Monday 2/8

Monday 2/8 7am

I watched the Super Bowl yesterday. Well, more or less -- there wasn't much else on and I decided to treat it as a sociological experiment, watching the people and their interactions. One thing struck me -- why do quarterbacks have such unusual names? Peyton Manning, for instance. Drew Brees. Bret Favre. Joe Montana. and so on. Most of the people I meet have ordinary names -- Ken, Andy, Tom, Jack etc. And I wasn't particularly impressed with the commercials -- that talking baby for e-trade(?) is really starting to annoy me. And while I like Betty White and Abe Vigoda, I'm not so interested in seeing them being tackled in a pick-up football game. I can't even remember the others.

My favorite was a few years ago -- the cowboys out on the range herding cats.

Anyhow, the Saints won (hooray New Orleans), and then I watched Undercover Boss. It's an interesting premise -- the head honcho of a company pretends to be a new hire. He explains the cameras as a documentary on entry-level jobs. The first episode was on Waste Management Systems, largest trash company in the country. He went on five jobs in different areas of the country and did different jobs. He got quite an insight into the front-line people, like the women trash truck drivers who have to pee in a can because they're being spied on by route supervisors, checking up on them. I don't know what male drivers do -- pee in someone's bushes? He only spends one day at any one job, and got fired by one guy because he couldn't get the hang of the job. He reveals himself at the end of the program, bringing the workers to HQ and rewarding them.

The only problem is the overt nature of the cameras. When people know they're on camera, they act differently, even if they don't mean to. It's the act of being observed that changes the actions of the observed. Surely they could have found a way to film unseen? And don't tell the workers they're being filmed until afterward. And, being an upbeat sort of program, there was no discussion of workers who do take advantage of every looseness to work less or steal or who have conflict with others. There is always an "us" versus "them" attitude, especially in corporations.

Next episode is Hooters.

I see a hawk out my window, sitting on that little shack about 50 feet away, just sort of looking around (for breakfast?). I was getting my binoculars to take a closer look but he flew away.

Big front is to arrive on Wednesday and my bones are announcing it, loudly.

Happy birthday, B!