Undercover Boss + American Idol = ???

We’ve been snowed in for what feels like forever, actually five days. Today we are getting buried by our third snow storm in the last month. With today’s incredible wind our car, deck and yard are literally buried under two to three feet of snow.  Some parts of the yard have drifts up to five feet.

Today is also the one day we will not go out at all (except to shovel walk and take some pictures) Even with the blasts of the last week or so we had been able to walk to Politics and Prose, 7-11, Mazza Gallerie, the grocery store, the bank, etc., and the kids even had play dates yesterday.  But today we are stuck inside.


Having been stuck inside for the last five days has increased our TV watching (though it hasn’t been too excessive).  Two shows in particular prompted me to blog.


The first was ‘Undercover Boss’ which debuted right after the Super Bowl. The show documents what happens when a CEO goes undercover to work a variety of jobs within his or her company. The debut followed the CEO of Waste Management (next week’s episode follows the CEO of Hooters; wonder how that company made the show?) so the show emphasized among other things recycling.


Overall UB is pretty sympathetic to workers, who at Waste Management get docked if they take more than 30 minutes for lunch, have to do the work of 4 people at one site, and if you are a female garbage collector have to pee in a can as part of an effort to maximize efficiency.


We also caught up on a week’s worth of episodes of American idol via TiVO. It’s almost a cliché, but all the contestants on Idol want to improve the lives of their family and their economic station in life.  The thing that strikes me about the contestants is all of them are young, have jobs, but seem to be stuck in non-career type jobs. The show features lots of waitresses, fast food employees, sandwich makers, sales associates, etc. (there is a steady stream of high school students but not many college students).


The contestants on Idol remind me of the Waste Management employees.  I imagine most of the jobs that AI contestants have don’t come with health insurance, paid vacations, or many benefits at all.  And I’m not sure what the benefits are at Waste Management, but if you get docked for taking 31 minutes for lunch or don’t have time to stop to go to the bathroom they don’t seem that robust.


To me, both shows make compelling arguments for more unions. Last time I checked more than 30 percent of American workers do not have paid vacations or paid days off, another embarrassing statistic for the world’s richest nation of all time.  As these shows point out, Americans are working hard but the economy is not working for them.  To me, one remedy is to restore balance by allowing workers in every sector – from sandwich maker to garbage collector – to collectively bargain for more money, paid vacations, and lunch breaks long enough to go to the bathroom.  You shouldn't have to pin your hopes on winning American Idol - working should be enough to provide for you and your family.