I guess everyone who works has had the fantasy at one time or another: To make that peabrain known as your boss take orders from YOU for a change. Well, like all concepts that merit deep discussion while you’re really, really stoned, the great hog trough of American pop culture has snatched up that idea and run with it, in the form of the new reality show, “Undercover Boss.”
On the show, a corporate CEO goes undercover — well, as undercover as you can get while being constantly tailed by a camera crew — and takes a series of entry-level crap jobs in his own company.
CBS has the first installment of “Undercover Boss” premiering directly following the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. It’s a plum placement that has launched many mega hits of yore, and the network’s enthusiasm for the idea is sure to spin off inevitable rip-offs. Too — and this is the best, most corporate-y part — CBS says that because workers signed paperwork agreeing to be in a documentary, employees who appear on “Undercover Boss” are not getting any extra compensation for being on the show! Take that, wage slaves!
In coming weeks, the CEOs of White Castle, 7-11 and Hooters get down in the trenches and slog it out with the little people. Looking ahead to next season, we demand that the CEO of Hewlett Packard be shipped to Mumbai, given the name “Shawn” and forced to work in a 105-degree call center where the only air conditioning is a ceiling fan installed during the days of the British Empire.
— David Koon