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Folicle Follies and Finances
Gathering the candidates outside the boardroom,
Trump was primed to launch the corporations
into their task. But first he paused to
discuss his hair. "Everybody wants to talk
about my frickin' hair," he joked. "It may not be pretty, but it's my hair."
Charmaine volunteered to examine it up
close and she declared "that is definitely your hair."
Trump then introduced the CEO and founder of Hair Cuttery: Dennis Ratner. He
talked about how the current 1,000-store chain had begun with little more
than a dream and some scissors 32 years ago. Now the corporations were going
to help promote Ratner's two newest locations. The
task: to make the most revenue running a
grand opening event for a Hair Cuttery salon.
As the only woman on Gold Rush, Charmaine figured her hair-care expertise
made her a natural project manager. Meanwhile,
Tammy headed up Synergy, hoping to detangle
differences within the corporation that had arisen after
Sean sided with
Andrea in the
previous boardroom.
Charmaine's Mane and Sean's
the Man
With
Allie still holding a grudge against
Sean,
Tammy divided the workload for Synergy's
Hair Cuttery grand opening. Allie and
Roxanne stocked the shelves, but continued
to
complain to each other about Sean, who was
on his best behavior. "Right now," he noted, "if I screw up in any area
they're going to pounce on me in the boardroom." Tammy took Sean out in the
evening to canvass the area with flyers and the two ended up
on a pizza date. The next day, business was
brisk with Tammy and Sean hawking haircuts to customers on the sidewalk and
Roxanne and super
saleswoman Allie inside, focusing on
up-selling pricey products to salon customers.
Gold Rush, despite their initial unity after breaking a 4-week losing
streak, soon fell into discord.
Tarek and
Charmaine
clashed repeatedly. She wanted his input,
but he wanted a better concept than "Grand Opening." Charmaine eventually
agreed to compromise with, "Grand Opening—Making You Happy." Later, Tarek
suggested that "We should be going out and marketing," but Charmaine
insisted they all stock the salon together. The next day business was so
slow that Charmaine decided to get a new hairstyle. Unfortunately, that's
exactly when
Bill showed up to observe her management
style.
Synergy Soars and Scores with Burt
Bacharach
Though things had started out a bit hairy for Synergy, in the end they
earned $1,005 in sales versus Gold Rush's $700. Synergy's reward was a
songwriting session at New York's Steinway Hall with legendary hit-making
composer Burt Bacharach.
The songwriting session, however, proved
oddly disharmonious with
Allie repeatedly shooting down
Tammy's lyrical ideas. Allie's attitude
even prompted Tammy to back into a Bacharach reference, "I wish Allie wasn't
such a bulldog…I wish we all could have had love—like 'What the World Needs
Now.'"
Still, Synergy's inspirational lyrics ultimately gelled as they gathered
around the piano to sing with Burt: "Oh what a time, what a time it was. We
were young, we were strong, we were true. We held on, we had faith and we
grew as one—formed a bond that could last through the years."
Of course, Gold Rush would soon be singing a far different tune in the
boardroom.
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Gold Rush obviously needed a trim after stumbling badly in the Hair Cuttery
promotion. It was instantly clear that PM
Charmaine wanted
Tarek to get cut, while he was looking for
Mr. Trump to take just a little bit off the
top and fire her. While Charmaine admitted that "We failed to capitalize on
product as a source of revenue," she attributed most of the group's problems
to Tarek's contentious manner. For his part, Tarek slagged Charmaine's
"lead by consensus" style.
When Trump asked "politician"
Lee which of the two should be fired, Lee
repeatedly waffled. "You're dancing a little, Lee," said
Bill pointedly. In contrast,
Michael answered Trump with an articulate
case for dumping Tarek, with only a tiny little sliver of criticism pointed
toward Charmaine.
Trump was impressed and said so. After that
moment of sanity, however, shear madness returned as Tarek and Charmaine
amped up their aggression.
Soon, Trump had heard enough and decided to skip the final boardroom. "I
really believe there was some weak leadership," he told Charmaine. "You
can't control this guy, he's a maniac... A leader has to be able to control
the people that they're leading, so Charmaine, you're fired." Charmaine
stood to leave but Trump asked her to sit back down. "Tarek, you're a very
smart guy," Trump said. "But, man, you're impossible to lead. I don't know
where you're coming from… A great leader also knows how to be led. And you
don't know how to be led.
Tarek, you're fired."
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