My intention was to tuck the kids into bed and immediately get to work on a post about Dave Bing’s announcement that he wouldn’t seek a second term as Mayor of Detroit. Unfortunately, though, that’s not what happened. Instead of getting right to work, I decided to dip my toe into the sea of crazy that is Amy’s Baking Company. “I’ll just take a few minutes to see what all the fuss is about,” I thought. Now, four hours later, I find myself treading water in the middle of said sea, completely disoriented, with no land in sight, trying to figure out just how it was that I got here.
For those fortunate few who have yet to make the acquaintance of Scottsdale, Arizona restaurant owners Amy “You people are all shit” and Samy “Get out” Bouzaglo, here’s the episode of chef Gordon Ramsay’s reality series Kitchen Nightmares that brought the irate, delusional and paranoid couple to the forefront of America’s collective consciousness.
For what it’s worth, I don’t generally watch so-called “reality” television, as I don’t believe that those suffering from serious personality disorders should be manipulated and exploited for our entertainment. For some reason, though, I can’t seem to pull away from this. I keep telling myself that, fro the good of my soul, I need to move on to something better, but yet I continue to sit here, following links, mouth agape, reading up on the stealing of tips, the selling of packaged food items as homemade, and the history of fraud. From Amy’s epic social media melt-down that followed the show’s airing earlier this week, to the inevitable claims on behalf of the Bouzaglos that it had been the work of hackers, the story just doesn’t seem to want to quit… offering one lesson after another on how not to run a business in today’s highly-connected world. Today, a former Amy’s Baking Company waitress even took to Reddit, answering questions. And the “Crazy Amy” memes, as you might expect, have begun to propagate across the internet like mad. I want desperately to sleep, but I can’t make myself log out. Maybe it’s that I dream of opening a restaurant of my own one day, and fear that I might meet a similar fate, but I find all of this incredibly fascinating, and don’t want to miss a single detail… I just hope the internet lynch mob, which has been gathering on Reddit the past few days, knows when to let up. I’d hate to see this end in tragedy, and, as of right now, I’d say that’s a distinct possibility.
I think it’s also worth noting that I’m not taking any pleasure in the destruction of this couple, even though, on the surface, it would appear as though they’re deserving of everything that’s happening. For reasons unknown to me, I just enjoy watching how businesses operate. Other folks like watching football. I like watching entrepreneurs navigate difficult situations. It’s weird, I know. I just find it fascinating. And this a goldmine.
32 Comments
Every business owner should see this. It’s better than an MBA.
Blogging is no different than reality television. Some people take their clothes off in a hot tub on television. Others film themselves painting Patrick Elkins’ fingernails. I am grateful, however, that we have been able to manipulate and exploit your personality disorders for our entertainment. I hope both you and Snooki never stop.
Luckily I had a video camera pointed at me when I was read Dennis’s comment.
http://i52.tinypic.com/125j42q.jpg
The difference is that Snooki and company have prostituted themselves to producers who encourage them to engage in self-destructive behavior in order to attract ratings, with no consideration of the long term negative ramifications. In Mark’s case, he does the editing, and he knows how to present things in such a way as not to detract from his credibility. It’s one thing to be funny. It’s quite another to sell your soul and destroy your life for a shot at fleeting fame. (Did you read about the Teen Mom star transitioning to porn?) You’re right, though, there are similarities between blogging and reality television. That can’t be denied.
From the Reddit AMA with ABC server Katy Cipriano:
katycipriano[S] 2321 points 18 hours ago: “the episode was shot in december so quite a while ago and none of amy or samy’s actions were staged. people may have purposely sent back their food or falsely complained for a chance to be on tv, but that’s about it. everything else was 100% real.”
From an online review of the restaurant:
“Amy’s Baking Company is like a strange vortex of hateful negativity and incompetence that somehow squeezed itself through a sh1t-stained wormhole connecting our world to Restaurant Hell.
As a diner, you can replicate this experience at less cost by hiring someone to loudly yell obscenities like a tourettes sufferer while you eat dirt and birdsh1t cake.”
It’s also been suggested that the company is a money laundering operation.
http://pastebin.com/Sm865BWi
This all started in 2010 when Yelp blew up with bad reviews for Amy’s Baking Company. Amy responded angrily, and it made the local television news.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nexQhKIx39Q
From what I’ve read, they reached out to Ramsay thinking that he’d come to their restaurant and prove their haters wrong. (They must have never seen the show.)
It’s really sad. They’re completely delusional.
However, now we all know the name of a restaurant in Phoenix. Remember, no publicity is bad publicity.
It worked for the Soup Nazi in NY, after Seinfeld. People wanted to go just to hear him yell. Maybe this will be similar.
All your tip belong to us.
Im sure that they are being approached about distributing their products and franchising their restaurant. I doubt the people approaching them are legitimate and well intentioned, but I know there’s interest in ABC as a result of this.
We watched this last night…total entertainment for Boyfriend Ken & me (and the cat who happened to wander downstairs to watch with us). My favorite by far was the customer who Samy was yelling at and practically hitting…he was all, “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” and cool as hell. I also loved when Samy started screaming that he was the gangster to Chef Ramsey.
I hope that the servers all got awesome new jobs because of this publicity.
I just had a meeting at work and, I kid you not, we are likely going to use this Kitchen Nightmares episode as a kind of customer service “How Not To Do It” training video.
There are so many wrong things that are so perfectly and unambiguously illustrated by the behavior of these two. Sometimes people do some of the things that Amy and Samy do, but they do it to a less intense extent which may then be easier to defend.
The extreme examples that this show presents should be great “how could someone handle that differently” discussion-starters. Best part is, because Ramsay quit on them, there is no closure – no “this is the right way to fix it.” It’s deliciously open-ended.
an amy’s baking company would be a welcome addition to water street.
Holy shit, you guys…read their Yelp reviews. But go back to the earlier ones. Bonus points when you find the reference to the “camel toe mafia” pussies.
Sometimes these internet stories really do take a turn toward the dark.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/kai-hatchet-welding-hitchhiker-wanted
We don’t need Amy. We have Karen Maurer.
They’re reopening Tuesday with a cyber-bullying fundraiser.
Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/amys-baking-company-reopening_n_3287693.html
I find Kitchen Nightmares to be very informative. Shows exactly what not to do. I also think that Gordon Ramsay may actually be a hero of the people. Watching several episodes, he basically goes into a business and tells the owner that they’re assholes or stupid or should have never opened a business in the first place.
stop trying to play the “I ust glanced and now I can’t stop gawking” card. makes you come off as an idiot. you’re just as interested to see these people come falling down just as much as everyone else. get off your high horse. moron.
Yeah, get of your high horse, Moroun.
Mark just found it funny because he got high with a horse?
Thank you for the righteous bud and the friendship, Mr. Maynard.
Ramsey News:
U.K. tabloid Sunday Sport recently introduced the world to Percy Foster, a 35-year-old dwarf porn star whose career was just beginning to catch fire. It was all because an observant production assistant on the set of Hi-Ho Hi-Ho, It’s Up Your Arse We Go had noticed how much Foster looked like celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. But just as Foster was set to join the rarefied ranks of celebrity lookalike dwarf porn stars, tragedy struck: The body of the 3′ 6″ performer has been discovered in a badger’s den, partially eaten.
According to Sunday Sport’s follow-up account, Foster was found “deep in an underground chamber by Ministry of Agriculture experts ahead of a planned badger-gassing programme near Tregaron, west Wales.” They write that “expert CSI teams had to use fingertip technology to remove his body from the six-foot-deep burrow.” (I have no idea what fingertip technology is, but I imagine it’s akin to one of those claw cranes you find in arcades and drugstores.)
Officials have not yet ruled out suicide, and adult film producer Dexter Yamunkeh’s comments — in which he intimates that Foster may have cracked under the pressures of being the world’s leading Gordon Ramsay-lookalike-sex-dwarf — certainly don’t invalidate the possibility:
“Percy was a little guy with big problems. He was doing well but he was under pressure, 24/7, like everyone in this goddamned business.”
http://gawker.com/5839596/gordon-ramsays-porn-dwarf-double-eaten-by-badger
Ummm, you really don’t believe this complete BS do you?
Tell us the truth, Robert. Was the celebrity lookalike dwarf porn star really John Candy? Did you measure his ear lobe?
anonymous, YOU ARE AN IDIOT.
Science doesn’t lie, People do.
If nothing is real, and all the world’s events are just being acted out by actris playing parts, how di you know it’s not all just in your head? How do you know that all of this isn’t a dream taking place in the head of a cosmonaut?
anonymous, refer to my first post to you, a couple before this.
Good Luck.
There’s also Sava! Italiano in Texas.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/sava-italiano-farewell-note_n_3880776.html