Kitchen Nightmares Goes USA!

[Wookey]

That manager was truly crap, though.

I'm not saying I wouldn't have managed him out myself if his skills truly were that below par - but managing someone out is not the same as bullying them out.

I don't know what labour protection law is like in the US, nor what unions are like, but we have something called 'constructive dismissal' in the UK, and Gordon Ramsey was as guilty of that as I've ever seen anyone be. In this country, he would have been opening the restaurant, it's owners, any larger chain and/or shareholders up to a protracted and expensive court case, which they would (with filmed evidence like I saw) have lost.

That is unprofessional, and lacks the kind of management skill I would expect a man of Ramsey's stature to possess. I thought he was way more clever than that, I'm sadly disappointed in his heavy-handed approach. One can only assume there is a difference between UK and US employment law which he felt able to exploit?

 

[Wookey]

Even thought that manager was completely unfit for and incapable of doing the job he was supposed to be doing, I have got to agree with this. I used to think he was alright and that he's just playing the wanker for the camera, cos it's entertaining. But Ramsay showed himself to be a complete and utter cunt. Which is a shame really, because the idea of the programme is really good - it's just a shame that he had to display some of the worst personality traits I've seen on TV in a long time (which ain't hard - I rarely watch it )

There's a line that you have to cross before you've gone too far... Ramsay went a few miles past 'too far'

I used to like what I was watching... not anymore. He deserves a taste of his own medicine IMO - public humiliation in his own restaurant perhaps,

Completely agree - I usually like his straight-forward no-nonsense approach, even the swearing can be fun to watch as long as he's giving his targets the opportunity for redemption.

But what happened in this episode was different, he wanted that man out, and he did whatever it took to engineer it way beyond professional standards.

He might as well have threatened to deck the poor bastard, he'd have got the same result. Strangely, we have laws against that too.

 

[Gromit]

A difficult one for me. That manager got what he deserved but as Wookey has so eloquently put that doesn't make it right.

Mind you the owner would have been fully within his rights to just outright sack him which was where Gordon was trying to steer the owner before the manager jumped the gun and quit. The video evidence would have backed up a sacking too. The standards in that kitchen were clearly unacceptable.

 

[Herbsman.]

i felt sick when i seen all that rotting shit and all them creepy crawlies.

the guy did deserve to get sacked...
but,,,

well...

its 'reality' tv innit

nasty shit happens and that nasty shit is supposed to be entertainment

boundaries are broken...

decency goes out the window

 

[Wookey]

A difficult one for me. That manager got what he deserved but as Wookey has so eloquently put that doesn't make it right.

Mind you the owner would have been fully within his rights to just outright sack him which was where Gordon was trying to steer the owner before the manager jumped the gun and quit. The video evidence would have backed up a sacking too. The standards in that kitchen were clearly unacceptable.

The standards in the kitchen were unnacceptable - but in order for that to be a gross misconduct sacking offence in the UK, the owner would have to be able to prove they had adequately trained the manager in health and hygene, staff management, etc - any indication that the manager was not given support/funds/training in tackling the hygene issue and was then sacked for it would be grounds for unfair dismissal. Depending on the contracts and years worked, he could have expected verbal and written warnings asking him to address these issues before he could be dismissed.

Of course, this all takes time, and Kitchen Nightmares only has a week to film.

I've never seen Ramsey try this approach in the UK, and I can only suspect it's because he knows full well UK law could well fuck him over for trying.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I'm not saying I wouldn't have managed him out myself if his skills truly were that below par - but managing someone out is not the same as bullying them out.

I don't know what labour protection law is like in the US, nor what unions are like, but we have something called 'constructive dismissal' in the UK, and Gordon Ramsey was as guilty of that as I've ever seen anyone be.

I think 'constructive dismissal' exists in all the common law jurisdictions. It happens when you remove so many of the features of a person's job that it isn't really the same job anymore.

 

[Dandred]

I've watched all the yank ones and they are very poor compared to the British version.

The editing is poor but what is worse is the constant repeats of what just happened, also at the beginning of the show they show all the highlights, and then repeat them after each and every add break.........Do North American really have such short attention spans?

 

[zippypinhead]

The editing is terrible and totally unnecessary cuts of the shows participants describing what just happened. What is really annoying is some of characters in the US version are so bizarre it would be difficult to make them up. US does wierd, deluded people like nowhere else on earth.

Watch the US 'Sebastains' episode if that show was done UK style it would be a TV classic.

 

[Melinda]

Oh Sebastian was a total fruitcake! And nasty as fuck with it. The guy was maniacally deluded!

 

[Idris2002]

The English lad's lawsuit may have been thrown out, but if the link below is any guide, there may well have been more to that episode than met the eye:

http://www.observer.com/2007/he-can-t-hyde-chef-gordon-ramsay-s-nemesis-surfaces-swish-car-service

As for Ramsay, he's basically Jeremy Clarkson without the charm or human decency.

 

[MightyAphrodite]

i like him

he sure does like to drop the F bomb though dont he?

hes got more 'worry lines' or 'frown lines' than anyone ive ever seen anywhere!!

doesnt he have a show called hells kitchen or something too?? is that the same premise?