The Fatigues

"The Fatigues" is the 140th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the sixth episode for the eighth season. It aired on October 31, 1996.

Jerry is dating a girl, Abby (A.J. Langer), and is intrigued by the concept of his girlfriend having a mentor. Jerry meets Cynthia, his girlfriend's mentor, but finds out she is dating Kenny Bania. After they see Bania's act, Jerry's girlfriend loses respect for her mentor and eventually fires her. George has to give a lecture on risk management (because his résumé gives the impression that he is an expert on the subject), but he finds that he can't study for it because books on tape have spoiled him. When George discovers the blind can get any book on tape, he intentionally fails an eye test so he can get his book on tape. George encounters a problem when the person's voice on the tape sounds like his voice, much to his displeasure.

Elaine prepares to fire Eddie Sherman (Ned Bellamy), an employee who constantly delays important stuff, but when she meets face to face with him, is scared of him due to his gruff voice and wearing military fatigues, so she promotes him instead. When he does a terrible job, Elaine promotes him again just to get rid of him. This plan backfires when the other employees quit because he was promoted over them, causing Elaine to work on the project alone with Sherman.

Kramer runs a Jewish singles night at Frank's Knights of Columbus hall. When he realizes he can't cook Jewish food, he asks for Frank's help. Frank refuses, because he hasn't cooked since the Korean War, where he sickened his fellow troops by using bad meat and has become traumatized because of it (Frank's memory is dramatized with a reenactment in which the onset of food poisoning is set to Barber's "Adagio for strings", as in the film Platoon).