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[Ava Bockenstedt]: Thank you, Josie and Melanie, for talking about Chapter 11 on Family and Marriage Relationships.
[Ava]: We will be moving on to Chapter 13 of the second edition of Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach to Relationships, written by Wrench and others in 2025.
[Natalie Naber]: In this episode, we will be talking about how work relationships are portrayed in TV shows, specifically New Girl and Emily in Paris.
[Ava]: Hi, I'm Ava and I will be focusing on Emily in Paris.
[Natalie]: And I'm Natalie and I will be focusing on New Girl.
[Natalie]: Let's get into it.
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[Ava]: Today, we will be discussing how TV shows portray workplace relationships through interpersonal communication.
[Natalie]: Chapter 13 focuses on communication at work, including leadership styles, workplace conflict, problematic coworkers, bosses, subordinates, and more.
[Natalie]: These ideas were easy to spot in our focus TV shows.
[Natalie]: I focused on New Girl, which is a sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether.
[Natalie]: It premiered on Fox on September 20th of 2011, and ran for seven seasons, ending on May 15th of 2018.
[Natalie]: New Girl is about Jessica Day, who is a quirky schoolteacher who moves into a loft in Los Angeles, California with three men, Nick, Schmidt, and Winston, after she was cheated on.
[Natalie]: The show follows their everyday lives as they navigate work, friendships, and romantic relationships, highlighting their personal growth and the ups and downs of adulthood.
[Natalie]: Over time, the group forms a family-like relationship as they support each other through their challenges.
[Natalie]: It is a series that balances humor and heartfelt moments.
[Ava]: Now let's get into Emily in Paris.
[Ava]: Emily in Paris is basically a fun rom-com drama series on Netflix that came out on October 2nd in 2020.
[Ava]: It follows Emily, who's working at a marketing agency in Chicago and suddenly gets this opportunity to move to Paris for work.
[Ava]: Once she's there, she runs into all kinds of cultural differences and has to figure out how to adjust to a totally new way of living.
[Ava]: At the same time, her life gets pretty complicated with different relationships, friendships, and of course, a few love triangles.
[Ava]: The show follows her as she navigates work challenges, dating, and just enjoying life in Paris.
[Ava]: Overall, it's a super easy and fun show to watch.
[Natalie]: Now let's get into some specific examples from the show.
[Natalie]: First, I'm gonna start with an example from New Girl.
[Natalie]: Problem bosses, so one example of problem bosses in the chapter is the toxic boss.
[Natalie]: So, Wrench and others in 2025 explained that toxic bosses are just all around problematic in the workplace.
[Natalie]: Toxic bosses are often seen as unethical, obnoxious, and unprofessional by their subordinates.
[Natalie]: In New Girl, Season 5, Episode 11, "The Apartment", Jess gets a new boss, Principal Cavatappi, who assigns her the responsibility of managing the school budget.
[Natalie]: This is normally a task that belongs to the principal, and as Jess points out, it's a week's worth of work, yet she is expected to finish it in a single night.
[Natalie]: After completing the budget and presenting it, Jess is immediately given another assignment.
[Natalie]: She was asked to develop ideas for the school's science curriculum with instructions to then sign the principal's name when it was done.
[Natalie]: Since getting hired as the new principal, Principal Cavatappi has just handed all her responsibilities while still taking full credit.
[Natalie]: Eventually, this treatment led Jess to quit her job.
[Ava]: That really sucks for her that she had to end up quitting her job.
[Natalie]: Yeah.
[Ava]: It makes you wonder, why do you think Jess stayed as long as she did before she finally decided to quit?
[Natalie]: If you watch the show New Girl you can totally see that Jess loves her job as a teacher.
[Natalie]: She is very passionate for teaching. I think she was just- Since she is so passionate,
[Natalie]: she was just trying to get through the hard situation with the new principal, but after a while it was just too much to handle, um. So, yeah.
[Ava]: Have you ever been in a situation where you were given responsibilities that weren't really yours and how did you handle it?
[Natalie]: Me personally, I have not experienced this in my job.
[Natalie]: However, at my first job in my hometown, my manager and then one of my friends that worked at this place, they did not get along.
[Natalie]: She was given responsibilities by the manager to do many things that, um,
[Natalie]: not a lot of the other people at the same level had to do.
[Natalie]: She was at the same level as me.
[Natalie]: I was never responsible for doing this.
[Natalie]: It wasn't in her job title.
[Natalie]: She was responsible for things that were more of like a management, um, position.
[Natalie]: So that really stressed her out and she actually did end up quitting.
[Natalie]: So just like Jess, she was overwhelmed by the work that our manager was giving her to do, and she didn't have the time and it wasn't in her job description, so.
[Natalie]: It was just too much for her.
[Ava]: Yeah, that really shows that it does matter how the manager treats their employees.
[Natalie]: Yes, it really does.
[Ava]: Okay, now we will get on to manipulation in the workplace.
[Ava]: Emily's boss likes to manipulate Emily into thinking her ideas are too dumb and way too American.
[Ava]: Wrench and others wrote in the text that examples of manipulation in the workplace are "uses of demagoguatory
[Ava]: gains compliance by exploiting fear, pre-justice, or ignorance, patronizes, or is consending towards other" on page 558.
[Ava]: In season 1, episode 3, Emily comes up with a new perfume campaign and her boss Sylvie invalidates it by telling her she is too American and forces her to go with her way in the campaign.
[Ava]: Sylvie was very ignorant towards Emily, making her feel useless and pitching in new ideas.
[Ava]: Throughout the first season, Sylvie really manipulates Emily into thinking she's not worth living in Paris and that really anything she comes up with is way too American for the Paris life that she is living,
[Ava]: which you can tell it kind of affects Emily's confidence when she comes up with new ideas because she knows that her boss, Sylvie, is just gonna manipulate her into thinking that she's not fit enough for this job.
[Natalie]: Wow. Do you think that the way Sylvie responds is cultural or purely manipulative?
[Ava]: I think a mix of both.
[Ava]: People in Paris are kind of more reserved into themselves and don't like to go out of their way for others.
[Ava]: They kind of show that in the show when they're out to eat and things like that.
[Ava]: No one will say like, please and thank you.
[Ava]: Just like the things we say here in America is totally opposite over there.
[Ava]: And on the other hand, Sylvie does not like Emily.
[Ava]: So kind of like when she showed up in Paris, she just did not like that she was from America.
[Ava]: So it was already bad from the start.
[Ava]: So I think it's just kind of a mix that she doesn't like that she's from America.
[Ava]: But also, Emily kind of has to adapt to this type of leadership, which is different from when she was in Chicago.
[Natalie]: Got it.
[Natalie]: How does this example connect to a real-life workplace dynamic that you have seen or experienced in the real world?
[Ava]: Yeah, I personally have not experienced manipulation in the workplace firsthand, but I have heard about it from my mom.
[Ava]: Her old boss was super manipulative and was super rude to all the employees.
[Ava]: It was not just my mom. I remember her kind of coming home and complaining and saying,
[Ava]: she would bring her ideas to her boss and she would just shut them down right away.
[Ava]: And a lot of the employees would kind of talk together and figure out how they could get their ideas passed to her boss, but it never really worked.
[Ava]: And her boss would always say that her ideas were better.
[Ava]: So, now my mom is actually the boss now.
[Ava]: So she has been working on making sure that everyone and their ideas are being heard.
[Natalie]: Wow, that's really unfortunate, but period to your mom for being the boss now.
[Natalie]: All right, moving on to another example from New Girl.
[Natalie]: We got problem coworkers. So one of those examples is abrasive and incompetent harasser.
[Natalie]: So Wrench and others explained in 2025 that an abrasive, incompetent harasser coworker is an individual who is highly uncivil in the workplace with particular emphasis on sexually harassing behavior.
[Natalie]: It's viewed as incompetent and unprofessional in the workplace.
[Natalie]: So in New Girl Season 2, Episode 7, "Menzies", Schmidt meets one of his coworkers, Emma, at work, who immediately behaves in a highly sexual way towards him.
[Natalie]: As she aggressively grabs his face and bites his ear during one of their interactions at work, his friends point out that it sounds like harassment, even though Schmidt himself says he enjoys it.
[Natalie]: The next time they interact, she asks him to sign a contract before engaging in sexual activity so that he agrees not to talk to anyone about it afterwards.
[Natalie]: The two of them then engage in sexual behavior in the workplace.
[Natalie]: To many people, this would be seen as inappropriate workplace behavior.
[Natalie]: Therefore, I felt like Emma's actions fit this concept.
[Ava]: Uh, that's crazy that she bit his ear.
[Natalie]: Um, Yeah. Yep. [laughing]
[Natalie]: First interaction, by the way. [laughing]
[Ava]: Would you ever bite someone's ear? [Natalie]: Absolutely not. [laughing]
[Ava]: Why not? [laughing] [Natalie]: Just not my thing.
[Ava]: Well, [laughing] that's kind of crazy, but how might behavior like this affect other employees who witness it, even if people involved don't see an issue themselves?
[Natalie]: I think that for
[Natalie]: others, like in the real world, in New Girl, it doesn't really affect other people.
[Natalie]: I feel like Schmidt has a very interesting work environment, and his roommates think it's super odd, but his workplace and himself normalize it.
[Natalie]: But in the real world, I feel like this would immediately be something that is reported and not allowed, especially at the workplace.
[Natalie]: It's just a very odd situation.
[Ava]: Yeah, I don't know what I would do if I would see that in the workplace.
[Natalie]: I don't even hear about it very often happening, so.
[Ava]: Yeah, I've actually never heard about it happening.
[Ava]: That's kind of uncomfortable, but have you ever seen or heard of situations where workplace behavior seemed okay to one person but uncomfortable or inappropriate to others?
[Natalie]: Yes, so actually I have another example from my first ever job in my hometown.
[Natalie]: So we, it was mainly high school students and then we had
[Natalie]: a manager and then another employee who were really good friends, but they were like 35 years old.
[Natalie]: The manager and the employee, the employee, he often made very sexual jokes, um,
[Natalie]: around all of us because with the manager that would be normal with each other. They would laugh about it all the time.
[Natalie]: But then there's like these high school students and they're listening to this and they're like what is going on?
[Natalie]: This is so inappropriate like why is a 35 year old man talking about sexual things around all of us? Like even if the manager thinks it's okay because their friends like this is so
[Natalie]: not okay. So that's an example that I have where everyone else felt pretty uncomfortable in the situation besides himself and our manager.
[Ava]: That is really uncomfortable. Did you ever end up talking to your manager about it?
[Natalie]: No, because the manager was okay with it.
[Natalie]: And the owner, the owner wasn't really prevalent in the business, so it just kind of happened.
[Natalie]: No one ever really said anything because it was just, yeah, it was an interesting situation.
[Ava]: How long did you work there?
[Natalie]: I actually still work there. They no longer work there.
[Ava]: That's good. [Natalie]: After years, they were fired.
[Natalie]: Other things happened. It wasn't that situation that led to the firing. [laughing]
[Natalie]: But I go back during breaks, and I work there part time, but not as much as I used to.
[Ava]: Interesting. [Natalie]: Yeah.
[Ava]: OK. Well, back to Emily in Paris. [laughing]
[Natalie]: Yes. [Ava]: Little turn of events. [Natalie]: Yep.
[Ava]: Wrench and others wrote, "Directing leaders establish the basic role an individual has and the task they need to accomplish.
[Ava]: After setting these roles and tasks, the leader then monitors and oversees these followers closely.
[Ava]: From a communication perspective, these leaders tend to make decisions and then communicate them to their followers.
[Ava]: There tends to be little to no dialogue about either roles or tasks."
[Ava]: Emily's boss Sylvie uses a direct leadership style.
[Ava]: Sylvie tells Emily what to do but does not create a friendly relationship with her.
[Ava]: In season one, episode one, Sylvie does not like Emily and is very shorthanded with her and makes it known that she does not like her.
[Ava]: Um, again, this is really hard on Emily.
[Ava]: Emily is a very bubbly and happy person and just wants to be friends with everyone.
[Ava]: She kind of has that Midwest Nice to everyone.
[Ava]: And like I said before, in Paris, nobody is Midwest Nice.
[Ava]: They're very straightforward, not like friendly to anyone. They just mind their own business.
[Ava]: So this kind of really does affect Emily with this type of leadership style.
[Ava]: And she just kind of has to learn how to cooperate with this in the workplace.
[Natalie]: Wow. Does the relationship between them ever get better?
[Ava]: Later on in the show and season, I guess, they do kind of have to learn that they are stuck working together.
[Ava]: They don't really have that much of a choice.
[Ava]: So, when they do have to create ideas together, they have both have each teams and then they kind of have someone who is a third party and helps them make decisions.
[Ava]: So they're not really going head to head.
[Ava]: Later on, I don't want to spoil the show, but they do end up kind of like hanging out together, going on vacation, things like that, which I think that really shows how important that
[Ava]: relationship is between the employee and manager because after that, the business skyrocketed and they were super successful.
[Natalie]: Well, that's awesome.
[Natalie]: Have you ever had a boss that gave you similar vibes or experiences?
[Ava]: Again, I haven't had a specific example, but I have heard from a friend.
[Ava]: She would always come back after work talking about how her boss was kind of super rude and just pushed everything on her and not really a lot of other people that worked there.
[Ava]: And when she tried to explain to her boss that she was kind of feeling burnt out again, with like working so much and on top of school,
[Ava]: Her boss just kind of brushed it off and was like, oh, whatever.
[Ava]: And so I think that kind of not really made her experience well at that place of her employment.
[Ava]: But I know later on throughout her time working there, they have gained a better relationship working together.
[Ava]: I just think they had to get past that first couple months of the new person working there.
[Ava]: And now she really enjoys working there.
[Natalie]: Good. That's awesome. [Ava]: Yeah.
[Natalie]: All right. I think that concludes our specific and real world examples.
[Natalie]: So wrapping up here. [Ava]: Yeah.
[Ava]: So when we compare both shows, we can see that workplace communication issues are very common, whether it's manipulation, toxic leadership, or inappropriate coworker behavior.
[Natalie]: Even though these shows are meant to be entertaining, they reflect real communication challenges people face at work.
[Ava]: And Chapter 13 helps us understand these behaviors and recognize what healthy workplace communication should look like.
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[Natalie]: Thanks for listening to our key points on relationships in the workplace.
[Natalie]: Now let's hear about the Dark Side of Interpersonal Communication in Chapter 14, with Landon, Lexi, and Jacy.
[Ava]: Thank you for listening.
[Natalie]: Thank you.