Simply Shameful: Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie from “The Simple Life”

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie told the world that they were going to live on a farm in Arkansas to prove to the world that there was more to them than the spoiled party girls they appeared to be. In the first episode, Paris told us, “Listen. Everyone thinks Nicole and I are these two girls who never worked a day in their life and can’t do anything. And we’re doing this to prove them wrong.” Nicole agreed, triumphantly saying, “We’re gonna rock.”

One of the challenges Paris and Nicole faced on The Simple Life was that they were required to actually work for a living. Sure, they’d never had jobs before, but how hard could it be, right? Apparently very. Through every job they worked, Paris and Nicole showed incredibly shameful behavior. Let’s take a look at what they did – and didn’t – do at work.

At the end of the day, Danny fired the girls. Frankly, it’s astonishing that he kept them around for as long as he did. Paris and Nicole showed up late, complained all day, ruined several bottles of milk, and then spent the rest of the day lounging around. Their behavior was shameful.

Did Paris and Nicole feel any shame? Did they decide that they’d try harder next time? Their job working at Sonic showed that they learned absolutely nothing from their experience. Once again, the girls showed up late. Once again, the girls proved incompetent at just about every task. Paris, working the drive-thru, greeted customers with, “Thanks, bitch.” Nicole jammed the onion ring machine because she was bored. But together, they were even worse. Instead of putting “Half Price Burgers All Day” on the marquee outside, the girls put “Anal Salty Weiner Bugers” in huge letters for all of Altus to see. That’s funny – if you’re about ten years old. But it’s not so funny if you’re trying to run a business. Desperate for a task the girls could handle, their manager had them dress as giant Sonic drinks, stand at the curb, and wave at customers. Anyone could do that, right? Wrong. Paris and Nicole, dressed in their drink costumers, gave passing cars the finger, and then wandered across the street to the grocery store. Two Sonic managers had to physically drag Paris and Nicole back to work. Paris and Nicole didn’t care that their behavior would offend customers and drive away business. All that mattered to them was that they thought they were being funny.

Paris and Nicole’s next job was working for an auctioneer. Their boss Kent asked the girls to go to the farm co-op to get him some feed. As soon as Paris and Nicole found out that he had a charge account there, they decided to go on a shopping spree – on his dime. Since the Franklin County Farm Co-op isn’t exactly Rodeo Drive, they were limited in what they could steal, so they settled on a full-length mirror for themselves and a birdhouse to give Janet Leding as a Mother’s Day gift. Using your boss’s charge card to buy things for yourself isn’t exactly an ethical gray area. It’s stealing, and it’s wrong.

When they girls gave Janet the ill-gotten birdhouse, Janet was truly touched. She thought about how hard Paris and Nicole had to work at their jobs, so the fact that they’d spend their own money on her meant a lot. Imagine how sick she must have felt when she found out from the girls’ boss that her Mother’s Day gift was stolen.

Kent came to the house to confront the girls about the stolen items. It could have been a chance for Paris and Nicole to come clean and to accept responsibility for what they did. Instead, Paris ran and hid, while Nicole spun an elaborate web of lies and excuses. Paris and Nicole stole from their employer, hurt Janet, who’d been nothing but kind to them, and then lied when confronted about it. It was enough to earn them a Hall of Shame Moment on its own. But that wasn’t nearly enough for them.

Paris and Nicole did have one job that they didn’t get fired from. Buffalo Leding, their boss at the gas station, never saw fit to send them packing. But even Buffalo didn’t find them to be good workers; the girls still showed up late and didn’t do much while they were there. But they were attractive and scantily clad, so they attracted customers. The fact that Paris and Nicole were successfully able to stand around and look pretty does not exactly dispel the notion that they weren’t able to do hard work.

Paris and Nicole’s many forays into the working world were marked by shameful behavior. They showed up late, they whined and complained, they snuck off to take breaks, they were rude to customers, and they even ruined a supply of milk. They had absolutely no work ethic – they didn’t care if they were the worst workers in the world. All they cared about was having a good time, and to hell with anyone else. If that’s not shameful, I don’t know what is.