Mary, Queen of Shops- Did anyone see it?

The ever fragrant Mary had a interesting clash with a bakery owner in south west London!

Its rare to see someone that insecure AND needlessly rude (an attractive combination!) and it made for at times jaw dropping TV.

Nightmarish employer too! I even hear there is now a facebook group to save Paul her beleaguered baker!

If you didnt catch it- try the bbc iplayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sr463/b00sr3nj/Mary_Queen_of_Shops_Series_3_Maher_and_Sons/

 

I saw it, what I dont understand is, why call Mary in, if you can't take the advice?
Mary was spot on!

 

Take advice you say???

Why would she need to take advice? She's been doing this for 36 years!

Did you hear me? 36 years! :D

 

lol...

Hmmmm, yet she admitted a drop in profit in recent years!, I just dont get these people. they want to improve BUT dont want to change...huh:skp:

 

Yes, a shameless example of someone who thought they'd get a bit of a refit and some free publicity out of the programme but didn't want anything else. I thought her cakes looked like the sort of thing you only eat when very, very depressed ... and then end up feeling sick and even more depressed.

Couldn't believe it when the nasty old hag told that award-winning baker that he 'looked a bit tired'. Maybe I have low standards but I thought he looked pretty fantastic for a man with four small kids and a job which involves very long hours.

 

lol Clare, I love your description of her cakes!
Her baker is very underappreciated and seriously needs to get a new job!

 

I also saw that programme for the first time the other night and was disgusted at the way she spoke to Mary and also Paul her baker.I too couldn't understand why she bothered to call her in for help only to be nasty.I expect she was hoping for free advertising for her shop:p

I also like watching the Hotel Inspector as I like to see the luxurious accomadation of Hotels I am missing when I go away in my caravan,but looking at the state of some of those expensive rooms and the way they talk to the hotel inspector i see I am not missing much:hehe:

There is also a programme{the name escapes me} where those toffs have their large statley homes that are getting run down along with the gardens and they too call in help and then don't want to listen on how to put things right and stop their large pile falling into a large pile of ruin.:D

I think the thing is with these programmes is that people want their five minutes of fame but don't like what they are being told,although we only see the edited programme for the tele which makes the people who call in people like Mary etc look like villans,but in the case of the bread shop one I think she was a nasty piece of work.Having said that though they will probably make her rich by putting her on all these chat and quiz shows etc,like they did that Jade Goodey when she was nasty on BB:D

 

We agree with all statements above, but it does make interesting TV !

 

Clara- the woman's attitude to the young master baker had me hiding behind my hands. SOOO cringey- just beyond rude- you get that hot prickly feeling when you're full of embarrasment for someone!

Kandy - you were talking about Country House Rescue! I really love that show

The buildings are usually incredible and of course it makes great telly when the owners are rude and stubborn and refuse to budge even a little bit.

I always wonder if Channel 4 hook the owners up with money or access to financial advice because its hard to believe that banks lend tens of thousands to some of these people.

Masses of potential and opportunity that some people get handed down to them.

 

At one point she barked something like 'you could just be doing it for the money'. Yes, I suppose becoming an artisan breadmaker is the obvious choice if you're the avaricious sort - baking is sooooo the new banking. I think she disliked him because he was young, excellent at his job and above all enthusiastic about it. Watching her slapping goo on the tops of her horrible cakes in that desultory way made me wonder whether she wouldn't have been happier bunging creosote on fences.

Wonder also how many takers she has had for her 'pre-mixed specialist breads' which the BBC helpfully flagged up at the end of the programme!

 

Banks don't lend these people money usually, hence the need for them to go on TV. But as already been stated, it's a combination of seeking their 15 minutes of fame, the chance of a refit/redecorate and some free publicity.

I love Country House Rescue. I think a lot of these owners are so overwhelmed by the scale of work required on their properties thatt hey can't see the wood for the trees and need someone new and fresh coming in to tell them what to do. Perhaps the easiest thing for them would be to sell up, but when your family has owned, lived and loved a house/garden for centuries, stepping away from it can't be easy. From what I've heard, a lot of the aristocracy view themselves as 'tenants' of their estates, holding them 'in trust' in order to pass on to their descendants.

 

I caught the last few minutes and 36 years was mentioned about 5 times - Im assuming the whole programme must have mentioned 36 years a couple of (hundred) more times ??? - really funny when she was upstairs and wouldnt come down cos she didnt want to talk - 36 years as a spoilt schoolchild more like ??

 

Struck me as a stubborn, arrogant, egocentric fool.

The constant " I've 26 years experience" made me laugh as it reminded me of a former colleague telling me about a training course he was running to introduce teachers to some curricular changes. At the end of the course one old bat stood up pulled on her little wooly hat and exclaimed "I've never heard such rubbish in all my 20 years experience." Not a man to suffer fools gladly or at all, he replied - "Don't you mean one year's experience repeated twenty times."

 

Thirty-six years, Dave. Don't you go short-changing her.

PS I loved the dark brown cakes which had the word 'coffee' iced across them. In case you couldn't place the taste. :rotfl:

 

Ooops!:dh: Though in her case I doubt if ten years more would make any significant difference.