The friendship between Laura and Perla seemed extremely one sided. Laura adored Perla, and Perla acted as if she couldn't care less. I could just imagine Perla laughing behind Laura's back at how big of a sucker she is, loving the fact she's getting paid as a head chef for essentially just microwaving food. It was really awkward and kinda sad.
shareI have always thought the same thing. Laura obviously cared for Perla very much, but Perla seemed to see Laura as nothing but a paycheck.
shareThe friendship between Laura and Perla seemed extremely one sided. Laura adored Perla, and Perla acted as if she couldn't care less. I could just imagine Perla laughing behind Laura's back at how big of a sucker she is, loving the fact she's getting paid as a head chef for essentially just microwaving food. It was really awkward and kinda sad.I'm not sure I feel the same way. That's because it's hard for me to gauge how Perla really feels, or what she's really like, since English is not her first language. What I mean is that it's obvious that speaking English takes a concerted effort on her part--kind of like me, now, when I try to speak French. When you're concentrating so hard on just saying a sentence or two in a foreign language, other stuff falls by the wayside. I think if we could've heard Perla speaking in her native tongue, freely, about the situation, she might come off differently.
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Grace, you made a very interesting point. I had never thought of the fact that Perla spoke limited English. If she were able to really express herself, we would have a better picture of her feelings. As for speaking French, my daughter is taking it in school and she and my husband speak it all of the time. It irritates me because I forgot most of what I learned, my husband retained his much better, so I can't follow them!
shareI understand your point, and I did think of it when watching the episode, but it was also in her body language during her interactions with Laura.
Laura seemed to stress how amazing Perla is and how they've been together forever, and it really did not seem that way when we saw them together. Laura clearly cares about Perla, crying over her and comforting her, but Perla didn't seem to mimic those actions. Like in the scene where Laura is crying and rubbing Perla's arm telling her everything is going to be okay; Perla just sort of stands there looking upset, but her body language is very closed off compared to Laura's. I just find this funny because even with the language barrier, if they really had been together forever then you'd think Perla would be comfortable physically with Laura, even if she found it difficult to say it out loud. It is always Laura's arms around Perla, or Laura reaching out to her, Laura is the one saying the good things; Perla does none of these things. Laura hugs her and Perla never hugs back.
Perla also does talk to the camera directly, and her English isn't awful, but the nicest thing she says about Laura is that Laura "is really nice" to her. She doesn't say she's a good friend, or even that she likes her. That's quite the contrast to the way Laura talks about Perla. This is why it seems to blatantly one sided.
I see the point you're making, honeybadgerdontgivea, and can't really disagree with the examples you've given. But I still think the language barrier may be involved--along with the stressfulness of being filmed for the show.
Perhaps Perla, as an employee, didn't feel comfortable being physically demonstrative with Laura, the owner, on-camera. Maybe when the TV crew wasn't around, their relationship was different.
It's also possible that Perla, being Hispanic--which frowns on homosexuality--was worried that people might get the wrong idea about her and Laura.
I can think off all kinds of reasons that someone in Perla's situation might come off looking distant/disconnected from another person, without necessarily FEELING that way.
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You're right, it is very hard to know how their friendship really is from watching a heavily edited tv show, I just felt frustrated watching it, like watching a really nice, loving girlfriend be shunned and ignored by her boyfriend, haha.
You could be right on all points, or Perla could simply not like Laura nearly as much as Laura likes her, or it could be a combination of all those factors. I think I just felt that Perla doesn't care much about Laura because there was nothing to tell me otherwise, yet we have Laura going on and on about how Perla is "like family" to her.
It's nice that you're sticking up for Perla though, it is always good to have another perspective.
I'll admit that playing devil's advocate is sort of a thing for me.
But, seriously, we're not given enough information in these highly edited shows to know what's what in real life.
I think I just felt that Perla doesn't care much about Laura because there was nothing to tell me otherwise, yet we have Laura going on and on about how Perla is "like family" to her.You just made me think of something else! You may have hit it right there: WHY does Laura go on and on about how she adores Perla and how Perla is like family to her? Because--when the cameras aren't there--they're REALLY close! A person doesn't get to feel the way Laura expressed about Perla in a one-way relationship.
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It's also possible that Perla, being Hispanic--which frowns on homosexuality--was worried that people might get the wrong idea about her and Laura.
I thought Laura was very attractive. It seemed she had a successful catering business then pissed away the money on a horrible restaurant. She should have stuck with catering.
I didn't get Perla. ASL (American Sign Language) is my second language. My signing isn't perfect or pretty. But if I was signing and was in Perla's shoes it would be obvious that I gave a crap.
Perla always came off as a bit simple to me. All we really see of her is that she laugh's, jokes, gossips and eats tidbits with her staff when in the kitchen, never offers any constructive information as to what could be made better in regards to food prep, etc. When she is confronted, all she is able to offer is big cow eyes, a worried expression and completely shutting off from the situation. As far as the language barrier, I would think that with the amount of time she and Laura had been working together they would know how to communicate but when the kitchen is completely overwhelmed and Laura is begging Perla to step up and do something, she is just immobilized. Whether this is by design or genuine incompetence is a matter of speculation. I personally think from viewing that Laura had been enabling her for way too long and Perla was simply incapable of handling more than by the book- manual reheating of precooked food on a large scale. In a smaller scale situation with no decisions needed she would most likely be able to keep up as long as there is someone to oversee it all.
"You met me at a very strange time in my life"
Head Chef to me smacks of organisation, control and know what you are doing. Perla had non of these. When Laura took the rains it was like night and day in the kitchen. Perla just stood there. Even with guidance from Gordon's chef, she just stood there. Totally out of her depth. You can't run a business like that. I would have demoted Perla to something she could cope with and hire another chef who knew what they were doing, which happened in the end.
SkiesAreBlue
Head Chef to me smacks of organisation, control and know what you are doing. Perla had non of these.Exactly. She was in way over her head.
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