Undercover

I find new show Undercover Boss somewhat interesting. The concept of a CEO doing entry level jobs to see what their employees go through is a fantastic idea. Those at the top have little idea what their workers may be doing. It is important they do as they are usually the face of the company, the person who has contact with the end customer and give the impression of what the company stands for.

I watched episode one after the Super Bowl and quickly knew I would watch episode two. Yes, the one about Hooters. As a customer and defender of the concept I had to see how the Grand Poobah of the Boobas would deal with some rather well know PR issues his company has.

Let's just say the show with Waste Management was more interesting. He found issues and worked to resolve them. He rewarded some hard working employees. Basically he had less clue that the Hooters guy.

The Hooters guy had a decent idea of what he was going to encounter. In fact, I think he took it easy. He went to a couple restaurants in the Dallas metro area and then to a processing plant in the headquarters home state. We knew he would hear women telling them they think Hooters is degrading to women. I wish he would have asked them if they had ever been in one of the restaurants. Finding a manager that was a dick wasn't surprising either. I could have guessed there would be at least one, if not quite a bit more, of men that would take advantage of the situation to show of their chauvinistic side. And of course he visited a restaurant with a female manager who could relate to what the waitresses go through.

He addressed each of those items in the end. What he didn't do was talk about what he would do at their food processing plant. He went to the place where they make all of the sauces. There he learned about how those employees loved his father and how it felt like the headquarters doesn't care anymore. The family feeling was gone. There was little mention of what he would do to improve morale there.

I am not sure who is up next. I don't think the show will be on the air for more than a season or two. But I will keep on watching. I also hope many companies pay attention as well. There are a lot of little problems that when corrected lead to major profit.