Work Hard, Play Hard

**Work Hard, Play Hard** is the sixth episode of season two of *One Day at a Time*.

## Synopsis

To teach Alex the value of a dollar, Penelope forces him to take a summer job at her workplace. Meanwhile, Elena finds a way to get paid for her hobby.

## Recap

Elena is destroying Schneider in video games.

Penelope walks in with a basket of laundry and tells Schneider that he needs to fix the light in the laundry room. Lydia Riera also tells him that he needs to study for his citizenship tests.

Alex walks in modeling his new shoes. Penelope asks where he got them since she'd previously told him that he couldn't have them. They both look at Lydia. Penelope tells Alex that he can't wear them until he finds a way to pay back Lydia.

Penelope decides that Alex is going to work with her at her office for the summer since Scott and Lori are on vacation. Penelope asks Elena if she's going to get a job and Elena says she already has one. That she started a Twitch channel so people could watch her play video games. Penelope tells her to get a real job and Elena tries to convince her that playing video games would make her more money than another job.

Penelope says that she has a week to prove it.

Penelope thanks Doctor Berkowitz for allowing Alex to work in the office. Doctor Berkowitz tells Alex that he's finally going to see Penelope in action. Alex instead puts on his headphones and misses Penelope's interaction with a patient. Penelope tells him to take them off because when they are at work they work. Lydia walks in having brought Alex lunch.

Doctor Berkowitz is excited that Lydia is here so she can watch him practice medicine. Instead, he starts doing magic tricks. On the way home, Penelope tries to talk to Alex about his first day at work. Instead, Alex tells Penelope that it must be hard being a nurse because it's so boring and that he doesn't know how she does it every day.

At home, Elena and Schneider are playing VR. Elena tells Penelope that she has over a hundred followers. Penelope tells her that she needs to get a real job. Alex gets upset because he wants to do what Elena is doing so he quits his job. Penelope tries to convince him not to by telling him about a funny rash. He walks out of the room.

Doctor Berkowitz teaches Alex how to get patient history. He asks him to pretend to be Lydia. Alex says it's weird but agrees. Doctor Berkowitz starts to ask weird questions so that he can get to know Lydia better and possibly take her out. Alex gives him dating advice on how to get Lydia. Penelope interacts with a patient in front of Alex as she tries to convince him that her job isn't boring. But the patient comes in angry because his insurance is charging him for the physical.

This time on the way home, Alex tries to get Penelope to talk but she doesn't want to. He asks if the patient yelling at her happens a lot. Penelope says sometimes. She asks him to put his headphones on so that she can scream in frustration.

Meanwhile, at home, Elena continues to play video games. Lydia tries to ask Elena to help her study but Elena tells her she's working.

Alex and Penelope get home. Alex asks if he can just have five minutes of peace and quiet. Elena asks them to leave because she's working and Penelope asks her when was the last time she slept or took a shower. Elena says that she has to provide constant content and Alex notices that she's at the very end of the video game. However, just as Elena starts to finish it, the power goes out.

Schneider walks in and asks if the power went out. Elena yells and jumps on him because she has to start over on her video game. Penelope grabs her and tells her that she can't do this anymore. Elena thanks her because she was beginning to hate her job. Penelope tells her about her first job and how she spent all summer eating ice cream and flirting with boys.

Doctor Berkowitz arrives with a gift basket for Penelope because she'd caught a patient's cancer early and the woman was able to have a baby who she named after Penelope.

He also brings Alex his paycheck. Penelope congratulates him and Elena says that she didn't make any money even though she worked hard. Alex gives her twenty dollars to buy herself something and Elena gets offended so she chases him out of the room. Later, Schneider arrives, and Lydia thanks him for having fixed the light in the laundry room. Schneider says that he didn't do it but he hired an assistant that did. The assistant turns out to be Elena who is going to be helping Schneider with tasks around the building.

## Cast

### Main

* Justina Machado as Penelope Alvarez
* Todd Grinnell as Schneider
* Isabella Gomez as Elena Alvarez
* Marcel Ruiz as Alex Alvarez
* Stephen Tobolowsky as Leslie Berkowitz
* Rita Moreno as Lydia Riera

## Episode Guide

 Others