Carol wants to go to Sandra’s wedding, but Sandra doesn’t want her there. Garrett and Dina tried to tell Carol that she wasn’t invited, but that didn’t work. They approach Sandra with a different idea, offer Carol a better alternative than Sandra’s wedding so that Carol would hate missing the alternative. The three of them attempt to increase the opportunity cost of going to Sandra’s wedding, first by offering tickets to a Whitney Houston concert on the same day.
Glenn has been asked to fire 6 people before the end of the day, but he’s having trouble deciding which workers will be terminated. Amy decides to help him by having Glenn rank employees to narrow down the list. While evaluating employees, Glenn notes that Sarah is preferred to Elias. He’s trying to convert his subjective preferences into a ranking system.
The Cloud 9 corporate office has told Glenn that he needs to layoff 10% of his staff, but Glenn tries to have Jeff reconsider by inviting him to Cheyenne and Bo’s wedding. He tells Jeff that Cheyenne is severely uneducated, and her job is the only thing standing in the way between her and prostitution. He introduces Jeff to other employees that he notes are right on the poverty line. By having Jeff meet the employees that may be laid off, Glenn is trying to make the opportunity cost more tangible.
After Dina stepped down as assistant manager, the store manager needs to find her replacement. Amy knows she is the likely candidate but declines the offer before Glenn can offer her the position. Her rationale conforms to the income-leisure tradeoff model. Since there is no increase in earnings from the assistant manager position, Amy doesn’t want to spend more of her time away from leisure. The scarcity of time available in her day means she must make tradeoffs on how to spend her time and she would rather spend it on her college classes.
Dina has had a crush on Jonah for a while, but Jonah was always able to avoid the situation because he said he wasn’t comfortable dating a supervisor. He shares this news with his friend, shortly before the store manager announces that Dina has decided to step down as assistant manager so that she can focus on personal matters. Either-or decisions of this matter require people to weigh the costs and benefits of actions. Some of the costs for Dina include not being able to criticize Glenn, a reduction of her authority, and likely a pay reduction. She must believe that the benefits of dating Jonah outweigh those costs.
Bo and Cheyenne are shopping for wedding supplies in the store. Bo really wants to buy some laptops so they can smash them during the wedding as a form of entertainment. Amy is shocked because she knows how expensive it is to raise a child and believes that the couple should be saving the money instead of spending it on one day. Amy tricks Bo into playing a game with a price gun so that Bo and Cheyenne can see how expensive a child can be. People struggle to recognize the opportunity costs in their decisions, but Amy has made the cost more salient.
On the hunt for a runaway friend, Amy and Dina take some time to hang out and get to know each other better. Right as they’re deciding to head back to work, Amy suggests they treat themselves a bit. Even though the store manager believes they’re away from the store searching for a friend, Dina and Amy are actually shirking
Jonah has convinced Adam to buy a new grill and a new TV, but he didn’t know that Adam was married to Amy. Part of the reason he convinced Adam to purchase these items was so that his team could win the Color Wars and Amy could get a $100 bonus. While Amy and Adam are fighting, we learn that Adam is a serial entrepreneur and Amy invests in her human capital.
This scene is a good example of the tradeoffs associated with investing in human capital and physical capital. Adam wants to invest the money to support his business ideas, but Amy believes that investing in her college classes is better because it can lead to more money later.
Garret is in the process of convincing a customer to purchase a more expensive bike, the Vilano Forza, but the customer wants the cheaper RX-5 bike. Price isn’t the only determinant of a consumer’s utility function and Garret tries to convince the customer that the other features of the bike are worth the price. To end the scene, Garret also tries to get the customer to buy a bicycle helmet, which is a good example of a complementary good.
Glenn and Dina have differing opinions about what should be included in the pizza party they are planning for the winning team. Glenn stresses that the budget is only $60, but Dina really wants a piñata. Glenn, on the other hand, really wants a clown at the party, but Dina doesn’t believe that’s necessary. This scene is a good introduction to the concept of budget constraints, optimization, and tradeoffs. Since Glenn and Dina have different utility functions, their willingness to purchase different items isn’t compatible.
Teaching with Superstore