S02.E08: Seasonal Help / S02.E09: Black Friday

[formerlyfreedom]

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Much to Amy's dismay, Glenn hires Amy's husband, Adam (guest star Ryan Gaul), for some extra help, exposing her in ways in which she is not prepared. Frustrated with the lazy, noncommittal temps, Jonah and Garrett start an employee draft to place bets on who will quit first while Glenn tries to find the perfect person to play Santa at the store for Christmas

 

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Cloud 9 braces for the biggest shopping day of the year when the employees all suddenly get sick.

 

 

[nasir jones]

Sexual harassment isn't funny.  But it is when Mateo and Cheyenne are involved.  I think they're my new favorite "couple" on the show (at least they were until the end of the Black Friday ep).  Their reactions to Amy at the break room table were hilarious, along with the two of them staring at her overacting with Adam.

Despite that, I could've watched an entire episode of just Glenn sitting on Cody's lap.

[Tiger]

I hate that Adam now has an obnoxious accent and is now a feckless loser. Amy & Jonah is actually a much more interesting story if Adam is a good guy that Amy fell out of love with.  

[HeySandyStrange]

3 hours ago, Tiger said:

I hate that Adam now has an obnoxious accent and is now a feckless loser. Amy & Jonah is actually a much more interesting story if Adam is a good guy that Amy fell out of love with.  

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see Adam as the bad guy. Immature and irresponsible, yes, but he seems like he is a decent father and husband, in his own way. They just got married too young to the wrong people and now they are paying the price. I'm not really feeling the Jonah/Amy thing myself. Two superior, high-strung know-it-alls together in a relationship? Ugh. Hopefully Amy will be alone for a while and they will actually have her trying to figure her life out without a guy in it.

Garrett was MVP, especially in the second episode. He is so damn funny, loved his speech about being proud to do the bare minimum and him rolling out of the breakroom in slow-mo like a boss. Dina and him...yes, there is a paring I can get behind. They compliment each other in very hilarious ways lol. The actors have good chemistry.

[iMonrey]

So are we combining this episode thread with the one for Black Friday? I thought the second episode was much stronger than the first, although I kept waiting to find out Sandra's spinach casserole was responsible for the food poisoning.

I did enjoy seeing Jonah going overboard with the betting. There was something strangely alluring about him while he was watching Steve Agee stack all those popcorn tins and quietly rooting for him to topple them all. I also liked when Glenn said the Santa finalists had all passed the Amber alert test - then got a phone call and had to dismiss one of them. 

I'm not sure why they even made Amy married with a kid in the first place if they intended for her and Jonah to eventually get together. I think it would have worked better if she'd just been a single mom keeping Jonah at arm's length because of her kid. If she's starting to have feelings for Jonah now it's kind of sketchy. I realize these things happen but this is sort of an absurdist show so the drama of it doesn't fit well.

I can't believe people are actually that crazy and aggressive to get into a big box store like Cloud 9 just because it's Black Friday. Sadly, you see thing on the news all the time like people getting trampled. 

[saylubee]

I do think Adam should be written as less dumb.  It's not a horrible thing to be unhappy in your marriage because you got married too young.  But it's hard to see any redeeming qualities in him.  Even if he was written more like Jonah, charismatic but slightly slimeball, it would make more sense why Amy stuck with him.  I can imagine a former star high school quarterback being a bad employee even in retail, but he shouldn't be socially inept either.

Retail is weird on relationships.  Something about having to rely on each other to get through a shitty day makes you jump into each other's beds.  Also, people that never worked in retail just can't relate to partners that do easily.  My husband would politely laugh at my ridiculous stories, but he never actually really believed them.  We had several people get divorces in our store because of the retail stress on their relationship.  About half of the core group I worked with was in a long-term relationship or married another coworker.  Most of the managers that I met were married to people they formerly worked with.  So Amy/Jonah, Dina/Garrett, and Mateo/Jeff oddly feel authentic to me where in other shows it wouldn't.

[ApathyMonger]

I hope we get to meet Glenn's wife at some point.

The Dina/Garrett relationship makes a lot more sense than the "Dina loves Jonah" stuff from last season, which I don't think has even been referenced since it happened.

[HeySandyStrange]

1 hour ago, Saytura said:

I do think Adam should be written as less dumb.  It's not a horrible thing to be unhappy in your marriage because you got married too young.  But it's hard to see any redeeming qualities in him.

Well, we only have seen Adam a few times, the rest we hear from Amy. He isn't in the show enough to be a fully formed character, and since the show doesn't focus on the characters lives outside of work he won't ever be fleshed out, most likely. As much as he isn't the brightest and is irresponsible, I can image that Amy isn't a peach to live with. She can come off as bitter and overly nitpicky. But being as this silly sitcom I don't expect them to get to realistic or balanced with the breakdown of Adam and Amy's relationship. According to television, the breakdown of relationships is almost always the fault of one person being borderline terrible, not both of them together making mistakes .

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The Dina/Garrett relationship makes a lot more sense than the "Dina loves Jonah" stuff from last season, which I don't think has even been referenced since it happened.

Dina and Garrett both have strong personalities and don't take much shit off of anyone. Both are more then willing to call the other out on their crap, and I think they could really learn to appreciate that out of the each other. Dina would be waaaay too much for Jonah to handle lol.

[Fostersmom]

Ahh… the nightmare of seasonal employees. The joy of digging thru 100's of applications to hire a fraction and then maybe find one or two you actually will keep after the season. I never saw a betting pool, but loved the ones who quit after the first day or even mid shift. My favorite was the cashier I had one year who didn't get the exact lunch time she asked for so she didn't come back after she got one. And yeah, technically it's not legal to refuse to hire someone if they have a criminal record, but you put down you've been arrested for theft and it's pretty much guaranteed you won't get called for an interview… in retail… where there's tons of shit and cash to be had and 15 applications for every one position. There's enough customers stealing at Christmas, you don't need employees too. 

Myrtle trying to knock the other old lady off the lady was kinda awesome. As was Jonah giving his winnings to the first quitter to only have him call for a meth order. And of course Glen hired his staff from the second chance group. Sandra dressing like Dina everyday now, not just Halloween is a nice touch. 

I always loved Black Friday. Sure, it was a nightmare before and after and I almost had a nervous break down one year, but it was always my favorite day of the year. The big box chain I worked for gave out chintzy ornaments to the first so many customers and the people waiting outside the doors would be bat shit crazy to get one. I remember one of my first Black Fridays, it would have either been when I was still in high school or a freshman in college, getting to the store at like 4:30 in the morning and having to battle my way to the doors. There was a whole bunch of us and people wouldn't let us get near. I finally just screamed that if they wanted to be rung out when they got in, that they better let the cashiers in. That actually worked and they moved a bit so we could get in. I never saw a stamped, but plenty of pushing and shoving and near brawls when someone would accidentally or full out on purpose get hit by a cart. 

I think this is my favorite episode. It had the craziness down to a tee, and all characters had great bits. I could have done without the Amy pregnancy scare, but the rest was funny. Glen's bleeped out rant was perfect. Cheyenne's lost scrunchie and Pepto shake down, teaming up with Mateo to "help" customers, so in character. Garrett's I do the least amount to not get fired, but then leading the rest of them out to the sales floor. He and Dina could be fun, I hope they don't drop it right away. The callback with her making a tofu turkey was good too. And of course Jonah wanted of make a movie of the day. All were just so good!

[Kip Hackman]

Liked both episodes. My stepson worked at Wal-Mart for about 5 years, and he said they really did have betting pools on the temps.

Amy and Jonah are great as work spouses. I hope they don't take it further than that.

[placate]

Are they seriously taking a two month break before showing four episodes?

[ApathyMonger]

24 minutes ago, placate said:

Are they seriously taking a two month break before showing four episodes?

It got a full-season order; there's another 13 episodes.

[jbrecken]

I really wanted to know whose dish poisoned everyone.

[wknt3]

"Black Friday" was my favorite episode of the season so far. It helps that reality is already so absurdist and over the top that you can pull a Law & Order and just rip your plot from the headlines, but they really nailed it. Everything from the D-Day level planning that goes to hell, to the anti-social behavior of shoppers, to the the people who work there, but are completely unaffected (when I was in the mall it was the travel agency folks.) I would say the only thing they missed was the ridiculous demands from shoppers who thought Black Friday meant that everything was a loss leader everywhere (we also had a car dealership nearby whose employees stopped in for coffee sometimes and always had a few people trying to get a new luxury car for 75% off as well as a bank who always had a few customers upset that they weren't open at 4am or giving away loans.) The Amy and Jonah stuff was meh, but the rest was hilarious. And when Glenn was pushing everyone out and running over the little girl;s doll "not by accident" I LOLed for the first time since Tuesday.

[swimmyfish]

5 hours ago, jbrecken said:

I really wanted to know whose dish poisoned everyone.

Me too.

On a related note, does anyone know which Haley Joel Osment movie Garrett was describing? 

[Fostersmom]

Cheyenne's announcement was pretty spot on too. You start with a nice polite one, get less and less polite, and the worst was when you'd literally have to turn the lights off. Seriously, turn the lights off since apparently the 17 announcements and common courtesy weren't enough. We'd also shut down the registers a few at a time and a couple of times I saw general managers say fuck it and close the final one while some asshole was still shopping and then get screamed at when they would finally wander up 20 minutes after the store was closed, looking to check out. Uh, did you not hear all the announcements or notice when the lights were turned off? Corporate frowned on that move, but sometimes it was needed.

[fishcakes]

1 hour ago, swimmyfish said:

On a related note, does anyone know which Haley Joel Osment movie Garrett was describing?

Forrest Gump. All of the plots he was detailing were from Tom Hanks movies.

I'm really starting to love Cheyenne. "Excuse me, I just want to get away from that guy's boner."

[Sile]

Yes!  Garrett and Dina are my two favorite characters (I've waxed poetic about Lauren Ash in past episode threads) and I've been shipping them hard since the Halloween episode.  I refrained from saying anything for fear of being thought crazy because nah, that'll never happen...

I fist pumped during a sitcom episode for the first time in recent memory.

[SmithW6079]

I really hated how they treated the seasonal help, especially once Jonah and the rest actively started to sabotage the new employees. I normally despise Dina, because she's a bully to Glenn and the other employees, but I like her when she goes against Garrett, maybe because he can give her some of her own back. The kissing was a surprise, but I didn't mind it. It'll be interesting if it's a one-time thing or a relationship.

Amy is too mature for Jonah, and while they're probably going to put them together, I really wish they wouldn't.

[Big Mother]

I havent seen the 2nd episode yet (It's not up on Hulu yet?) so I want to comment on the first one. I get the funny feeling that Amy is more to blame for the problems in their marriage than Adam is. Did you see how he perked up when she showed him some love? She seems so shrill and controlling; not the easiest person to live with.

[ally862]

I think Cheyenne and Mateo are my favorite pairing.  I actually think Mateo might be my favorite character which is surprising because I wasn't sure I'd like him.  I love the little things with him, like when he was squeezing Cheyennes arm when she was laughing.  It reminded me of the part I loved in the halloween episode when Amy was on the phone with her daughter and he said "oh honey, hang up".  I don't know why that made me laugh so hard but I rewound it twice.

[possibilities]

10 minutes, or I'm starting without you.

[Court]

I love this show. I couldn't stop laughing.

I don't think there is necessarily anyone to blame for Amy and Adam's marriage. She got pregnant, they married young, she matured and he never did. How many businesses has he started now? They were mentioned in the episode where Jonah was selling him all the BBQ stuff. They drift apart. 

[BusyOctober]

Other than the Black Friday stampeding, my retail experience was pretty close to Cloud 9's. I worked retail from the age of 15 to 30.  I think I could count on one hand the Saturdays or holidays I had off in 15 years.  I never minded working Christmas Eve since my family never got their party going til 7 or 8pm, so I was typically out of work in time.  I do remember always having to corral and follow stragglers out the door at 6pm when we closed.  Despite several announcements and floor personnel asking customers to head to the registers, there was always one asshole who needed "Just one more minute".  One guy (approx 30 years old) came into our store at 5:45pm on Christmas Eve and needed to buy a Christmas gift... for his mom.  He said "I don't care what it is, I need something in a box!" We made some 'mom' appropriate suggestions but nothing was "right".  He finally grabbed a broken decorative birdhouse and said "Wrap that!".  I said gee, that is broken & we don't have any others in stock.  He said he didn't care, just get it wrapped. I discounted the dumb gift by 50% & said we didn't have any more boxes, but I'd give him a gift bag from our stationary dpt, no charge and put some tissue paper in it.  He spent the next 10 minutes screaming at us for running out of boxes on the "most important holiday". It was now 6:45 and I was over being jolly.  I said "You're right, Christmas IS very important and that's why most people put time and thought into their shopping and wrapping in advance. I put a gift receipt it the bag so your mom will know just how much effort you put in this year."

[LydiaMoon1]

Oh my goodness!  Glen's drug-induced, profanity-laced tirade had me crying.  That was the best moment of the year. Can I even call it a tirade?  He was so calm and pleasant.

Edited November 14, 2016 by LydiaMoon1

[RustbeltWriter]

These two episodes were where the show really found its groove for me. Their portrayal of holiday temps was exaggerated but not by much. That line about it being easier to do it ourselves rather than clean up after them made me laugh. Black Friday was awesome, especially Cheyenne's announcements at closing. We would routinely have people hang around throughout the closing announcements and then scamper to the front only when the lights started going off. Retail is always more fondly looked upon when you are looking back at it.

[topanga]

I liked the episodes a lot. What I didn't like was the mispronunciation of Glenn's medication. It's Al-PRAZ-o-LAM (stress on the 2nd and 4th syllables), not whatever the pharmacist said. It's the generic form of Xanax. But I did like seeing a relaxed Glenn.

On 11/11/2016 at 7:15 AM, Tiger said:

I hate that Adam now has an obnoxious accent and is now a feckless loser. Amy & Jonah is actually a much more interesting story if Adam is a good guy that Amy fell out of love with.  

But that's how I see Adam: a basically good guy that Amy fell out of love with. Maybe they were compatible in high school, but they seemed to be very different, even then. Now that we've learned a little more about Adam, he seems a little dumb: he doesn't know how to stack DVDs, he soaks cast iron pans and won't listen to Amy's explanation about why that's wrong, and he has a real-time YouTube grilling channel. In contrast, Amy seems to have been a conscientious high school student. She apparently got into a "good college" her senior year--at least that what she told Jonah in the "All Nighter" episode.  And she's taking college courses now, so she obviously has bigger dreams than working at Cloud 9.  She didn't go to college after high school because "someone had to work" while Adam followed his dreams. She never mentioned that Adam went to college--I wonder if he did, or if he simply followed his dream of starting a business. And it seems like he's started several over the years. 

And I loved Cheyenne's pleas for someone to return her green hair-thingy. Nichole Bloom was totally committed to that gag, but she didn't make it too silly or over the top. I think the writing for this show has become quite good. 

There are still some cliched sit-commy moments: Glenn trying to sit in the chair when he was dressed as a hot dog (Halloween ep), the incompetent seasonal workers, the absence of anyone on the floor during the staff meetings. But there are certainly more hits than misses. 

 

On 11/12/2016 at 7:50 PM, SmithW6079 said:

Amy is too mature for Jonah, and while they're probably going to put them together, I really wish they wouldn't.

I think they have great chemistry, but I like relationship Amy and Jonah have now:  a blossoming friendship, some good-natured bantering, and a little bit of flirting. But it was weird that they had a conversation while sitting on the toilet. Weren't there...umm...sounds while they were sitting there? I can't stand to listen to other people pee, let alone have someone hear me pee, so I can't imaging sharing various bathroom sounds with someone I work with. 

[questionfear]

On 11/12/2016 at 9:35 AM, Fostersmom said:

Cheyenne's announcement was pretty spot on too. You start with a nice polite one, get less and less polite, and the worst was when you'd literally have to turn the lights off. Seriously, turn the lights off since apparently the 17 announcements and common courtesy weren't enough. We'd also shut down the registers a few at a time and a couple of times I saw general managers say fuck it and close the final one while some asshole was still shopping and then get screamed at when they would finally wander up 20 minutes after the store was closed, looking to check out. Uh, did you not hear all the announcements or notice when the lights were turned off? Corporate frowned on that move, but sometimes it was needed.

YES! I swear the writers are all retail vets with all the details they get right.

My worst memory of someone refusing to leave was when we threw someone out an hour after we had officially closed on Christmas Eve. He and his family weren't buying anything, they were waiting for a table to open up at the restaurant across the hall from us, and apparently they thought we would just stay open for them until they were seated. My coworker escorted them out, and the husband/father/whoever he was flipped us off and told us "Merry fucking Christmas", to which we replied in kind, along with some pointed words about how we were not, in fact, the waiting room of the Cheesecake Factory. 

My favorite is when we were open until midnight in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and a woman came TEARING into the store at 11:30 at night frantically searching for a book about fractions (as in, she came in screaming "I NEED A FRACTIONS WORKBOOK RIGHT AWAY"). I don't know if her kid was about to fail a math test or what, but we all could not stop laughing after she left.

[Hero]

That's too much juice! Was my favorite line in the black Friday episode. I love how the pharmacist was so serious about it and Glenn looked embarrassed. 

[neuromom]

Loving all the real,life stories of all you retail workers! I didn't work in retail...but I spent a career of dealing with the public (probably some of the same ding a lings you dealt with!)

so can any of you tell me if it's typical for a pharmasict to be so,,,,pompous? Arrogant? Or is this one just over the top?

[Fostersmom]

I never worked in a store that had a pharmacy, so I can't speak to that one. But I can tell you it's all sorts of awkward when you have a couple come in and buy nothing but condoms and you tell them to have a nice night as you give them their receipt! LOL! On the flip side of not so funny though was when you knew customers were buying supplies to make meth when you used to be able to buy mass amounts of cold medicines and there was nothing you could do. 

[wendyg]

IJWTS that besides really liking the show itself, one of the great enjoyments is coming here to read the reactions and experiences of people who've worked in retail. It's not an experience I've ever had myself (for which I am duly grateful). I will add, however, that a friend who worked in a florist's shop told us the story of the Valentine's Day when she took a call from a guy who ordered two bunches of flowers, each with a card saying, "You are the only woman in my life."

Edited November 16, 2016 by wendyg

[ClareWalks]

On 11/14/2016 at 10:49 PM, topanga said:

But it was weird that they had a conversation while sitting on the toilet. Weren't there...umm...sounds while they were sitting there?

I know, especially if you have food poisoning. Ick. One does not simply have totally silent diarrhea in a public bathroom.

[bonniejmac]

On 11/15/2016 at 10:34 PM, neuromom said:

so can any of you tell me if it's typical for a pharmasict to be so,,,,pompous? Arrogant? Or is this one just over the top?

Sometimes. Even just the pharmacy techs can get a little full of themselves because they aren't open 24 hours like the rest of the store - they get to leave when it closes at 9 (6 pm on Sundays!) I tried to see about transferring to pharmacy once because my sister wanted to become a CSM (which meant I could no longer work front-end, as she couldn't supervise me). But I was a part-time employee with pretty limited availability so the pharmacist dismissed my query in about 5 seconds flat. (Never mind that I was available for the days/times when they really needed someone!) So yeah, there can be a bit of a pompous "I'm better than you" kind of vibe.

The only really good pharmacist we ever had eventually got away from the chains altogether and opened his own pharmacy. He;s awesome.

[proserpina65]

Oh man, I missed the Seasonal Help episode altogether!  But I did see the Black Friday one last night, and I loved it.  Took me back to last year's Black Friday at Wal-Hell.  Although I didn't have to go in until 6pm and by then it had calmed down.

[Keener]

On 11/15/2016 at 10:34 PM, neuromom said:

so can any of you tell me if it's typical for a pharmasict to be so,,,,pompous? Arrogant? Or is this one just over the top?

Yes!  Mostly because they're working at *Cloud 9 equivalent* and not a hoity-toity drug store where the dispensing fee is higher.  Ours was almost identical to the one in Superstore. 

If any Superstore writers are trolling here-- once in conversation with a pharmacy cashier I found out that people with full out lice come to the counter asking for the shampoo. The kid told me that the mom was like "look! look! is this lice?" as she pushed her kid forward and he was just stunned. YES. YES it was very much lice. He just said "Back... up..." and cashed her out as fast as possible. 

But OMG the auxiliary shops (pharmacy, etc.) just chill. I'm not American, so Boxing Day was (at the time) our Black Friday. Strangely many stores had a no returns on Boxing Day rule, but not us. So for whatever reason the returns desk was always so empty so they got to chill back there as well. 

[topanga]

15 hours ago, Keener said:

If any Superstore writers are trolling here-- once in conversation with a pharmacy cashier I found out that people with full out lice come to the counter asking for the shampoo. The kid told me that the mom was like "look! look! is this lice?" as she pushed her kid forward and he was just stunned. YES. YES it was very much lice. He just said "Back... up..." and cashed her out as fast as possible. 

Or maybe they're just cell phone "fees" crawling through their scalp. Ewww.

The pharmacists I know are very friendly and humble. 

[piccadilly83]

On 11/15/2016 at 7:34 PM, neuromom said:

so can any of you tell me if it's typical for a pharmasict to be so,,,,pompous? Arrogant? Or is this one just over the top?

I've worked at a couple of different Targets and I can say that the pharmacist on Superstore is actually nicer than the one at the first Target where I worked. Both Targets where I worked had their pharmacies run by CVS. At the first Target, customers would sometimes ask the pharmacist questions about where to find XYZ items in the store. That pharmacist would rudely tell them everytime, "This is not Target," or "I don't know, I don't work for Target." It was not what she said, but how she said it that was the problem. I know I can't do it justice with just my words. I had multiple customers come up to me shell-shocked after talking to her because they were so taken aback at how she blew them off. I also worked in the beauty/pharmacy area at the time, so I was often stocking products in the back row, right next to the pharmacy counter. This woman never looked my way once, not even to just say hi. I mean, she had to be putting effort into avoiding eye contact with anyone on the floor we were standing so close to each other. None of the other pharmacy employees were like that. They all seemed to be happy just getting on with their jobs, saying hi if we happened pass by each other, etc. 

I wasn't in pharmacy/beauty anymore at the second Target. I pretty much stuck to stocking products and organizing shelves in the middle of the store. I did happen to pass by a few pharmacy employees however on the way to the staff bathroom. They were all nice enough people.

Edited October 17, 2019 by piccadilly83