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What is the point of Gary?


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Old 11-11-2015, 21:42
rubberduck3y6
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Seriously we're six weeks in and all he's done is make faces and buy a toy boat?

Am I missing something?
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Old 11-11-2015, 22:04
Peter Venkman
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Seriously we're six weeks in and all he's done is make faces and buy a toy boat?

Am I missing something?
Keeps Gary Numan fans happy.
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Old 11-11-2015, 22:38
CGG_12
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Looks to become a bit visible next week- finally

Think he's a bit of a dark horse, haven't seen many complaints with him yet- if any, and was only on the losing team once I think?
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Old 12-11-2015, 05:07
lammtarra
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Looks to become a bit visible next week- finally

Think he's a bit of a dark horse, haven't seen many complaints with him yet- if any, and was only on the losing team once I think?
It's week six, yet in order to comment on this thread, I needed to check the programme's website to remind myself which one was Gary -- and although it was amusing that his Brummie accent flummoxed Karren when recording the word "duck" in the children's book task, it is hard to see that as positive or negative unless his business plan involves waterfowl.

The BBC site describes Gary as "developing new store sites for a leading supermarket chain," including, "the largest property development programme in the history of the supermarket". A bit of a surprise then that he was not more prominent in tonight's handyman task as it sounds like his job was roughly the same as Elle's.
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Old 12-11-2015, 08:23
Reggie Rebel
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No one's complained about him that we have seen, he's not been close to being in the boardroom.

He's got no chance.
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Old 12-11-2015, 08:54
slouchingthatch
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It's week six, yet in order to comment on this thread, I needed to check the programme's website to remind myself which one was Gary -- and although it was amusing that his Brummie accent flummoxed Karren when recording the word "duck" in the children's book task, it is hard to see that as positive or negative unless his business plan involves waterfowl.

The BBC site describes Gary as "developing new store sites for a leading supermarket chain," including, "the largest property development programme in the history of the supermarket". A bit of a surprise then that he was not more prominent in tonight's handyman task as it sounds like his job was roughly the same as Elle's.
Elle's jobs was something to do with organising basement construction jobs, wasn't it? From the sound of it, she's involved in some form of project management for a smallish company.

I'm not sure that Gary's day job made him an obvious candidate for PM at all, to be honest. His job sounds a lot more 'corporate' than Elle's - it cold be anything from site research (basically an IT/number crunching job) to legal to project management to procurement to finance to any number of other functions. Odds are none of them actually involve him having to screw a nail into a wall though!
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Old 12-11-2015, 09:16
Matt_Harbinson
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I agree; I think he is only one not to have been PM so next week, we might see him do something. He does pull the strangest faces in boardroom like he's sucking on a lemon.
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Old 12-11-2015, 10:03
lammtarra
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Elle's jobs was something to do with organising basement construction jobs, wasn't it? From the sound of it, she's involved in some form of project management for a smallish company.

I'm not sure that Gary's day job made him an obvious candidate for PM at all, to be honest. His job sounds a lot more 'corporate' than Elle's - it cold be anything from site research (basically an IT/number crunching job) to legal to project management to procurement to finance to any number of other functions. Odds are none of them actually involve him having to screw a nail into a wall though!
Agreed but that was really my point: both Elle and Gary seem to have backgrounds in construction-related project management or the like, and most likely neither knew any more than Mergim about hammering screws, screwing nails or using masking tape. If Lord Sugar wanted to match PMs for background, then spreadsheet-jockeys Gary and Elle would be one pair, with Joseph and Brett being the two with hands-on expertise.
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Old 12-11-2015, 10:18
Tallywacker
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Like a gurning greasy double glazing/car salesman.
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Old 12-11-2015, 18:35
FunboyFandango
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His face screams dreariness. It's the type of face you see on a drizzly, cold, morning commute at 7am, that you look at and think "that about sums up the mood right now". Looking at him sends a shiver of dread down my spine, you can't picture him anywhere else but in an office, wearing anything other than a grey suit. He just epitomises the drudgery of work.

I know that's harsh but I just can't shake that feeling every time I see him.
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Old 12-11-2015, 20:15
Harper_Milne
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His face screams dreariness. It's the type of face you see on a drizzly, cold, morning commute at 7am, that you look at and think "that about sums up the mood right now". Looking at him sends a shiver of dread down my spine, you can't picture him anywhere else but in an office, wearing anything other than a grey suit. He just epitomises the drudgery of work.

I know that's harsh but I just can't shake that feeling every time I see him.
Hahahah so true
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Old 19-11-2015, 14:37
The Rhydler
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He came out of last nights show smelling like a rose and believing he was responsible for the win, He made piss-poor decisions including re-stocking right near the close of business, his team all worked hard for him and that's why they won.
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Old 19-11-2015, 21:08
nesparoo
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A very misleading edit.

What with Gary apparently leaving cash in the till for far too long and Richard putting on his usual tw4t act to attract passers-by (most probably crossed over to avoid him), by the time it came to totting up the balance sheet it looked like the yellows were ahead.

Then the blues went and won by nearly a grand .. so I guess much of that has to be down to Gary. He sorted out his products and pricing, then organised the store accordingly. And like he said, retail is detail.

That's not to say he won't be gone next week, but just this week I think you have to say the odd-looking Brummie guy done good.
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Old 20-11-2015, 02:30
Vol
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His face screams dreariness. It's the type of face you see on a drizzly, cold, morning commute at 7am, that you look at and think "that about sums up the mood right now". Looking at him sends a shiver of dread down my spine, you can't picture him anywhere else but in an office, wearing anything other than a grey suit. He just epitomises the drudgery of work.

I know that's harsh but I just can't shake that feeling every time I see him.
Amazing post.
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Old 20-11-2015, 03:00
lammtarra
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A very misleading edit.

What with Gary apparently leaving cash in the till for far too long and Richard putting on his usual tw4t act to attract passers-by (most probably crossed over to avoid him), by the time it came to totting up the balance sheet it looked like the yellows were ahead.

Then the blues went and won by nearly a grand .. so I guess much of that has to be down to Gary. He sorted out his products and pricing, then organised the store accordingly. And like he said, retail is detail.

That's not to say he won't be gone next week, but just this week I think you have to say the odd-looking Brummie guy done good.
Was the edit that misleading? Like an Agatha Christie whodunnit, once the murderer is revealed, it is suddenly easier to tell clues from red herrings.

One such moment was when Brett and Vana looked down at their rivals' shop and laughed at Richard's ice-skating. Vana: "the store looks good; it looks like they are very organised". They reported back to the rest of the team about Gary's superior layout with attractive goods displayed at the front to draw customers in.

An earlier clue came at the initial planning stage. Karren commented that Scott's team had all discussed how they themselves used discount stores, "but not one of them mentioned electronics, and they've decided to stock their store with electronics".
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Old 20-11-2015, 09:37
Philip Wales
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But he did fail on the "loss leaders", he failed to recognise that a £1 shop around the corners were selling their products cheaper, failed to restock in time, and according to the edit was largely missing in the afternoon. So yep a great manager
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Old 20-11-2015, 10:36
lammtarra
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But he did fail on the "loss leaders", he failed to recognise that a £1 shop around the corners were selling their products cheaper, failed to restock in time, and according to the edit was largely missing in the afternoon. So yep a great manager
Less bad than Scott, anyway. Gary won because he knew about retail.

Neither team did well, as they both ignored the spirit of the task. Lord Sugar told them at the briefing back at the house that they should use branded goods as loss leaders and mark up the unbranded stuff -- both teams ignored him. Lord Sugar told them to restock frequently -- both teams ignored him. Lord Sugar told them that stock would be counted as assets, which passed many if not all of them by.

But Gary won the "let's open some sort of shop" task they ran instead of the one Lord Sugar envisaged.
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Old 20-11-2015, 11:17
slouchingthatch
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Less bad than Scott, anyway. Gary won because he knew about retail.

Neither team did well, as they both ignored the spirit of the task. Lord Sugar told them at the briefing back at the house that they should use branded goods as loss leaders and mark up the unbranded stuff -- both teams ignored him. Lord Sugar told them to restock frequently -- both teams ignored him. Lord Sugar told them that stock would be counted as assets, which passed many if not all of them by.

But Gary won the "let's open some sort of shop" task they ran instead of the one Lord Sugar envisaged.
I'm speculating, but I suspect that the teams were restricted in terms of how many times they could restock. Definitely once at the end of day 1 after their trestle table trials, and then I wonder if they were only allowed to restock once during day 2? The reality probably was that restocking was too time-consuming an exercise to consider doing more than once anyway. It's not as if the wholesalers are right outside the Arndale - I'm guessing it was probably a good 90-minute round trip that took two team members away from sales.

It's also implied that Gary leaving it late to restock was an error. I'm not so sure. Remember, they could only restock as much as the cash they had in the till would allow them. So at the start of day 2, both teams would have had minimal cash available (having spent most of it on stock). By lunchtime they would have had some but not necessarily that much. Then with every passing hour the cash pile increased.

By leaving it later in the day, Gary ensured he could buy the maximum amount of stock and then focus on selling it through at a low (but still profitable) price in the final hour or so. Whatever stock was left would have been valued at cost price, so it wouldn't have penalised the team.

I might have gone maybe 30-60 minutes earlier than Gary did but if the teams only had one chance to restock, I'm not convinced what he did is as wrong as it was made out to be either. He was really thinking like a retailer, going for 'just in time' replenishment (after a fashion).
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Old 20-11-2015, 14:32
POTD
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I couldn't work out why stocking up was so crucial at the end of Day 1, when surely they could have gone at the beginning of Day 2 as wholesalers presumably open well before the Arndale centre?
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Old 20-11-2015, 14:33
koantemplation
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Gary.

Just in case anyone doesn't get the reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug7jf75OiNQ
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Old 20-11-2015, 15:21
Maxatoria
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I couldn't work out why stocking up was so crucial at the end of Day 1, when surely they could have gone at the beginning of Day 2 as wholesalers presumably open well before the Arndale centre?
The bigger wholesalers can be open from about 7am ish till 7pm but these seemed to be smaller outfits and probably the Arndale centre didn't want them traipsing through the centre with arm fulls of stock knocking customers over
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Old 20-11-2015, 16:07
acid rain
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His face screams dreariness. It's the type of face you see on a drizzly, cold, morning commute at 7am, that you look at and think "that about sums up the mood right now". Looking at him sends a shiver of dread down my spine, you can't picture him anywhere else but in an office, wearing anything other than a grey suit. He just epitomises the drudgery of work.

I know that's harsh but I just can't shake that feeling every time I see him.

It's not just the face. It's his voice as well.
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Old 20-11-2015, 20:16
BillyBatty
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Gary.

Just in case anyone doesn't get the reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug7jf75OiNQ
Gary!
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Old 20-11-2015, 23:01
Monkseal
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Why on earth would people restock constantly? It removes 40% of your sales force for over an hour at a time. If you're not running out of stuff, don't go. They were hardly making massive margins on the stuff.

I thought Gary got a rough deal in the edit to be honest. His initial pricing strategy was dumb but otherwise I think the team was led well (certainly nobody issued any complaints in the boardroom). Focusing on making sure the shop looked attractive and well-organised (compared to the misery bombsite of the other team) was very important, but they showed him doing it interspersed with shots of frowny-face Claude and jokes about "Toilet World". It just felt like a hatchet job because Gary's the "Invisible Candidate" this year.
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Old 20-11-2015, 23:20
Maxatoria
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Why on earth would people restock constantly? It removes 40% of your sales force for over an hour at a time. If you're not running out of stuff, don't go. They were hardly making massive margins on the stuff.
You don't replace when you've ran out of stock but at the same times you need to understand the fact that you have to take in travel time etc into account but with 3 of you doing sales at such a small spot it'll be fine

its a smell what sells task and as such you just need to ensure the public get what they want when they want as LS aint charging for the transport etc so if you go every hour it costs you no more than once a day and as lord sid said he didn't mind people not selling if they was pulling their weight in other ways
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