LAST WEEK'S FAVORITES

Samir is back, and apparently he is not *the* man in charge. There is an official General Manager on the scene now who appears to know what he's doing (more so than Samir, anyway), so we're assuming Samir is actually the Front Office manager or something. This certainly doesn't explain why Samir is running around the kitchen tasting dishes for the restaurant, especially since we met the F&B director in this second episode as well. But hey, we learned not to ask questions last week. We dislike Samir more.

Our friend Andrea has decided to take the Director of Catering, the inexperienced and super-stressed Michael, to do yoga with her in the interest of professional development. Ummm... ok. More on Michael in a minute.

Nathan, the dorky/cute/immature actor hired to play the roomservice guy, continues to screw up the simplest tasks for our entertainment. Also, memo to Nathan and the Parker staff: when a guest calls and asks for ice-- no matter what the quantity-- it is not polite or professional to ask them why they need the ice. It's not costing you anything. It's frozen water. It's also not nice to call a guest weird if he's hiding under his sheets when said ice is delivered, considering, you know, there's a huge camera crew accompanying the delivery.

THE JONATHAN ADLER SITUATION

Jonathan Adler designed (this term is thrown around a lot-- we're thinking he just picked out the decor) the property and took the opportunity to roll on into the Parker and piss off the GM in spectacular fashion.

Accompanied by a dog named Liberace (seriously), Adler picked on the teensiest lobby details and demanded the management hire a "fluffer" to fluff the pillows and over-the-top window treatments around the hotel. Samir was all for it. The HR dragon lady was not.

Ok, the guy decorated the hotel. That's it. As the GM said, now that the property is up and running, he needs to lay off and let the "experts" do their jobs.

The end of the episode featured a nice little argument between Adler and the GM. The GM didn't want pets to be allowed in the hotel anymore and Adler wouldn't hear of it. In a stunning display of manliness and fine professional judgment, the two of them settled the dispute with a game of ping pong. (What is with this show and ping pong?)

Adler won the duel. His victory speech: "I mean, ugh. What's next, are they not going to allow children in this hotel?" Um, come to think of it, has anyone seen a single child on the show yet?

Much to the relief of the GM, Jonathan did eventually leave the property, but not before installing a vintage sign in the lobby that says "DRUGS"...no, seriously. Also in this scene, we see our roomservice buddy walking right on through the lobby carrying a tray full of dirty dishes like it's totally cool.

MICHAEL THE ALL-STAR CATERING MANAGER

While Jonathan Adler obsessed over annoying details, catering manager Michael was busy not caring about any details at all!

Bacardi (the booze people) wanted to hold a marketing summit or some such at The Parker and Michael was put in charge of the account. He messed up almost everything there was to mess up, took no responsibility when the pastry chef threw a hissy fit about being asked to make cupcakes on her day off , and then addressed his mistakes with what should become every catering manager's personal motto in five-star hotels everywhere. Let's see, it was something along the lines of "I can't imagine the guests will even care; they'll be so happy to be in Palm Springs that they won't be looking at details."

LESBIAN SCAVENGER HUNT

The concierge, John, seemed to be the only employee on last night's show who acted professional and actually did his job. In a super cute and totally Bravo-esque portion of the episode, he helped a newlywed lesbian couple have the perfect romantic weekend at the resort, complete with a scavenger hunt. He is now our favorite and can rock that pink jacket like nobody we've ever seen.

Ok, this show can not be good for the Parker's reputation at all. What are they thinking?

More importantly, what are your thoughts on this? Comment away!

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· Welcome to the Parker :: Season Premiere [HotelChatter]