S04.E06: Maternity Leave

[fishcakes]

Quote

Amy faces a nightmare day at work when she learns she doesn't have maternity leave. It's made worse by Cheyenne and Mateo's campaign to change her baby's name. Meanwhile, Jonah and Garrett take on hiring the new seasonal help.

Air date: November 8, 2018

[SayMyName]

Swastika tennis player. So wrong. Is it ok that I laughed?

Was just waiting for Lonnie's quirk and they didn't disappoint.

Sue Heck turned up to 11 is really annoying.

[ClareWalks]

Amy's epic rant to Glenn transcribed: "Sorry, you think that a BATH BOMB is the answer to all my problems? JUST KILL YOURSELF! KILL! YOURSELF! You know, you don't get to talk right now! I am SO TIRED! I have slept 90 minutes in three days! The lining of my uterus is coming out IN CLUMPS! I have hemorrhoids so big that my doctor looked at my asshole and said 'WHOA!' Have you ever had a doctor look at your asshole and say that?! I am wearing frozen diapers so that my pussy doesn't fall out! OKAY?! ...WHY HAVEN'T YOU KILLED YOURSELF?!"

[festivus]

Now this episode is the Superstore that I love. Amy's rant was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. I was laughing so hard by the end I was crying. It hurt, y'all. By the time she said "WHY HAVEN'T YOU KILLED YOURSELF?", I wasn't sure if I was going to recover. Even though I don't love Amy, I freakin' love America Ferrera. 

 

The whole episode was just on point. Dina and Sandra, Jonah and Garrett, Mateo and Cheyenne, PARKER ( I share their sentiments there), Amy wearing pajamas to work, THE RACCOON. I loved the raccoon.

Edited November 9, 2018 by festivus

[Trillium]

I wonder if they just filmed America actually pumping. Either way, bravo. As someone who pumped for a year in some very odd places, I appreciated them highlighting how absurd it is that in The Year of Our Lord 2018 women still get shoved into closets just to be able to feed their babies. 

 

Sandra as usual was a highlight. And normally I love Mateo and Cheyenne but this time it didn’t work as well.  Edit to add: I did like after Amy’s tirade at Glenn they turned around their list of acceptable names. 

Edited November 9, 2018 by Trillium

[cleo]

Meh. I was one of those who hated watching them make fun of Jerry on Parks and Rec, so I don't like the stuff with Sandra. Also didn't like Amy's storyline.

I'm finding I dislike about half the eps and like the rest.

[tennisgurl]

I was just waiting for Lonnie to have some weird quirk, you knew it was coming, and yet I still cracked up. Jonah just losing his shit over the guy who wore the shirt with swear words all over it was amazing. 

Not, however, as amazing as Amy's rant. Might have been harsh, but it was amazing none the less. Especially as the woman walked by not subtlety recording the whole thing. "DELETE THAT! DELATE THAT!" 

So thats what Sue would be like as a minor character. Sue taken up to eleven. And Sandra and her Dina head!

[EarlGreyTea]

Dina FaceTiming with one of the display iPads was hysterical! One of my favorite site gags. She looked great, too.

I was wondering how they were going to explain away Amy's lack of maternity leave. It makes sense. I agree with Mateo and Cheyenne about the baby name.

Kimmer, or whatever her name is, is too annoying even for this show. The writers have gotten clunkier and less creative with their background characters. Sandra, Justine, and even Carol are funny and inventive. Kimmer just needs to go the way of Sal and FAST.

I don't know how they've gone so far off the rails with Amy. She's become entitled and rude to everyone. In a sense she has always been that way, but it's become more pronounced this season. Having said that, she was probably the most sympathetic in this episode than she's been in years. It helped that America was willing to go all out with the sweats and messy hair. She was really rude to Sayid in the beginning, but their subsequent back and forth was funny.

[chocolatine]

56 minutes ago, festivus said:

Mateo and Cheyenne, PARKER ( I share their sentiments there)

It was especially funny that Cheyenne took issue with the name Parker because she named her own kid Harmonica.

I'm +1 for loving Amy's rant. I've never had a kid and never worked traditional retail, so I can only imagine how miserable Amy must have been, but I've been in a work situation where I was overly exhausted due to an overnighter my boss made me pull to collect data for some useless report she wanted to present the next morning, and I was *this* close to unloading on her in the same way. Exhaustion really does compromise that "what you should and shouldn't say to your boss" filter in your brain.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, EarlGreyTea said:

Dina FaceTiming with one of the display iPads was hysterical! One of my favorite site gags. She looked great, too.

If the iPad came away from its cord as easily as it did for Sandra, it would have been stolen long before.  Those things do not just detach.

[festivus]

1 hour ago, chocolatine said:

It was especially funny that Cheyenne took issue with the name Parker because she named her own kid Harmonica.

Is it bad that I like Harmonica better? At least it has some flair.

[MadyGirl1987]

Good episode! Loved the various applicants and Jonah and Garrett’s reactions to them!

While Amy’s rant was funny I did feel bad for Glenn. He did try to help her, and hey, a relaxing bath could help at the end of the day and relieve stress? I thought that’s where he was going with the gift. Also; He gave her a puppy! A lot of work especially with a new baby, but it’s a puppy! It would work on me, but I’m a sucker for a cute furry face... 

[Circelily]

3 hours ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

Good episode! Loved the various applicants and Jonah and Garrett’s reactions to them!

While Amy’s rant was funny I did feel bad for Glenn. He did try to help her, and hey, a relaxing bath could help at the end of the day and relieve stress? I thought that’s where he was going with the gift. Also; He gave her a puppy! A lot of work especially with a new baby, but it’s a puppy! It would work on me, but I’m a sucker for a cute furry face... 

He forced her to come to work 3 hours after she left hospital when at the absolute minimum he should have given a sick day, and the sky is  the limit for the maximum. Then left her on her feet all day, then got sulky because it was all about making him feel better about himself. He's been shown up as a total monster.

[calguy]

5 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

If the iPad came away from its cord as easily as it did for Sandra, it would have been stolen long before.  Those things do not just detach.

If you look closely Sandra had a tool in her palm that she used to unlock the iPad.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

6 hours ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

He did try to help her, and hey, a relaxing bath could help at the end of the day and relieve stress?

She can't take a bath for awhile after giving birth.  Too easy to get an infection. (Showers are fine.)  Also, as she so delicately put it: "The lining of my uterus is coming out IN CLUMPS!"  Sitting in a tub full of water would not be a good experience. It would look somewhat like a bomb had gone off.

[MadyGirl1987]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

She can't take a bath for awhile after giving birth.  Too easy to get an infection. (Showers are fine.)  Also, as she so delicately put it: "The lining of my uterus is coming out IN CLUMPS!"  Sitting in a tub full of water would not be a good experience. It would look somewhat like a bomb had gone off.

Did not realize that about no showers. Makes sense, though. Does make that gift seem thoughtless.

[Melina22]

America was incredibly good in this episode. Not only did she allow herself to look absolutely and realistically awful, but you could feel the pain and exhaustion and anger just radiating off of her. Unfortunately, she was so realistic that it took me out of the show. I ended up feeling angry and upset that many low income women have to go through this, nowadays more and more often without partners.  

I ended up angry with her boss, who gets to enjoy his new baby without any of the anguish Amy is dealing with, and with her ex-husband (while wondering how he can just show up on a moment's notice to look after the baby. Doesn't he work too?) That said, I don't know what else any of the men could have done to help. It seems like they were doing their best in an impossible situation. It's more of a society issue. 

I enjoy shows like Superstore for the escapism. Tonight's show for me was the opposite of that. Too much realism! But this is not a criticism, just an observation. I'm sure many women truly appreciated seeing their struggle portrayed so realistically. 

[festivus]

19 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

I enjoy shows like Superstore for the escapism. Tonight's show for me was the opposite of that. Too much realism! But this is not a criticism, just an observation. I'm sure many women truly appreciated seeing their struggle portrayed so realistically. 

A lot of my shows here lately have been going for realism but forgetting they are comedies so that's what I liked about last nights show was that they made it funny. As my husband said after Amy's rant:"Wow, that was great. But sad." I can't even imagine going back to work two days after having a baby, I was still in the hospital after both of my kids. It was a good two weeks before I could even think like a normal person. America was so great at portraying what it's like.

[WednesdayAddams]

Loved Garret's response to not believing in shoes. "They exist, that's a fact" and then "She's not wearing any shoes, of course he's going to hire her."

Sue Heck was always annoying, so I was hoping she'd be more normal here, but no.

Would a suspension really set her back like that? 

I actually didn't like Glen in this, as he seemed not caring. I did chuckle when he brought out the puppy though. 

I've learned from my bosses, that they get way too many people who seem crazy right off the bat or dressed in PJs at job interviews. So I know that sadly wasn't a stretch in this episode. 

[MadyGirl1987]

42 minutes ago, WednesdayAddams said:

I've learned from my bosses, that they get way too many people who seem crazy right off the bat or dressed in PJs at job interviews. So I know that sadly wasn't a stretch in this episode. 

A former supervisor of mine once had someone  show up in a Mumu.

[ClareWalks]

The doctors/nurses made me take several baths a day in the hospital after giving birth (they said it actually promotes healing), but plain water only and in a clean tub. Absolutely NO bath bombs!

[chocolatine]

7 hours ago, Circelily said:

He forced her to come to work 3 hours after she left hospital when at the absolute minimum he should have given a sick day, and the sky is  the limit for the maximum. Then left her on her feet all day, then got sulky because it was all about making him feel better about himself. He's been shown up as a total monster.

I wonder if Cloud9 corporate policy allows employees to donate vacation days to other employees within the same store. The least Glenn could have done is find out whether that's the case, and if so, donate a day or two of his own and make the rest of the team aware of it so they could also donate if they wanted (I'm sure Jonah at the very least would have wanted to help Amy). That way Amy could have gotten enough time to let her uterus shrink back before she had to go back to work (my mother once told me the uterus shrinking doesn't just "shed lining in clumps" but is also painful).

[theatremouse]

1 hour ago, Melina22 said:

I ended up angry with her boss, who gets to enjoy his new baby without any of the anguish Amy is dealing with, and with her ex-husband (while wondering how he can just show up on a moment's notice to look after the baby. Doesn't he work too?) 

I'm assuming he has had his job for over a year and thus was on his own parental leave.

1 hour ago, WednesdayAddams said:

Would a suspension really set her back like that? 

I was confused by this also. I wouldn't think a suspension could reset the clock. If she'd been fired and rehired, sure, but if she were suspended it didn't quite make sense to me. But I'm not sure if the show were going to for like...too much corporate realism where they are indeed doing something illegal but because of the power imbalance Amy didn't realize? Or what.

[spanana]

12 hours ago, EarlGreyTea said:

I don't know how they've gone so far off the rails with Amy. She's become entitled and rude to everyone. In a sense she has always been that way, but it's become more pronounced this season. Having said that, she was probably the most sympathetic in this episode than she's been in years. It helped that America was willing to go all out with the sweats and messy hair. She was really rude to Sayid in the beginning, but their subsequent back and forth was funny.

I think there are conversations to be had as to whether Amy is entitled and rude to everyone normally, but in this episode IMO she's completely justified.  Her hormones are on 100, she literally just had a baby two days ago and nobody bothered to tell her ahead of time that she didn't have maternity leave.  The Amy part this episode was less funny to me and more sad since it was such a statement on the crap that is US healthcare and of course workers rights.  So if Amy is entitled and rude in this episode, I think it's out of pure exhaustion, hormones and desperation for her crappy situation and all of those add up to her having a lot less control over handling her emotions.

Also while realism should never be a thing on this show, how did Glenn not think to tell Amy the part about not having leave BEFORE hand in the months leading up to her having the kid?  Not to mention Glenn was able to fight to get Cheyenne her time (even if he did it by suspending her with pay I think), so it also struck me as a little weird that Glenn didn't fight harder for Amy in some way.  I know he has limited power and Amy was just suspended, but it didn't seem like Glenn tried at all.  Yes, bath bombs and a puppy....and Amy was far nicer about the implications of the puppy than I would have been.

Do I think Glenn meant well?  Probably.  But we've seen him go out of his way for employees in the past, Amy included, that he didn't seem to here.  Even when she was on suspension, he would visit her nightly and give her money under the guise of tips.  I guess we are supposed to think he is also in the midst of a new baby, but as highlighted by another poster above, all this show did is highlight the difference between what most women with a new baby go through, especially single women with low income jobs that don't afford them adequate healthcare versus a new dad, who has a wife at home who ls likely doing most of the early child rearing...not to mention better healthcare that afforded him the better hospital and not the clinic that Amy had to go to since fancy hospital didn't take her insurance (another point that I think Amy would have known ahead of time, but still...).

The Dina stuff was funny, but I was too sad and enraged about Amy to laugh much.

Edited November 9, 2018 by spanana

[fishcakes]

The raccoon! That was better than the reindeer from the Christmas episode. What's great about this show and The Good Place is that there are all these extra throwaway bits that require that you DVR the show to pick up on them. I still need to go back and see what the rest of swastika tennis player guy's tattoos were. I also loved Sayid heading into the utility room with his prayer mat reminding Amy that it was time for them to pray and pump together. 

I agree that Parker is not a great name, but this was Cheyenne and Mateo's list: Jack, Obama, Sam, Oscar, Milo, Wyatt, Felix, Hugo, Le Bron, Erik, Theo, Geoff, Axel, Baron, Levi, Delroy.

Most of those are as bad, if not worse, than Parker. Baron Dubanowski, Lord of the Soft Goods. And Wyatt is the same as Parker! If Parker had a twin, the twin would have to be named Wyatt.

Shoeless girl is not a stretch. I worked at Sears in high school and there were two teenagers who applied at the same time, both of them wearing footie socks, no shoes, and literally skipping down the aisles into and out of the Personnel office. The following week they were both working there. They wore shoes during their shifts, but they also stood around in their departments eating corndogs whenever they felt like it.

 

2 hours ago, Melina22 said:

her ex-husband (while wondering how he can just show up on a moment's notice to look after the baby. Doesn't he work too?)

My guess is no. Adam was always "between jobs" as he came up with after another get rich quick scheme. That was a big reason they got divorced.

 

1 hour ago, WednesdayAddams said:

Would a suspension really set her back like that?

A similar thing happened to my mom when she was a low-wage worker in a hotel. She'd been there five years and needed a couple of days off for an emergency. Her supervisor told her no, but mom took the days anyway. When she came back, she was told that she'd been dropped to the bottom of the seniority list so they were changing her hours and days off, but what they didn't tell her was that they'd technically fired and and rehired her. She didn't find that out until she retired twenty years later and learned that she didn't have the number of continuous years that she thought she'd had that would have qualified her for the retiree perk of free room days every year at any Westin property.

Edited November 9, 2018 by fishcakes

[joanne3482]

2 hours ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

Did not realize that about no showers. Makes sense, though. Does make that gift seem thoughtless.

Not necessarily thoughtless in that how would he have known about the baths? Jerusha has never given birth.  

My issue with the whole episode is how wrong it was from an HR standpoint.  1. Despite the suspension, provided Amy had worked 1250 hours in the previous 12 months she would be eligible for FMLA leave standard. 2. If she doesn't have a physician's note releasing her back to work, she shouldn't be at work and I'm reasonably certain she didn't have one since she had literally just left the hospital.   

[spanana]

52 minutes ago, joanne3482 said:

Not necessarily thoughtless in that how would he have known about the baths? Jerusha has never given birth.   

Yes, but it also opens up a conversation of how men get to use cluelessness as a pass for behavior and women really have to spend their lives placating said cluelessness because men are silly oafs who don't know better.  Mind you the whole point of Glenn as a character is that he's fairly clueless about EVERYTHING so it does make some sense with him as as a character and even if we are going to give him a pass for the bath bombs, does he get one for the puppy?  Puppy was adorable, but you see a single woman at the end of her rope who literally just had a baby and who you know makes a crappy wage at a crappy job that isn't affording her proper healthcare.  She already had a meltdown in front of you because she hasn't slept and her body hurts and she's been through it, and you give her a puppy...something else that takes a lot of care and time and money.  And in that moment Amy had to be somewhat nice about it because she had already hurt Glenn's feelings and knew it.  So I guess my question is at what point are women expected to stop placating the idiocy of men because they don't know better?  He may not know specifics of childbirth and the aftermath, but he did just watch Dina get cut open to have his kid and he knows there is pain and etc. associated with the process (and yes, I know Amy had a vaginal birth and Dina did not).

ETA: Not just in this episode, but last week's too, the one thing I don't buy is that Amy wasn't more on top of her knowing what her healthcare covers and doesn't cover.  Or even what her rights may be re: FMLA.  I understand her not knowing the stupid thing about the suspension resetting her clock, because who would have seen that idiocy coming but otherwise Amy seems a bit too together to not research what her healthcare will/won't cover and/or her maternity situation ahead of time. Not that it is all on her, but it just seems a bit out of character.  Especially when also dating Jonah, who I would expect to be all over that stuff too.

Edited November 9, 2018 by spanana

[festivus]

16 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

I agree that Parker is not a great name, but this was Cheyenne and Mateo's list: Jack, Obama, Sam, Oscar, Milo, Wyatt, Felix, Hugo, Le Bron, Erik, Theo, Geoff, Axel, Baron, Levi, Delroy.

Most of those are as bad, if not worse, than Parker. Baron Dubanowski, Lord of the Soft Goods. And Wyatt is the same as Parker! If Parker had a twin, the twin would have to be named Wyatt.

Lol. I didn't even see their list. I'd already planned to watch this ep again which is something I rarely do. I love that Le Bron is on there.

[spanana]

2 minutes ago, festivus said:

Lol. I didn't even see their list. I'd already planned to watch this ep again which is something I rarely do. I love that Le Bron is on there.

Cheyenne also named her kid Harmonica, so how much room does she have to talk?

[vibeology]

8 hours ago, Circelily said:

He forced her to come to work 3 hours after she left hospital when at the absolute minimum he should have given a sick day, and the sky is  the limit for the maximum. Then left her on her feet all day, then got sulky because it was all about making him feel better about himself. He's been shown up as a total monster.

Don't forget that he wouldn't let her use his office to pump. He was truly awful and cared way more about feeling like a good guy than actually being a good guy.

[festivus]

I kinda like Harmonica. What?

I just think the list is funny because you'd expect more names like Le Bron but the rest is just as basic as Parker. So their ideas are no better than Amy's.

[possibilities]

2 hours ago, WednesdayAddams said:

I've learned from my bosses, that they get way too many people who seem crazy right off the bat or dressed in PJs at job interviews. So I know that sadly wasn't a stretch in this episode

I've interviewed quite a few people who I swear either actively are trying NOT to get hired, or if they are TRULY that dysfunctional, I have no idea how they even survive. And there are PLENTY of them. They were not exaggerating at all. It's like the customers doing insane or horrible things in the background; applicants can, and often are, shocking duds from a job perspective.

I was disappointed that Eden Sher basically played an amplified version of Sue Heck. Can't she do anything else?

I was disappointed that no one on staff seemed to care about what Amy was going through. She may not be the easiest person to get along with, but she has rallied support for others more than once.

[spanana]

20 minutes ago, vibeology said:

Don't forget that he wouldn't let her use his office to pump. He was truly awful and cared way more about feeling like a good guy than actually being a good guy.

Yes, that too.  I don't think he was trying to be awful.  I think it was more Glenn as an uptight character who was uncomfortable with the idea of a woman having her breasts exposed in his office, even if not sexual at all and even if he's not present in the office and his overall being uncomfortable with the human body in that way.  However then what happens it's the man's discomfort trumps the woman's actual biological needs.  So, yeah....and if he was going to find a space for her to pump in that wasn't his office, he could try a little harder.  Also far worse things have happened in Glenn's office.

Edited November 9, 2018 by spanana

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, joanne3482 said:

4 hours ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

Did not realize that about no showers. Makes sense, though. Does make that gift seem thoughtless.

Not necessarily thoughtless in that how would he have known about the baths? Jerusha has never given birth. 

Showers are fine.  No baths at home for a bit, due to the risk of infection.  Glenn probably wouldn't have known this, but they've raised kids before.  Amy needs sleep more than a long bath.

1 hour ago, ClareWalks said:

The doctors/nurses made me take several baths a day in the hospital after giving birth (they said it actually promotes healing), but plain water only and in a clean tub. Absolutely NO bath bombs!

Hospitals have cleaning personnel who use hospital-grade disinfectants on that tub between patients (one hopes).  You certainly wouldn't want to be bending over, scrubbing out your tub before every bath at home!

Edited November 9, 2018 by ItCouldBeWorse

[supergirlsudz]

Wow, Amy has really been put through the ringer lately. I hope she gets to experience some joy in an upcoming episode. Her rant was epic, but like others have said, it left me feeling very sad for her. 

Bobo Sue Heck was annoying AF. 

Thanks, @fishcakes, for posting the entire list of names! I only caught Jack and Obama. 

Sandra with the welding equipment was hilarious. I also didn't like the making fun of Jerry on Parks, but I feel like they treat Sandra a little differently on this show. 

[iMonrey]

What's wrong with Parker?

I've never heard of Sue Heck/Eden Shur before, I've never seen The Middle. But I thought she was a pretty funny guest star. I wouldn't necessarily want her on every week but the seasonal help bit was good. Kimmer, with a K. Like, how else would you spell it? And the second that guy said he had to go and pee I knew what was coming but laughed anyway. The quick shot of the raccoon was hysterical, they guy getting stuff out of the coolers didn't even notice it. These little clips of customers doing stuff throughout the store are always gems.

Did Lauren Ash have a baby in real life? I wondered whether that was the reason she was off-camera, or whether they were trying to highlight the difference between someone with poor health insurance versus someone with great insurance. Or is it just that she had a C-section and would still be in the hospital.

Quote

He forced her to come to work 3 hours after she left hospital when at the absolute minimum he should have given a sick day, and the sky is  the limit for the maximum. Then left her on her feet all day, then got sulky because it was all about making him feel better about himself. He's been shown up as a total monster.

More like a total moron, which he's always been. I mean, no surprise there. Really it was up to Amy to simply take a sick day, even if it meant taking an unpaid one. The puppy just proved how clueless he is. 

[Artsda]

I didn't really find Amy having to go to work hours after giving birth while Dina was still at the hospital. Glenn was an ass, the least he could have done is give her paper work to do or let her sit at a counter. He didn't care at all about her but walks away sulking when she calls him out.

[ClareWalks]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Hospitals have cleaning personnel who use hospital-grade disinfectants on that tub between patients (one hopes).  You certainly wouldn't want to be bending over, scrubbing out your tub before every bath at home!

Definitely not! I didn't take any baths once I got home for this reason, LOL. If someone else is cleaning the tub then alrighty :)

45 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Or is it just that she had a C-section and would still be in the hospital.

Standard procedure in my area is that C-section moms get one extra day in the hospital compared to vaginal moms, so if Amy had only been discharged that day Dina would have another day to go. I also think she would get the maternity leave that Amy was denied, since even though she didn't "keep the baby" it was still a big medical event to recover from.

[spanana]

55 minutes ago, Artsda said:

I didn't really find Amy having to go to work hours after giving birth while Dina was still at the hospital. Glenn was an ass, the least he could have done is give her paper work to do or let her sit at a counter. He didn't care at all about her but walks away sulking when she calls him out.

This too.  Even though I think Amy could have found a way to use or be given a sick day for that first day and of course this was done for the ridiculousness of the show, if Glenn really cared he could have vacated his office for the day and given her "paperwork" so at least she could sit down quietly by herself and maybe close her eyes here and there.  I doubt Glenn really cared if she was going to be productive that day so much as her just showing up so as to keep her job. 

I did find it weird that nobody seemed particularly concerned about Amy being on her feet all her day, even amongst the workers.  I know they are all so preoccupied with their own lives, but c'mon....

While it is normal for those that get C-sections to normally get an extra day at the hospital, she was also at the fancier digs.  I also expect that Dina is the type that would come back the second she's cleared because like at the hospital, she would be too bored to stay home.  Even if she's in pain and shouldn't be there.  It does take recovery time and Dina would also be dealing with the raging hormones, but the one difference is at least when Dina's home she can conceivably get the rest she needs.  Unlike Amy she's not going home to a newborn.

[tominboston]

I see several negative comments about Eden Sher as Penny/Sue Heck II, but I found the character reasonably amusing. The whole Cloud 9 crew is made up of oddballs, and adding a fast-talking hyperactive as another recurring character is fine with me. No, I wouldn't want a whole episode of her, but a scene now and then could be fun.

The otherwise sane-seeming guy relieving himself in the middle of the store was a perfect ending.

As for the postpartum plot, it had its funny moments -- the pumping/praying bit especially -- but more importantly I appreciate the point America Ferrera was trying to make about the difficulties faced by working mothers without maternity leave and/or decent health insurance. I love the show as a sitcom but it's fine with me if it occasionally makes a serious point.

[rhys]

The other thing that wasn't touched on was having male bosses. Glenn is an idiot but since he had a penis he automatically gets in a position of power and knows that bath balms & puppies are what new moms need. He doesn't make Amy's life easier by clearing out his office so she can pump; he offers her the lactation/prayer closet. Oy. And he tells her to bring donuts. Grrr

[Boofish]

Glenn is full of shit. When Cheyenne had no leave he suspended her with pay. Which means he has the power and could have done the same for Amy. 

[AnimeMania]

2 minutes ago, Boofish said:

Glenn is full of shit. When Cheyenne had no leave he suspended her with pay. Which means he has the power and could have done the same for Amy. 

Expect Amy just got back from a suspension, another so soon might have gotten her fired.

[Aulty]

Glenn might be emphatic, but he is also very by the book and it doesn't help that he is incredibly uptight and doesn't understand anything about women. So of course he is sorry that he has to call her in, but giving her easier tasks or let her rest does not cross his mind.

Poor Amy. She should have gone to the secret depot she once found with Jonah to pump and have a nap ;-)

[Saylii]

I think my biggest problem with this season is that Amy has been incredibly “stupidized” in favor of storylines.  There’s no way a competent woman would have no clue what’s going on around — even low-income, non-college educated women have a basic birth plan, know what basic benefits they qualify for at work, and generally know what’s going on a day to day basis.  If it was just the suspension/maternity leave issue that Amy gaffed in, I’d get it.  But making it every episode really ruins the character.

I thought the speech was funny.  I had a retail manager after I gave birth that needs to hear every word of that speech.

[Circelily]

People so often compare Superstore to The Office but I think the closest parallel is Frasier in the way it balances so perfectly the funniest comedy with razor-sharp relatable insights into humanity and society. Superstore swaps farce for absurdity, but the skill has become equal. 

[slippity slack]

The Amy storyline is just sad, not funny. The writers seem to hate Amy. Who would come to work 2 days after giving birth? Props to America Ferrara who does what she can with insultingly stupid storylines. Her speech to Glenn was brilliant.

The other storylines were actually quite funny: Mateo and Cheyenne with the names and Garrett and Jonah interviewing. "You chose the wrong chair."

The raccoon was awesome!

[spanana]

11 minutes ago, slippity slack said:

The Amy storyline is just sad, not funny. The writers seem to hate Amy. Who would come to work 2 days after giving birth? Props to America Ferrara who does what she can with insultingly stupid storylines. Her speech to Glenn was brilliant.

All I kept thinking was that Amy was a stronger person than I would be as I would have said "f-you" to Glenn on the phone and then curled up in a ball and cried and/or screamed.  I know she has to keep her job, but at the very least I just would have cussed Glenn out on the phone and then not bothered to show.  I feel like in her position I would expect Glenn to figure out a way to at least cover her for a freaking day. 

Edited November 9, 2018 by spanana

[Empress1]

5 hours ago, spanana said:

Her hormones are on 100, she literally just had a baby two days ago and nobody bothered to tell her ahead of time that she didn't have maternity leave.  The Amy part this episode was less funny to me and more sad since it was such a statement on the crap that is US healthcare and of course workers rights.  So if Amy is entitled and rude in this episode, I think it's out of pure exhaustion, hormones and desperation for her crappy situation and all of those add up to her having a lot less control over handling her emotions.

Right - and she had to arrange child care on the spot. As someone said, the very least her boss could have done was given her a sick day so that she could figure that out. Her ex being available to step in was pretty convenient. Day cares don't take two-day-olds. If her boss knew all along that she wouldn't have maternity leave, he could have told her that earlier so she had time to make some arrangements (I'd probably be trying to arrange to quit).

Also, that puppy would have earned him another rant from me. Yes, it was adorable, but in her shoes I'd be like, "I just - JUST! - had a baby, you told me I have no maternity leave [and even six weeks is shitty but at least it's not actually, literally nothing], you make me pump in a fucking closet, and instead of doing anything to help the situation, you give me another living thing to care for and feed? I have to train a puppy on top of everything else? My dude: WHAT THE FUCK?" I wouldn't have left the office with that puppy, either. I'd have handed it right back.

[theatremouse]

18 hours ago, Saylii said:

I think my biggest problem with this season is that Amy has been incredibly “stupidized” in favor of storylines.  There’s no way a competent woman would have no clue what’s going on around — even low-income, non-college educated women have a basic birth plan, know what basic benefits they qualify for at work, and generally know what’s going on a day to day basis.  If it was just the suspension/maternity leave issue that Amy gaffed in, I’d get it.  But making it every episode really ruins the character.

I think all of above is related to the suspension issue though. It seems like in both cases she was assuming she had what should would've before the suspension? They played it like she was not only suspended but when she came back was demoted. And she somehow wasn't informed of the details. So she went into it thinking she had the same plan as Dina, and was surprised she did not. She went into it thinking she had her total tenure, and was surprised when she did not. Whether that makes her stupid depends on how much the employer told her at the time of the suspension/reinstatement. If the bulk of her planning were done before the suspension and she just assumed everything would be the same tier after, that's the problem.

It seems like maybe they did actually fire and rehire her, and just didn't actually tell her that. Because otherwise a lot of what Glen said makes no sense and isn't just a matter of corporate policy. I could see if she had been suspended and returned she might not be entitled to paid leave anymore (and might not be able to afford to take it unpaid) but I thought he said he couldn't hold her job. That's the part that implies the line from corporate is either not legal, or she wasn't actually suspended without pay. She was fired and rehired. There are subtle hints that the fictional company is totally cool with violating labor laws though, because she also said when she went into his office something about the bathroom being gross, and they have to provide a non-bathroom place for her to pump, and the closet doesn't count if it doesn't have a lock she can lock from the inside. I was amused at how she and Sayid ended up building a rapport over the shared not-appropriate-accommodation space, but for the room to count it has to be "free from intrusion". Either Glen doesn't know that, and he's incompetent (which is totally plausible), or he's an even shittier manager than he seems: he's being a rule follower when corporate tells him to have her come in, but not a rule follower about providing pumping space just because it made him feel weird for it to happen in his office.