Jumping through hoops -- or from the frying pan into the fire

Victoria jumped from the frying pan into the fire when her insecurities led her to frame Ashley to take a fall. Should Victor have immediately fired her? Does Victoria really have the capability to be a good boss when she can only lead by Victor's example? It's March, and madness seemed to surround Victoria in Two Scoops.

I would never want Victoria as a boss. And I mean never ever. With her holier-than-thou attitude and her do-as-I-say-but-not-as-I-do philosophy, she would be the most intolerable boss to have in an office atmosphere. Victoria has proven that even someone who is remarkably talented and has outstanding skills may not be the best leader, which is what a boss is supposed to be. Oh, yes, Victoria has being a dictator down pat, which we all know she got from Daddy Dearest. However, she has no clue what it takes to make an excellent boss -- one who would bring out the best in her staff. And since she is full of insecurity and trusts no one, Victoria can only be an employee's worst nightmare.

For one thing, Victoria's a hypocrite. At any given moment, she and J.T. would smooch it up in the office, but how do you think she would have reacted if she saw one of her employees doing the very same thing with a spouse? (And not an ex-spouse, mind you.) She didn't know (or maybe it's that she didn't care about) how to treat people fairly. And heaven forbid Victoria even attempt to lead by example. That concept appeared to be completely foreign to her. On the contrary, Victoria seemed to enjoy flaunting in everyone's face that, since she was the boss, she could do whatever she wanted, to heck with company policy or procedures.

Actually, if J.T. wished, he could pursue a sexual harassment case against Victoria, since his job seemed to hinge on whether he jumped through necessary hoops to grant her every desire, even sexually. Just think how ironic that would be if Victoria was legitimately charged with sexual harassment after all the grief she gave Cane for that, which ended up being bogus. It would only be fair and just -- but it will never happen. J.T. has proven to be Victoria's lapdog, which is just the way she likes it. Okay, he may prefer the term "yes man." Dog, man, whichever. Actually, J.T. almost had me laughing hysterically when he told Victor that he could be objective when it came to investigating Victoria and Ashley. That was a good one! Who knew J.T. could be such a comedian?

But because J.T. chose to be biased in searching for the evidence, which Abby found in record-breaking time, Victoria jumped right from the frying pan into the fire by being totally dishonest with her father. Apparently, Victor will tolerate some things, but lying's not one of them, especially from his own family. Let's just say that the Mustache was not pleased.

And J.T. should be totally ashamed of himself. After all, doesn't he consider himself to be the best investigator in the world? Or at least that's what he told Paul, who has yet to see anything worthy of J.T.'s so-called talent and skills. But that's because J.T. was, of course, protecting Victoria, who really didn't deserve his loyalty. J.T. had better be a little more concerned about tarnishing his reputation as a super sleuth, since Victoria didn't give a holy ding-dong about it anyway.

Victoria has become totally unrecognizable from the smiling, happy, and secure woman who was once in love with Billy Abbott. At that time, family came first with her, and her job, while it was important to her, didn't triumph over them. Now I have to wonder if she would even recognize her children if she saw them. Really, when was the last time she saw them? It sounds like Grandma Nikki is raising them while Victoria whiles away the hours at the office.

Shoot, Miss Vicky never even has to go home. She and J.T. can just plop on her desk for a dose of wild sex, whenever the mood strikes her. Or they can snuggle together in one of her office chairs. Yet Lily couldn't even take a personal day off, even though she had applied for it way in advance. That was truly outrageous.

Victoria just has no idea of how to be fair, which makes her a horrible boss. Her employees recognition day was a joke when she only designated it to score points with them. Giving your staff a few donuts does not make you a good boss. Victoria thought she could win them all over with a few words about teamwork, practically with pom-poms blazing, when her every action was only about one person -- Victoria. Well, believe me, those actions spoke louder than her insincere words, and her employees saw them for what they were -- hogwash. And once Abby handed over the proof to Victor, he must have seen it too. Come on, Victoria's already taken down Brash & Sassy. It appeared that Newman Enterprises was to be her next target unless Victor stopped her.

There's no doubt that Ashley would love to have seen that smug look wiped off Victoria's face. Ashley really had a case against Victor in a company that has no union (and just think what a strong case she would have had if Newman Enterprises had a union). Even for a company with at-will employment, an employee can be let go for a good reason or for no reason but cannot be fired for a bad or illegal reason. However, Ashley probably had a contract with Newman Enterprises, and I would think that Victor just throwing her out without first determining the actual identity of the mole would violate the terms of that contract. Shoot, Victor probably guessed that Victoria was the true culprit with her insecurities and her jealousy of Ashley. Victor was very aware that Victoria wanted her gone, and the next thing you know, Ashley was gone. Yes, Ashley has a very legitimate case against Victor and against Newman Enterprises.

But even if Victoria followed her father's footsteps by governing with an iron hand, she lacked Victor's tact and diplomacy -- and yes, even fairness, when it called for it. Even Ashley remembered that although Victor could be ruthless, he could also be kind and charming, as he showed when he escorted Dina to the gala. Victor was so sweet and patient with Dina. It really was a nice change to see him in that light. His gift of a wrist corsage was a symbol of the kinder and gentler Victor, and Ashley must have seen that at one time, since she had been married to him. Oh, well, Victoria, you do have one thing going for you over your father. At least you never claimed that everything you do is for family, because you don't seem to remember that you even have a family these days.

Still, it was rather fun watching Victoria's diabolical plot with Jack fail. They barely even tried to hide that they were in cahoots together. It's no surprise that Abby easily got the evidence to bring them down. Jack and Victoria both have a lot of money. They couldn't even get burner phones for their many phone calls to each other as a cover? It was almost as if Victoria was trying to get caught, and who could blame her? All of her employees hated her, and she gave them plenty of reason to.

Honestly, Victor should fire her for what she did. I laughed when he said that Victoria was "the better employee" over Ashley. Let's see...Victoria was the reason her own company crashed and burned, and then, once she was at Newman Enterprises, she caused the entire staff to hate her to the point where it interfered with productivity. Well, then, yes, Victoria should be named employee of the year.

Poor Abby. She was right. Victor would fire Abby in a heartbeat for a similar ploy, but Victoria always gets a pass. At the most, she will get a slap on the wrist. In that case, Ashley should file a lawsuit against Newman Enterprises for wrongful termination and against Jabot for defamation of character, although I think the last one is a stretch. The defamation of character suit should go against Jack directly, since Jabot really had nothing to do with it.

I'm ready to watch Ashley go toe-to-toe against Victor in a court battle. Maybe she could succeed where so many others have failed. Of course, that would depend on whether the case got a noncorrupt judge to oversee it. However, Nikki had a third option, rather than fire either Victoria or Ashley, that she thought might work.

And really, at the very least, Victoria should accept the demotion at Newman Enterprises and never be in charge of any employee again. And I mean never, ever. Nobody should ever have to be saddled with such a hypocrite as a superior. I almost wish Victoria would chose leaving over being demoted, but I know that won't happen. She couldn't be that far away from her papa. Besides, she will probably think she can eventually win him over and retain her role as COO.

J.T. would be better off if he stayed away from her, too, but he will run back to her sometime. Hopefully, Ashley will be the winner in this round. If Ashley works at a higher level than Victoria at N.E., that could be fun to watch. I have grown so weary of watching Victoria lord her power over everyone at work. It's time someone gave her a dose of her own medicine.

Oh, my gosh, I am so stunned. Devon agreed to be Hilary's baby daddy. I mean, who saw that coming? Almost everyone on the planet who watches Y&R, that's who. It probably set the bar for the most anticipated reveal of all time -- only it may end up coming in second very soon, once Devon and Hilary get back together romantically.

The more Devon protests about them reuniting, the more we all know it will happen -- just as Hilary planned. Because Hilary always gets what she wants. Her self-proclaimed new and improved Hilary has all been for Devon's benefit. She's doesn't care about anyone else, which means she's the same old selfish and self-centered Hilary. I don't know if Devon was duping himself more by believing otherwise or by thinking they would never be together as a couple again. Because we all know that they will -- and with a new baby in tow this time around if Hilary has her way.

Hilary just keeps proving over and over that she hasn't changed a lick. Her jealousy shook the room once she found out that Lily was going to have her own space and desk at Hamilton-Winters Group. Hilary's constant put-downs to Lily upon learning that she would have her own modeling agency was typical Hilary. She's still nasty and rotten to the core, no matter how much she claims she has changed.

Michael even laughed when Hilary insisted she was a good person. That really was hysterical, but sad to say, the joke will be on Devon once he is tied to Hilary forever through a baby. And we all know darned well that Devon and Hilary will end up doing the deed to create their little miracle. Heaven help us if the baby turns out to be as self-absorbed as its mother.

Even if Devon chose not to believe it, Lily was being very calm and rational when she tried to explain why having a baby with Hilary was such a bad idea. Raising a baby is not an easy thing in the best of circumstances, and any scenario with Hilary could never be less than complicated. Hilary only wanted what she wanted and never really considered the child at all. Actually, the babe will only become a future weapon for her to have Devon at her beck and call every minute of the day.

Why was Devon in such a hurry, anyway? He has so many things going on, which would limit his time with a young child. But he was in the grips of "a farfetched daddy fantasy" and nothing was going to deter him. Or was he just using the child to get his heart's desire, which was Hilary?

Maybe Devon realized that his family would think he was a fool if he pursued the toxic vixen again, so this was probably his way of skirting around that. He could claim he didn't want Hilary, only a baby with her. Oh, yes, fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and Devon rushing to have a baby when his lifestyle didn't support the necessary time and effort needed for it would certainly be foolish. Devon and Hilary both have demanding careers, and the kid wouldn't even have a dear grandmother they could dump it off on, like Victoria does with hers.

Devon and Hilary weren't considering the turmoil the type of relationship they were suggesting would cause a young child. It's tough on a kid coming from a broken home, yet they were planning that for their baby's life from the moment of its first breath? But no matter how much Devon and Hilary deny they will reunite, that will eventually happen -- if only for the sake of the child, of course. You are fooling no one, Devon.

Okay, I will say it...I still like Sharon and Nick together. But then again, I always have. I enjoy watching them interact as friends to provide advice and comfort to each other whenever it is needed. Nick understands Sharon, and she really gets him. Sharon saw that Rainbow Gardens was a labor of love for Nick, and she said the right words about becoming nonprofit to give him the opportunity to expand on his dream. No, Nick didn't have to be "an entitled, annoying dude with an endless bank account and a brand-new tool belt with the tag still on it" to make his mark on the world.

And Nikki will certainly keep the Rainbow Gardens project very interesting with her extreme dislike of Sharon and her current fling with Arturo. Since Nikki's marriage to Victor is a farce, you'd think Nick wouldn't care that his mother is finding pleasure elsewhere. But even if Nikki believed she had an open marriage, I'm not so sure Victor would agree. However, if Victor thought he would have his wife jumping through hoops to please him after he had pressured her to reunite with him, he's going to be some kind of surprised.

If that was Victoria's idea of an apology, it's no wonder why her plot to frame Ashley failed. During her "I'm sorry," Victoria practically stated it was all Ashley's fault that Victoria had to stoop to planting evidence in an attempt to ruin Ashley's career. And then Victoria had the nerve to call Ashley petty. Oh, please! Victoria tried her "silly act of revenge" because she believed she could get away with it, and she was only sorry that she got caught. Oh, yes, Victoria should be put up on a pedestal so everyone can look up to her as a role model. After all, it is March, so it's only right that madness ensues.

Y&R will be celebrating its upcoming 45th birthday, and how exciting and appropriate that so many past stars are returning to pay tribute to a soap so filled with the riches of brilliant characters and riveting stories. Jamie Lyn Bauer, Janice Lynde, Meg Bennett, Kelly Kruger, David Lago, and Lauren Woodland are all set to return the week of March 26th to celebrate. Wow! But Y&R is famous for being character-driven rather than storyline-driven, so it's not a surprise that when I think of my favorites, my mind automatically goes to my favorite couples. Victoria and Billy Miller's Billy. Chelsea and Justin Hartley's Adam. Jack and Phyllis. Nick and Sharon. And even Simon and Ashley. (I still wish Michael E. Knight would return as Dr. Simon Neville.) Plus, Y&R has been blessed with remarkable actors such as Jeanne Cooper as Katherine Chancellor, Melody Thomas Scott as Nikki Newman, and Eric Braeden as Victor Newman to keep the fans tuning in for 45 years. Happy birthday, Y&R, and may you keep us tuning in for another 45 years.

Until next time, please stay tuned.Teddi

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