S04.E14: Minor Crimes

[Aulty]

Quote

Amy jumps at an amazing career opportunity, only to run up against an exec with a major grudge against her. Jonah and Mateo help Glenn with a financial problem, while Garrett and Cheyenne struggle to spend a day without cell phones.

[Aulty]

Meh, that was one of those episodes that subtly annoys me all the way through. It is funny though how blatantly irgnorant the Cloud 9 Management is about stuff like employee's rights or, in this case, nepotism. Laurie and her son, ugh.

Why didn't Glenn and his cronies try to mess with one expensive thing like the AC instead of doing minor damage. Glenn nonchalantly driving his car into the store was amusing though.

[AnimeMania]

Since Cheyenne also went to Cloud 9 Management Seminar, it would be funny if next week Cheyenne walks up to Amy and says "If only I had walked in on Laurie doing Coke, I would be the store manager now".

How are we supposed to feel happy that Amy got herself a promotion?

[ae2]

5 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Since Cheyenne also went to Cloud 9 Management Seminar, it would be funny if next week Cheyenne walks up to Amy and says "If only I had walked in on Laurie doing Coke, I would be the store manager now".

How are we supposed to feel happy that Amy got herself a promotion?

I was hoping through the entire episode that somehow Cheyenne would become manager. That would be much, much, much more entertaining than Amy!

[Trillium]

5 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

How are we supposed to feel happy that Amy got herself a promotion?

I’m fine with it because she did actually deserve it. Amy is by far the most qualified since Dina doesn’t want anything to do with it. Amy had no shot since everyone in Cloud 9 upper management is the woooorst. She’s put  in 15 years, tried to do it the legit way and was ignored. Plus she saved all her coworkers in the process because whatever Lauie’s kid's name was would have run that store out of business in a week. 

[EtheltoTillie]

The shenanigans with wrecking the store to spend money on repairs just didn't make sense.  It wasn't funny, and it just felt so wrong.  And was Glenn so clueless as to think it was okay to keep all that cash?  He's dopey, but not that dopey, since he's usually a Dudley DoRight.  So this whole storyline didn't work for me.

Edited April 5, 2019 by GussieK
punctuation

[vibeology]

1 hour ago, Trillium said:

I’m fine with it because she did actually deserve it. Amy is by far the most qualified since Dina doesn’t want anything to do with it. Amy had no shot since everyone in Cloud 9 upper management is the woooorst. She’s put  in 15 years, tried to do it the legit way and was ignored. Plus she saved all her coworkers in the process because whatever Lauie’s kid's name was would have run that store out of business in a week.  

Same. Not that Laurie listened to Amy during the "interview" but she's got experience, she has strong relationships with the staff, she has improved processes within the store to increase profitability and has completed the management training, minimal as it is. She didn't add in the fact that she's done parts of Glenn's job for him in the past and has shadowed him extensively as he has performed the job, but it is true. She is an exceptionally qualified candidate who wasn't given a fair shake because the person above her was petty and looking to help out her kid at the expense of the business.

People get jobs all the time because of who they know or who owes them a favour. I'm not going to be mad if one of those people is a qualified candidate who could get the same job without the connection in a fair system.

[ljenkins782]

16 minutes ago, GussieK said:

The shenanigans with wrecking the store to spend money on repairs just didn't make sense.  It wasn't funny, and it just felt so wrong.  And was Glenn so clueless as to think it was okay to keep all that cash.  He's dopey, but not that dopey, since he's usually a Dudley DoRight.  So this whole storyline didn't work for me.

None of that made any sense and no, it wasn't funny. How on earth was causing current damage, spending money NOW on repairs that were already done, as far as corporate knew, going to make this seem legitimate? 

Quote

I’m fine with it because she did actually deserve it. Amy is by far the most qualified since Dina doesn’t want anything to do with it. Amy had no shot since everyone in Cloud 9 upper management is the woooorst. She’s put  in 15 years, tried to do it the legit way and was ignored. Plus she saved all her coworkers in the process because whatever Lauie’s kid's name was would have run that store out of business in a week. 

It's not exactly right, but it also wasn't right that Laurie flat out refused to even give her a chance because she didn't personally like her. And she is definitely the most qualified.

I kind of love the Laurie character in a love to hate sort of way. She's exactly the kind of monster that usually does do well in store or restaurant management, I've worked with many a Laurie back in my retail and waitressing days. They're awful in real life, but it's kind of entertaining on TV.

[fishcakes]

Jonah: Isn't that embezzlement?
Glenn: No! Embezzlement is when you put jewels on your jacket.
Jonah: That's bedazzling.
Mateo: Which is also a crime.

Amy does deserve the manager job, but I wish we could have seen Laurie's son on the job for a few more episodes. He's an idiot, but I have a feeling that Glenn wasn't that much better on his first day.

I'm afraid to search YouTube for Hot Nuts because that might be a real channel.

[iMonrey]

So now there's going to be an issue with Amy and Johah because she's his manager. It's the same reason Mateo had to break up with Jeff. Cloud9 management can't date subordinates. I think that's the whole reason behind Glenn demoting himself so Amy can be manager, just to add needless conflict into Jonah and Amy's relationship. 

I don't remember what the previous interaction was between Amy and Laurie so her hostility towards Amy went over my head.

I swear the whole time Garrett and Cheyenne were trying to remember the name of a certain British actor they were thinking of Alan Rickman!

Not to be unkind but the guy playing Blaine was so odd looking. 

[gesundheit]

I don't know -- Amy did fairly recently return from a 9-month(?) suspension, and led a walkout/strike a few years back. She would not realistically get the job, even if she'd be good at it.

I liked watching the destruction and particularly the sight gag of Glenn driving through the store window, but yeah, it made no sense. And to have it concurrent with someone from corporate management LITERALLY AT THE STORE at the time was particularly ridiculous. It's not like she didn't just see him drive through the window.

[Empress1]

3 hours ago, Trillium said:

Plus she saved all her coworkers in the process because whatever Lauie’s kid's name was would have run that store out of business in a week. 

"Where is 'inventory?'" "It's ... kind of ... all around us" had me rolling. 

I liked how Dina had Amy's back.

[EtheltoTillie]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

So now there's going to be an issue with Amy and Johah because she's his manager. It's the same reason Mateo had to break up with Jeff. Cloud9 management can't date subordinates. I think that's the whole reason behind Glenn demoting himself so Amy can be manager, just to add needless conflict into Jonah and Amy's relationship. 

I don't remember what the previous interaction was between Amy and Laurie so her hostility towards Amy went over my head.

I swear the whole time Garrett and Cheyenne were trying to remember the name of a certain British actor they were thinking of Alan Rickman!

Not to be unkind but the guy playing Blaine was so odd looking. 

I was shouting Alan Rickman at the screen.  I'm still not sure Gary Oldman was the right answer.  I didn't follow all the references.  

[Commando Cody]

I knew it was Gary Oldman. They kept saying the word "old" as well.

This episode was painful to watch. I wasn't sure I was going to make it through to the end. I had to check to see how much more stupidity I had endure.

I don't have any recollection of Amy feuding with the other woman.  It must have been a one-off in season one or something. 

I'm not even going to try and think of any redeeming value in this episode. It's not worth the effort. 

[tennisgurl]

Gary Oldman people! Gary freaking Oldman!

"We could make a bomb..."

"I think that going from embezzlement to domestic terrorism isnt the direction to go."

Amy should be the manager, she really is the most qualified person around, even with her suspension and her other quirks. Certainly more than the loser son of the corporate lady. Its for the greater good, Amy! Think of those kids on the bus! "Wow, plot twist."

[krankydoodle]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not to be unkind but the guy playing Blaine was so odd looking. 

He's very distinctive looking and it was driving me nuts trying to figure out where I'd seen him before, so looked him up and realized he was in the recent Halloween movie.

There were a few good moments, but too much Glenn for my liking. It also bothered me that there was no mention of Dina's birds. I'm sure that'll come back up at some point if only to reveal Garrett's role (and Amy's and Jonah's by extension), but I was expecting it to be an ongoing--if minor--element for the rest of the season.

[Jaded]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not to be unkind but the guy playing Blaine was so odd looking. 

I hope I don't get flamed too badly for saying who I thought he looked like. When I first saw him he kinda reminded me of the way Eric Stoltz looked in The Mask. I don't know if the show did something to give his face that different look or not.

[VartanFan]

Quote

I don't remember what the previous interaction was between Amy and Laurie so her hostility towards Amy went over my head.

It was the episode where Amy was trying to ask for a raise and Jonah was trying to encourage her.  They end up at a golf course where Amy accidentally runs Laurie over with a golf card and then asks for a raise.

At the end, she and Jonah have a cute moment where he teaches her how to putt...while missing a date with Kelly.

[theatremouse]

8 hours ago, GussieK said:

And was Glenn so clueless as to think it was okay to keep all that cash?  He's dopey, but not that dopey, since he's usually a Dudley DoRight.  So this whole storyline didn't work for me.

I'm not saying this is good or actually logical, but my understanding of Glenn's thought process was this:

• Company will give him a certain amount of petty cash for "maintenance" per year.
• Glenn never intended to keep the cash for himself. (If he'd intended to do that he wouldn't have mentioned it; he'd have taken the bag home)
• Glenn was hoarding the "maintenance" money so that if the store needed less maintenance one year, but then got seriously vandalized the next, he'd have extra maintenance money to cover it.

That's what he meant by "just in case". It was a use-it-or-lose-it budget lineitem. He thought he was being clever by hoarding it even when the store hadn't had need to use it before. That's why it never occurred to him that he was embezzling: because he never intended to use it for personal gain. If his fake story about Greasers coming through and trashing the place had actually happened, he would've been using the cash in the exact same way as presented in the episode. That was the plan for that money all along.

That's also why, once Jonah pointed it out, he concluded the only way to not be guilty any more was to use it in the manner he'd claimed it for. If he'd ever been asked for receipts, none of this works or could've been done in the first place, because it'd be clear the repairs happened months and/or years after they supposedly had been paid for. But since it seems be a part of the premise that corporate simply gave him the cash for this type of maintenance in the first place, doing a bunch of "repairs" now uses the money appropriately and, in his mind, erases the lie.

It's a very stupid thing to do with the regional manager on premise. And it's a ridiculous premise given there was a tornado and if he didn't need to use any of that maintenance money in the aftermath of the tornado (which I guess...possibly insurance and corporate covered most of it without needing to dip into this type minor regular maintenance cash) but still he asmassed SO MUCH that must've originally been in small increments...this was a weird time to introduce this plot point.

[possibilities]

Laurie sure wasn't ACTING like she was coked up.

I thought for sure the kid would run the store into the ground and they'd bring Jeff or someone else in from outside, to deal with the aftermath, getting Laurie canned in the denouement. I thought this was going to be an arc.

[Irlandesa]

9 hours ago, ljenkins782 said:

None of that made any sense and no, it wasn't funny. How on earth was causing current damage, spending money NOW on repairs that were already done, as far as corporate knew, going to make this seem legitimate?

It's not "legitimate" but it sounds like it was set up like a slush fund that managers could use at their discretion without needing to submit invoices or receipts.  As far as corporate is concerned, the money is gone.  And they won't know about the repairs Glenn and co. will be paying for to repair the damage they did because Glenn won't ask for or submit invoices or receipts. So they won't need to justify it. 

It wasn't funny but I guess the point was to use the money for the reason it was set aside.  Basically using it following the letter of its intent if not the spirit.

6 hours ago, GussieK said:

I was shouting Alan Rickman at the screen.  I'm still not sure Gary Oldman was the right answer.  I didn't follow all the references.  

I was guessing Oldman.  I thought of Rickman but I think he was dead by the time one of the movies mentioned was made.

[memememe76]

I am so relieved Cheyenne did not become manager. She gets away with everything. 

[Lovecat]

19 hours ago, gesundheit said:

I liked watching the destruction and particularly the sight gag of Glenn driving through the store window, but yeah, it made no sense. And to have it concurrent with someone from corporate management LITERALLY AT THE STORE at the time was particularly ridiculous. It's not like she didn't just see him drive through the window.

Not to mention all of the security cameras.  That plot line made absolutely no sense, but I did love the sight gag of Glenn halfheartedly whacking at the wall with that huge pipe wrench.

[janie jones]

On 4/5/2019 at 7:37 AM, GussieK said:

The shenanigans with wrecking the store to spend money on repairs just didn't make sense.  It wasn't funny, and it just felt so wrong.  And was Glenn so clueless as to think it was okay to keep all that cash?  He's dopey, but not that dopey, since he's usually a Dudley DoRight.  So this whole storyline didn't work for me.

Why did he never consider the store's ongoing rat problem as something you might want to use that money for?

On 4/5/2019 at 10:49 AM, GussieK said:

I was shouting Alan Rickman at the screen.  I'm still not sure Gary Oldman was the right answer.  I didn't follow all the references.  

It was definitely Gary Oldman.  I can't remember what else, but they mentioned the Harry Potter movies and the Batman movies. 

[AnimeMania]

57 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Why did he never consider the store's ongoing rat problem as something you might want to use that money for?

Because the raccoons took care of the rat problems.

[fishcakes]

On 4/5/2019 at 1:38 PM, Jaded said:

When I first saw him he kinda reminded me of the way Eric Stoltz looked in The Mask.

I was reminded of him too. I think it was the hair more than anything else.

6 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Because the raccoons took care of the rat problems.

I was so worried that he'd use the money to get rid of the raccoon. The raccoon is my favorite minor character, although I will reconsider if that security guard who refused to be fired ever reappears.

Edited April 7, 2019 by fishcakes

[Commando Cody]

On 4/5/2019 at 3:33 PM, krankydoodle said:

There were a few good moments, but too much Glenn for my liking. It also bothered me that there was no mention of Dina's birds. I'm sure that'll come back up at some point if only to reveal Garrett's role (and Amy's and Jonah's by extension), but I was expecting it to be an ongoing--if minor--element for the rest of the season.

You never know with this show. When Jonah and Amy were about to have sex, he brought up using a condom and she said it didn't matter, she was already pregnant, I thought that was going to be a plot point later on.  Bringing back some one-off character without any dialogue about why she was feuding with Amy made no sense, but they decided to write an episode with an apparently forgettable character anyway.  I was also wondering about the birds. It may not come back as an issue until next season - if at all. 

[wendyg]

I think the writers of this show need to go out and spend some time refreshing their ideas - perhaps by spending the summer working at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. The damage-the-store plot, like several others this season, was just stupid. I also think they could have made more of the idiot nephew, who I really thought looked like he could have been Glen's son.

[WAnglais1]

On 4/5/2019 at 10:59 AM, vibeology said:

Same. Not that Laurie listened to Amy during the "interview" but she's got experience, she has strong relationships with the staff, she has improved processes within the store to increase profitability and has completed the management training, minimal as it is. She didn't add in the fact that she's done parts of Glenn's job for him in the past and has shadowed him extensively as he has performed the job, but it is true. She is an exceptionally qualified candidate who wasn't given a fair shake because the person above her was petty and looking to help out her kid at the expense of the business.

People get jobs all the time because of who they know or who owes them a favour. I'm not going to be mad if one of those people is a qualified candidate who could get the same job without the connection in a fair system.

On 4/5/2019 at 9:35 AM, Trillium said:

I’m fine with it because she did actually deserve it. Amy is by far the most qualified since Dina doesn’t want anything to do with it. Amy had no shot since everyone in Cloud 9 upper management is the woooorst. She’s put  in 15 years, tried to do it the legit way and was ignored. Plus she saved all her coworkers in the process because whatever Lauie’s kid's name was would have run that store out of business in a week. 

Amen! We just had an article passed around work again that getting a promotion is only about 10% of your Performance. The rest is Image (30%) and Exposure (60%). People call it the "PIE Keys to Success." It's such a crock of hooey. (I sound like Glenn.) While people are working (Amy) doing the stuff on the ground, middle managers and those who network well get a leg up and take the credit.

As much as Amy annoys me at times (and my TV-crush on America hangs in there), she is certainly the most deserving of the staff. [strikethrough]Dwight[/strikethrough] Dina wants nothing to do with it. She's seen the game and does not want to play. 

Glenn driving through the front of the store at the end was funny, but OOC to me. What if he had hit someone going in or coming out? Still, Mark McK makes me believe in Glenn's innate goodness. 

[cleo]

My pvr cut out the last 10 mins. I guess reading the comments here it is true Amy is qualified for the job but I feel annoyed she got it lol. She just seems sour and put out all the time. So now she will be a sour and put out manager. I can't imagine Amy actually enjoying that job. I just feel like she would be continually annoyed and frustrated by everything the staff do. 

[DearEvette]

Eh, I didn't find this one that funny.  I think maybe Cheyenne and Garrett's plot was my favorite of the week.  I don't remember seeing the two of them in their own subplot before?

The Amy plot is why sometimes this show doesn't work well for me. I know that this is supposed to be a jacked up version of how a big box store runs.  And while I do believe 100% a character like Glenn could absolutely be made a manager, the whole Amy subplot just felt it required too mush suspension of disbelief.  It is hard to enjoy something when you have to keep say "really, show?"

I missed Sandra.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

The Amy plot is why sometimes this show doesn't work well for me. I know that this is supposed to be a jacked up version of how a big box store runs.  And while I do believe 100% a character like Glenn could absolutely be made a manager, the whole Amy subplot just felt it required too mush suspension of disbelief.  It is hard to enjoy something when you have to keep say "really, show?"

I agree. Amy wanting to be a manager would have been a good story to slowly develop and this felt like a cop out.

If Glenn was going to step down I would have rather see them hold off on putting Amy as manager until the end of the season.  Dina temporarily being manager or a revolving door of managers could have been so much fun. 

[mrsbagnet]

Amy's storyline reminded me of an episode of Ugly Betty in which Betty won an internship at either another fashion magazine or for a designer, and when Marc convinced her that she only got it because she was Latina, she wanted to turn it down.

Then, like now, I was upset that she'd turn down an opportunity because she got it for the "wrong" reason. Please. Take it, do your best, and prove that you're worthy. Lots of people, like Laurie's son, get jobs that they don't deserve and suck at them.

My favorite line was a throwaway line by Marcus to Laurie - "Wow, he looks too young to be your son." I had to stop and think about it for a second to realize that it was an insult.

[possibilities]

It did seem rushed, like they were in a big hurry to get to whatever they think happens next.

[festivus]

I was bored with the whole Laurie plot cause I don't find the character funny at all until Amy screamed at her about being a bleeping coke head. I like Amy better when she's going off on someone. Love how Dina was going to have her back and seduce Laurie for her.

When that guy was scratching his back with the kitchen tool I was sitting here scratching my back with my back scratcher. So that made it even funnier to me.

Best moment was Dina just casually ripping up Glenn's picture when she took it out of the manager frame.

[malaluna]

I love the show but dislike Amy, so this episode bummed me out a little. I wonder if her becoming manager will stop the name tag gag.

[iMonrey]

Quote

It did seem rushed, like they were in a big hurry to get to whatever they think happens next.

What happens next is that Amy and Jonah will no longer be able to date one another. I think that's the whole point of her promotion, to throw a roadblock into the romance. The part I found most absurd was Glenn demoting himself to salesperson. That's got to be a huge paycut for him and he's got a new baby to take care of. 

Quote

Best moment was Dina just casually ripping up Glenn's picture when she took it out of the manager frame.

Why was Mateo's picture up there? Was he Employee of the Month or something?

[calguy]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

What happens next is that Amy and Jonah will no longer be able to date one another. I think that's the whole point of her promotion, to throw a roadblock into the romance. The part I found most absurd was Glenn demoting himself to salesperson. That's got to be a huge paycut for him and he's got a new baby to take care of. 

Why was Mateo's picture up there? Was he Employee of the Month or something?

In an interview with Justin Spitzer he said they're going to ignore the manager/worker thing because it's something that they done before. Instead the conflict is going to be that Amy becomes more pro-management while Jonah is anti-corporate. Personally I think that the fight will be like one in "Lovebirds" where the fight will leads to talking about something like their future together.

[WAnglais1]

17 hours ago, calguy said:

In an interview with Justin Spitzer he said they're going to ignore the manager/worker thing because it's something that they done before. Instead the conflict is going to be that Amy becomes more pro-management while Jonah is anti-corporate. Personally I think that the fight will be like one in "Lovebirds" where the fight will leads to talking about something like their future together.

As long as the appropriate paperwork is filed at C9 Corporate, they should be able to move on to other story lines. Thanks for mentioning this!

[MakeMeLaugh]

On 4/8/2019 at 11:05 PM, malaluna said:

I love the show but dislike Amy, so this episode bummed me out a little. I wonder if her becoming manager will stop the name tag gag.

Ditto. I was hoping for Jonah who must have a bachelors in business at least (as he dropped out of an MBA program), so has a management-attractive resumé. His booksmart management style on these clowns and the customers would have been funny. Unpopular opinion but the Amy character to me is super-boring and really frustrating to watch. 

[msrachelj]

On 4/5/2019 at 11:09 AM, fishcakes said:

Jonah: Isn't that embezzlement?
Glenn: No! Embezzlement is when you put jewels on your jacket.
Jonah: That's bedazzling.
Mateo: Which is also a crime.

Amy does deserve the manager job, but I wish we could have seen Laurie's son on the job for a few more episodes. He's an idiot, but I have a feeling that Glenn wasn't that much better on his first day.

I'm afraid to search YouTube for Hot Nuts because that might be a real channel.

mateo. yes. this show , like the office, has some hysterical lines that are easy to miss. you really have to pay attention. 

[msrachelj]

On 4/8/2019 at 9:20 PM, festivus said:

I was bored with the whole Laurie plot cause I don't find the character funny at all until Amy screamed at her about being a bleeping coke head. I like Amy better when she's going off on someone. Love how Dina was going to have her back and seduce Laurie for her.

When that guy was scratching his back with the kitchen tool I was sitting here scratching my back with my back scratcher. So that made it even funnier to me.

Best moment was Dina just casually ripping up Glenn's picture when she took it out of the manager frame.

back scratching guy: this is why you should always thoroughly wash anything and everything purchased new in store or online. you never know!