The Apprentice 3, Episode 13: That Was Easy

Alex reminds Bren that he wants a focus group. Bren asks how he can find office managers to talk to, and Alex basically hands him the Yellow Pages and tells him to go for it. That idea goes pretty much as badly as you might think – no one wants to answer Bren’s “short survey.” Bren laughs at the futility of the task and calls it “nonsense.” Alex tells him that he’d like it if he could talk to at least two office managers. Way to aim high, Alex.

Magna goes to Smart Design. Kendra and Tana show Craig the stackables, and he says he can’t imagine the “dimensions of usage” for such a product. Really? It seems pretty simple to me – you put folders in them. Craig complains in an interview that Kendra can’t conceptualize anything. He then comes up with an idea. Take four stackables, stick them together to make a square, and store stuff in them. Kendra is rather huffy about it in an interview and says that “it stinks for me” that Craig pretty much stole her idea, but the upside is that at least they’ll be coming up with a product that came from their conversations with a consumer. To be fair, I didn’t hear Kendra come up with a specific idea, other than that they should do something with stackables, so I think Craig deserves credit for this one. He suggests that they put the stackables in portrait format, rather than landscape so that it’s not too big. I see his point, but my immediate thought is that my file folders and all of the paper in them would fall out the sides.

Bren and Alex want to come up with an idea that’s simple, yet creative. Finally, Alex sketches a table on wheels with baskets in it that will hold papers. Bren’s not sold on it, but admits that Alex is a better risk-taker than he is. Alex explains the concept, which is that this thing is basically an extra desk next to your normal desk. Is he serious? Let’s start shooting holes in this thing, shall we? Is the average office worker going to have room for that kind of thing? Wouldn’t it be expensive, thus limiting sales? And if people have a second table, wouldn’t they be basically moving their clutter from one surface to another? Or, even more likely, having two desks to clutter up instead of just one? This is a bad idea.

Craig, Alex, and Kendra go to Staples to buy stuff to put in their organizer. Kendra pulls out some file folders, but Craig says that won’t work because of the orientation of their organizer. It would be for loose papers. Kendra thinks they should show it with folders because that’s how most people would use it. Craig tells her that by not showing it with folders, they’re better representing how it would work. “Let me run this by you slowly,” he says. Kendra is offended by his condescending tone, and she tells him so. Good for you, Kendra.

Alex’s desk is finished, and he loves it. He and Bren are confident that this is a million dollar idea. Bren says in an interview that he’s usually pessimistic, but he feels good about this idea. He claps Alex on the back and says, “I fear the lashing Magna Corp will take in the boardroom.”

Tana thinks Net Worth’s product looks great, but Kendra still wants to put file folders in it. She just wants to be realistic - most offices use file folders. Just as he did in the pizza episode, Craig tells her to be careful with generalities. Whatever, Craig – Kendra is right. Every office I have ever worked in has used file folders, and I would never buy this product because I wouldn’t be able to use them in it. That’s a major flaw in their design.

Craig tells Kendra that she should listen to him because he’s older and more experienced than she is. Kendra tells him he’s being condescending and is talking to him like a child. He says that maybe that’s because this is exactly how he talks to his kids when he has to repeat himself all the time. Kendra says that he’s not an effective communicator. Craig then rather proves her point by saying that she doesn’t even know what “condescending” means when she obviously does. Kendra tells him that their conversation is over, and he says that it’s not because he’s still talking. Tana looks uncomfortable.

Craig then says, “I’m giving you respect you don’t deserve, young lady.” Craig is only 11 years older than Kendra, so that comment is even more inappropriate than it otherwise would be. Kendra is livid. She says that every time she has asked Craig to do something, he’s said no. Craig calls her a liar and asks if that’s “condescending or the truth.” Kendra snarls that he is doing “a piss poor job” of creating a positive team dynamic. And then, in one of the funniest moments ever on The Apprentice, Tana takes a big bite of her sandwich and goes, “Mmm!”

As the team heads to give their presentation, Tana says it’s a bad situation – Craig and Kendra hate each other, and now they have to work together. Kendra’s not worried. Even though they don’t see eye to eye, they both want to win, so they can fake it like faking a marriage that went bad years before.

The presentation begins. Craig is sitting behind a desk covered in a mess of papers and office supplies. Kendra explains that they met with consumers, and that they love stackables to control clutter. Craig knocks over a cup of pencils, which is cute, and acts out, along with Tana, putting all of his stuff into the organizer. They even put it on a lazy susan so that you can reach all of the sides. It looks so good that I forget for a minute that I wouldn’t be able to put my folders in it. The office managers ask if it comes apart. The middle lifts out, Tana explains. No, the lazy susan doesn’t lock, but they think the spinning would be handy. The group agrees that it’s a little big, but overall, they like it.

Alex and Bren are next, wheeling out their table, which they’ve named The Pack Rat. Alex demonstrates how he can put his stapler and such on the shelves as he says in an interview how impressed George and Carolyn look. Hmm, it must look different to him, because on my TV, they seem pretty unmoved. He also thinks the focus group is loving it, which again does not seem to be the case. Oh, and the desk is worse than I thought. It has a plexi lid, which you lift up, then stick your in and out boxes in it and cover. Alex then shows how you can put more papers on top of it. Are you kidding me? Nobody would be able to put anything in your inbox or take anything out of your outbox, which, as you can tell by their names, is kind of the point. And if you pile more papers on top of the lid, not only will you not be able to see what’s in your baskets, but now other people would have to move all of your piles of stuff in order to get to those baskets. One of the executives starts pointing out all of these flaws. He says it’s not really functional. Alex has no response.

Trump arrives. Tana tells him she’s confident, but Bren thinks his team’s product is “spectacular.” The first Staples exec says that Magna really connected with their customers. The product is innovative and practical, and the office managers in the focus group said they would buy it. Net Worth, on the other hand, had a great presentation, but an impractical product. Magna wins – and for their reward, they’ll be having breakfast at the Rainbow Room with… George and Carolyn! Wow, that is seriously an awesome reward. I’m jealous.