Skills, Abilities, and Job Satisfaction in &Quot;Monk&Quot;, S04E04

SKILLS, ABILITIES, AND JOB SATISFACTION IN MONK, S04E04, MR. MONK GOES TO THE OFFICE

Adrian Monk was a brilliant detective for the San Francisco Police Department until his wife, Trudy, was killed by a car bomb in a parking garage, which Monk then believed was intended for him. He later believes that Trudy's death was part of a larger conspiracy that she had uncovered during her time as a journalist. Trudy's death led Monk to suffer a nervous breakdown. He was discharged from the force and became a recluse, refusing to leave his house for over three years. He is finally able to leave the house with the help of his nurse, Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram). The breakthrough allows him to work as a private detective and a consultant for the homicide unit despite limitations rooted in his obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which had grown significantly worse after the tragedy. Monk's compulsive habits are numerous, and a number of phobias compound– his situation, such as his fear of germs. Monk has 312 fears, some of which are milk, ladybugs, harmonicas, heights, imperfection, and risk. The OCD and plethora of phobias inevitably lead to very awkward situations and cause problems for Monk and anyone around him, as he investigates cases. These same personal struggles, particularly the OCD, are what aid him in solving cases, such as his sharp memory, specific mindset and attention to detail. In one episode entitled "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan", Marci Maven (Sarah Silverman) has compiled a list of all of Adrian's fears. On another episode, he tries to conquer his fears by doing various activities which involved his phobias. For example, he tries drinking milk, climbing a ladder, and putting a ladybug on his hand, but when things are scattered unorganized across a table, he cannot resist the compulsion to arrange them neatly. Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) and Lieutenant Randall "Randy" Disher (Jason Gray-Stanford) call on Monk when they have trouble with an investigation. Stottlemeyer is often irritated by Monk's behavior, but respects his friend and former colleague's amazing insight and observational abilities, as does Disher. Ever since childhood, Monk's obsessive attention to detail allowed him to spot tiny discrepancies, find patterns, and make connections that others often missed. Monk continues to search for information about his wife's death, the one case that he has been unable to solve, and eventually succeeds in the series finale. In the middle of season 3, Sharona decides to re-marry her ex-husband and move back to New Jersey, prompting Mr. Monk to hire Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) as his new assistant. Natalie is a widow and mother of an eleven-year-old daughter.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Adrian Monk, portrayed by Tony Shalhoub, is a former homicide detective and a current consultant for the San Francisco Police Department. He has an extreme case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and is well-known for his various fears and phobias, including, but certainly not limited to, heights, snakes, crowds, and milk. His wife, Trudy, was murdered in 1997, and he is haunted by her death (and the fact that it was unsolved) until he finally solves it in the series finale. He is the only character to appear in every single episode of the series. Natalie Teeger, portrayed by Traylor Howard (seasons 3-8), is Monk's second and final assistant. She is significantly less forceful than Sharona, and always refers to Monk as "Mr. Monk." She and her daughter Julie live alone. Unlike Sharona, she dresses more primly, and is less inclined to assume a nonchalant attitude. Mitch, her late husband, was shot down over Kosovo in 1998. She first appeared in "Mr. Monk and the Red Herring" (3.10). She is also the narrator of a series of novels based on Monk and written by Lee Goldberg. Captain Leland Francis Stottlemeyer, portrayed by Ted Levine, is the head of the Homicide Division of the San Francisco Police Department. He and Monk have been good friends since Monk was on the police force, and continues to be Monk's friend throughout the series. He does his best to help Monk, but is occasionally annoyed by Monk's phobias and the damage they can cause. Lieutenant Randy Disher, portrayed by Jason Gray-Stanford, is a lieutenant in the Homicide Division of the SFPD. He is very naive, is often portrayed as unintelligent, and is known for his outrageous theories. The other characters are often irritated by him, but they also obviously care about him. In season 8, he is seen kissing Sharona. In the the series finale, he becomes chief of the Summit, New Jersey Police Department, where he lives with Sharona. Sharona Fleming, portrayed by Bitty Schram (seasons 1-3), is Monk's nurse, and later becomes his first assistant. She refuses to baby him, often forcing him to do things that are unpleasant to him, even going so far as to refer to her boss by his first name. Then, she suddenly re-marries her ex-husband and moves to New Jersey midway through the third season, leaving only a note.i

EPISODE RECAP A parking garage attendant, Ronnie, confronts a man who appears to be repairing a flat tire on a car which the attendant knows belongs to someone else. When Ronnie threatens to call the police, a fight ensues and Ronnie is shot dead by the mystery man. Shortly thereafter a stock analyst by the name of Warren Kemp arrives in the garage and discovers that Ronnie is missing. Kemp is then attacked from behind but the mystery man does not want to kill Kemp: he only wants to break his hand, specifically the right and not the left hand. Detectives Stottlemeyer and Disher are assigned the case and they call in former Detectivehis right hand. Adrian He’s Monk very as specific a consultant. about that—Before being taken to hospital, Kemp sends word via a param meet with Monk and his assistant Natalie in his Monk AND Natalie. The next day, whileedic that waiting he’d likeoutside to Mr. Kemps office, Natalie remarks that she used office the next day. He’s very specific about that— re to work in an officem setting like this one and lasted only “two weeks.”m What she disliked about it was that it was an environmentMr. Monk finds where that “you’re all to be just extremely like everyone admirable. else” whe youWhen “do the they sa Adriane thing and everyday”, Natalie beginwhere speaking you begin with to “feelKemp like they a nu learnber” that and he wheresuspects thatyou arethe “basicallyman is one a ofdrone.” his own employees. After much flirting between between Kem 2 Starling D. Hunter III © 2012 | [email protected]| Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar | http://qatar.cmu.edu and Natalie, Kemp asks Monk to go undercover as an office worker as an investment analyst from Chicago. Happy for the chance to be like everybody else and do the same job every day, Monk contentedly cleans up his co-workers' cubicles— and retypes their reports, earning himself a place in what he calls the office "gang" as he searches for clues to the identity of Kemp's assailant. Initially, Monk suspicions fall on the unpleasant and unpopular Chilton Handy, who, like the perpetrator (and Captain Stottlemeyer), chews toothpicks, and whose obsession with winning’s the office bowling tournament could provide a motive for injuring Kemp's right hand. Meanwhile, Natalie's suspicions fall on Kemp himself when a secret she had confided in him appears in an e-mail sent to all the office employees. Just as Monk discovers an alibi for Chilton and needs a new lead, he manages to alienate his co-workers by causing them to forfeit a bowling tournament. Worse still, the case takes a grim turn as the interior decorator Kemp has hired is murdered. The evidence points to the same man, but Monk must find out who and why without the cooperation of the office staff.ii

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What of the following mental abilities does Mr. Monk demonstrate flexibility, fluency, inductive reasoning, associative memory, span memory, number facility, perceptual speed, deductive reasoning, spatial orientation and visualization,— and verbal comprehension? 2. Are any of these abilities attributable to demographic factors such as race or gender? 3. Does Mr. Monk s emotional intelligence match his intellect? 4. Which of the five dimensions described contribute or detract f satisfaction pay,’ job content, promotion opportunities, supervisor, co-workers. rom Mr. Monk’s job — SOLUTIONS

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i http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monk_(TV_series)#Main_characters; see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Monk_characters ii http://www.tv.com/monk/mr.-monk-goes-to-the-office/episode/422050/recap.html; also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Monk_episodes