The Apprentice 2 Weekly Performance Review, Episode 4: Zagat's the Way it Crumbles, Cookie-Wise

Maria: Your snipping at Elizabeth in the beginning of the show just proves that you had no idea that you actually were the one to lose the challenge. Failure to take responsibility is, to me, the absolute WORST flaw for a manager to have (aside from committing fraud and such). Why? In order to fix things that go wrong, you need to know what went wrong. It might get you fired, true, but we're not talking about the boardroom, we're talking about the suite. Just look at Rudy Guiliani. In any case, you've YET to show any marketable skill except for bitching and pointing a finger.

Sandy: You were in charge of décor, which got the lowest score on the review. Trump, Bill, and Carolyn obviously thought you belonged in the boardroom, and I agree with them, but don't for a second think you should have been fired over it. Not this season, to be sure, as performance in the task seems to have little correlation with being fired.

I also like how you did not allow your "friendship" with Jen C. to get in your way in the boardroom. Some might call it stabbing someone in the back, but I call it integrity. Just because she liked your décor is no reason to throw the blame on someone else. And I should also point out that you took the credit/blame for the décor, only to be interrupted by Jen (I know, shocking, isn't it?)

Stacy: I really have nothing to say - you did nothing wrong! You did your best to help the team, but were overwhelmed by the incredible negative power of Jennifer C. I can say I might be persuaded to possibly be slightly impressed. We'll see.

Jennifer C.: Nice "simple idea" to go for one of the most complicated menu types on the planet, isn't it? Carolyn said pretty much everything about you that I could possibly say. Making executive decisions is fine, but remember when Bradford did it? He realized his mistake and changed his mind. You stubbornly refused to take any advice, even from Zagat, the entity that would determine your fate! And then you lied about it in the boardroom! For those of you who didn't see the Saturday extended boardroom or the Insider videos, Stacy insisted on asking Zagat to help determine the food type, and they told her that Asian fusion was a horrible idea based on the amount of time they had. And when Stacy told Jen C., she hung up on Stacy. Then she denied the whole thing in the boardroom, where everyone else called her on it. Wonderful leadership. See my advice to Maria about that.

And how about constantly belittling everyone? Calling Stacy "the little one," going on and on about the "fat Jewish women," the almost obsessive need to flip everybody off. Is your self esteem so low that you have to cut down everyone around you? And how do you justify ARGUING WITH THE CUSTOMERS about the décor?

Since you don't seem to get it, I'll spell it out for you: The reason you failed is that you decided to do whatever you wanted instead of trying to determine what would best win you the task. You refused to listen to ANYONE, even in the boardroom when Carolyn and Bill were trying to help you. You consistently LIED about the task - you denied hearing about the Zagat opinion, even though the proof was on tape. You denied, denied, denied, and made up events that didn't happen, such as the "grabbed you by the shoulders" comment to Elizabeth.

You had the wrong kind of food, the wrong décor, the wrong dress for the group, you even took the wrong people into the boardroom and tried to pass the "she's crazy" nonsense twice in two weeks… did you do anything right? You can't mess up so severely and succeed. Or avoid being fired. Twice.

Oh, and one more thing. In Episode Two's boardroom, you said you'd never make the mistake of speaking up again. Yeah, right. Let me repeat and emphasize. Sometimes, you just have to SHUT. THE. HELL. UP. Try it sometime.

Mike DeGeorge has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, and has almost ten years of management experience. He is also Assistant Editor of RNO. Email Mike at mikmaria@charter.net.

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