Coffee Break?

A new series started on CBS last week..."Undercover Boss"..and so far it has been pretty good.  Interesting to see the CEO's going undercover, in amongst their employees..even being fired by the supervisor they were working 'under'!  So far it seems to have been something of an eye-opener for said CEO's.  Last week's was a Waste Management company.  This week, the CEO of Hooters.  Not that I intended to miss this week's episode but when I learned who it would be we were already comfortably esconced in our favourite chairs, coffee mugs at the ready...(I think mine was just waiting to be pitched at the tv...lol).  No...not a fan of Hooters, never been in one and no intention of doing so.  We had one open in Rehoboth Beach a few years ago and I vowed then I could live without their wings.  And, of course, entered into more than a few discussions of why it wasn't a place in which I had any interest.  Oh, sure...most people were quick to let me know how great a restaurant/bar it was "and nothing to do with the women and their work uniforms..."  Sure.   See, I happen to know someone who worked there back in the  early '90's when the company was in it's relative infancy.  She actually worked for the corporate office as an admin assistant and applied for a part-time job as waitress.  She didn't get the job waiting tables but was offered one as a bar tender.  Why?  Well, she wasn't 'built' for the waitressing position.  Very slim and...well, let's put it this way, about as far from being top heavy as Olive Oyl...you get the picture and why she just didn't 'fit'.  That was my first taste of distate with regards to this franchise.  Secondly, for those of you who have patronized a Hooters...did you ever have a waiter?  I bet not and  I have been told they don't hire them.  Geez...I wonder why? (I'm sure there's an age restriction also...).   Then, one day while I was in my favourite coffee house a Hooters waitress was in line in front of me.  Her attire gave me much pause for thought...Daisy Duke shorts were bermudas compared to what she wore.  So tonight I was more than a little interested to see how this episdoe in the series would go down.  Frankly, I cannot believe the CEO...Coby  Brooks...could have been all that surprised or dismayed that there is "still a misconception about Hooters in the general public...especially among women..."  He's kidding, right?  Nah, nah, nah...don't be telling us it's the food is so good..or the fact you have drink specials or tv's at the bar...if that's so, wouldn't it be enough?  Seeing the first few minutes of the opening of the episode I told KW  "...whoa...this is like watching Hugh Hefner and his Playboy Bunnies only on a very different  level...".  In one of the franchises, he accompanied two of the girls to go stand on a street corner for  promotion purposes since business seems to be falling a bit.  During this time they talked with a variety of what they hoped would be customers...didn't have many takers and there were several women (and one man) who said they couldn't support this business because it cheapens and degrades women.  Yeah...my thoughts too and I found it really hard to watch this CEO look bewildered by the comments and then say, having two young daughters of his own, he would have no problem with them working in Hooters.  (Perhaps not...but as waitresses?)  Or even be surprised because the name of the company alone seems to be off-putting to most women.  Well...okay.  Hooters...they have owl statuary adorning the entry ways, the girls' tee-shirts/midi-tops DO have something akin to an owl on them but it's about the owl eyes!!!  Sure, it's the individual who makes the choice what they want to make of the name BUT...if the wings, the name and the statuary all pertain to the wise old birds why don't the girls then wear full-feathered owl costumes and beaks?   And aren't there male owls...old owls?  Then it wouldn't even be open to conjecture, right?  And of course...while the uniform for the waitresses is mandatory, no-one forces them to work there.  It is their choice.  I guess mostly I resent the fact that this company apparently tries to imply it's simply another restaurant with good food (I don't know that, personally) and it's name "doesn't necessarily mean what many take it to mean...".  We aren't THAT green, are we?

I will say that Mr. Brooks sees things he feels needs to change and seems intent on making those changes.  And he did take to task one of his managers who so disrespected his staff it was disgusting, reprehensible.  He insisted the manager would apologize the the girls...in fact, it was at this time he mentioned he would have no problem his daughters working in Hooters "but NOT for a manager like you...".  The guy, I felt, got a knuckle rap.  I'd have fired the SOB....particularly when he actually tried to justify his behaviour when he had to meet with the CEO as CEO and not as potential employee.   When the credits were about to roll at the end of the show it did say they guy apologised.  Big deal...at the end of the work day he asked his wait staff who would like to leave early...and to determine whom would do so he devised a contest.  Brought out plates of baked beans, girls had to place hands behind backs and head face down into said beans to clean the plate.  It was evident the girls did not think this fun or funny...but they did it.  The episode ended and left me wondering if any serious changes will be made in this franchise. 

Now, next week's show is infinitely better.  I know because I caught a preview of segments of it on Oprah a couple of weeks ago.  This is one that won't leave a bad taste and it's the CEO of  7-11.  Some really nice surprises in this one.  Sunday nights at 9pm.  I should add that I think the series is a good one...great idea and it does say a lot for those bosses to expose themselves and their companies in this fashion...even with editing and maybe picking and choosing what they want shown.  Who knows how it might help further employer/empoyee relations if more would do it without lights, camera, action.  Come to think of it..lolol...one does have to wonder if they are "undercover" and going in as a potential new employee, how do they explain the camera person following their every move?  At any rate...just like to add here there is one group of professionals I would dearly love to see do something like this as part of their training....doctors.  Let them be patients for a week, in a hospital bed, subjected to the tests which they would likely later profess to "being a little uncomfortable but not painful.."  or "this will only sting/take a moment/you won't feel a thing";  being a patient who, after a gruelling day of tests and procedures an finally falling asleep is awakened to be given "something to help you sleep".  Can't you just imagine how these lessons, this part of a doctor's education, would improve real patent's lives?    

Tags: CBS Sunday nights, Hooter's, Owls, Undercover Boss