in  a more rural area, an Amish community actually, complete with hitching posts for the buggies in the parking lot, and that store had all sorts of animals. A muskrat got in one night and from what I was told, the poor thing was dealt the same fate as the crow when the stocking crew found it at 5AM when they got to work. A raccoon got in once, and I had a woman come up to me one time and take me over to a shelf of tampons. A mouse had gotten into one of the boxes, burrowed a nest, and then died! We used to hear a cat meowing in that store all the damn time, but never actually saw one. We were certain that store was haunted, I began to think the cat was a ghost cat too. 

I have to give this show huge props. As crazy as some of their scenarios are, for the sake of comedy, they manage to get SOOOO much right. I've seen so many things in the episodes where it's like, yep, I lived that. The over zealous Dinas, the Mateoses, the Jonahs and Amys, complete with the other employees telling them just to do it already, even the clueless Glenns. I've seen them all. Hell, at times, I've been them all! The Garretts were hands down the most fun to work with! LOL! I spent a good chunk of my life working retail, from 17-37, and honestly, I always enjoyed it, from starting as a cashier to being store manager, it just got to the point where it didn't love me anymore. This show makes me miss a lot of it. 

Edited October 8, 2016 by Fostersmom

[DB in CMH]

Crows, crows! Oh my fuck. One winter we were infested with them at my grocery store and they'd sit in the rafters and shit on customers. We have to cover the produce at night or the tomatoes and apples would be pecked to pieces the next morning. 

Glen still bugs - wish Mark would drop that voice.

[saylubee]

Oh yes, the birds.

The single greatest bird story happened at my big box retailer.  We had a cricket invasion in our city and they would crawl under the shutters at night.  A few birds followed the crickets into the store.  Our usual bird-hunting assistant manager was on vacation, so we didn't have a way to get rid of them for the week.  A day later after the birds came, we had a feral cat walk through the front doors.  It felt like we were running a damn zoo.

Anyways, back to the birds.  Our general manager was arguing with this cranky woman in the middle of the store.  She wanted him to move the moon to get her way, even though her item was physically destroyed and a few years old.  She was getting loud yelling at him, but he was firm in his answer.  She was really getting going when SPLAT!  One of the birds pooped dead center on her hair and it started dripping down the side of her face.  Our GM turned bright red trying not to obviously laugh at her.  You could hear all the customers and employees start to howl with laughter.  He ended up having to make some concessions to her, but didn't replace her item completely.  He said even though he had to give in a little bit it was the single greatest moment of his retail career.  Oh, it brings a tear to my eye just thinking about that day.

[Fostersmom]

19 minutes ago, Saytura said:

Oh yes, the birds.

LOL! Your whole story reminded me of one of my fellow store managers having 2 ducks walk thru her open front doors and right down the main aisle. She opened her stockroom door and ushered them out the back door! I about died when she texted me pictures. It also made me remember that the birds I mentioned drinking out of the pop machine were in the store for so long that when we finally got rid of them, kids would ask where they were. The kids missed them. 

I always LOVED the customers who would tell us, you know there's a bird in here, right? No, seriously, there is? We hadn't noticed. That was usually followed up with, you should shut the doors. Great plan, why didn't we think of that? And our thoughts to our selves, you know if we shut them, the bird has no way back out, right? 

Hell, even now we've had a couple birds and a toad at my office. I am the office manager for a mobility device company now and we have a small warehouse and our office. The truck drivers and our installers have to open big roll up doors to get product in and out and a few birds have flown in. I hate when that happens, we have a sky light in the middle of the warehouse ceiling and the poor things just keep bouncing off of it, trying to get out. Usually they all but knock themselves out before I can get them back out of a door. I had a customer in the warehouse one day and we walked past what I thought was a leaf. He said, you have a friend. I said, the leaf? He told me to look again, it was a toad and he scooped it up and took it outside. We've also had friggen attack geese in the parking lot and deer that hang out at the far end in a small field when most of the businesses are closed. I'm usually the last car out, especially on Fridays, and 2 weeks ago there were at least 7 deer hanging out down there just grazing. Damn, what do people with jobs without the chances of wildlife do? 

[iMonrey]

Quote

Aside from the relevant training needed to sell guns, why would they put someone who obviously knows nothing about guns on gun duty? Guns and weapons seem to be an area you should have knowledge to answer customer questions, which Jonah obviously didn't have.

They haven't really shown any of the salespeople to be terribly competent, so I'm not sure anyone else on staff would have been a better choice. I think that's part of what's meant to be the main joke, that this is a Wal-Mart type of store where people work for minimum wage and you don't exactly get the cream of the crop. So if you go into a Wal-Mart (or a "Cloud 9") to buy a rifle or gun, as opposed to going into a gun store, you can't expect the salesperson to be knowledgeable about the merchandise.

[DB in CMH]

10 hours ago, iMonrey said:

They haven't really shown any of the salespeople to be terribly competent, so I'm not sure anyone else on staff would have been a better choice. I think that's part of what's meant to be the main joke, that this is a Wal-Mart type of store where people work for minimum wage and you don't exactly get the cream of the crop. So if you go into a Wal-Mart (or a "Cloud 9") to buy a rifle or gun, as opposed to going into a gun store, you can't expect the salesperson to be knowledgeable about the merchandise.

To that effect, when I'm at Wal-Mart, I go with the expectation that nobody working there will know anything about anything, including where their products are located.  Cloud 9 sounds like that kind of place.

[Hero]

On 10/10/2016 at 11:48 PM, DB in CMH said:

To that effect, when I'm at Wal-Mart, I go with the expectation that nobody working there will know anything about anything, including where their products are located.  Cloud 9 sounds like that kind of place.

So true! Lol! I remember I asked someone in the electronics section where the wall chargers were so I could charge my ipod, the person took me the car chargers. I told him that this wasn't what I was looking for, and he said that he didn't know what I was talking about.