The season finale of Undercover Boss was the best one so far. I thought it would be another weepy series but instead showed how the President, Chris McCann, truly was a professional and was interested in his people and the business. I’m a business person. The lessons learned from his undercover assignment showed why 1-800 Flowers is a blooming (pardon the pun) business.

1-800 Flowers has been doing business since 1997. It offers both floral arrangement and gift/chocolate boxes. The two brothers Chris and Jim founded the company and understood the meaning of excellent customer service while providing excellent products. When Chris went undercover, he wanted to see how he could improve the day to day operations.

He went to several floral shops to see why some of the floral shops were doing better then others. What he found was that the managers of the stores are the most important asset to the company. Their excellent customer service was helping to grow the floral business as well as franchises.

He also found out that he could never be a production worker. He was very bad as a production worker at their chocolate factory. This reminded me of the old “I Love Lucy” series when she was working in a chocolate production line. Just like Lucy, he couldn’t keep up with the conveyor belt to fill the boxes. He learned that there was a minimum production that needed to be done each day at the factory. However, when the employees exceed the goal there was no incentive for overachievement. Chris McCann turned that around by offering incentives for exceeded the goal. Now that’s real management!

What really irritated me was when his big brother Jim, who is the CEO of the company,  tried to blow his undercover. Jim thought it was funny, I didn’t and neither did Chris. He was there to do a job. I think Jim thought this was a lark and wasn’t important. However, at the end Chris made many good management decisions that would help grow their company as well as their franchises.

By the way, I think Chris looked very attractive with his facial hair; he should keep that look.

Good ending to a rather boring and dull series. Now if the producers find more of this type of story, I’ll be happy to watch it again next season.

Until later,

Linda

Last night Buzz Aldrin was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars. What a class act he is. He saluted the judges and all the competitors saluted him back. He said that he danced this season to help all of us remember our military, the space project and to encourage that we continue to explore space in the future. At least now, the judges don’t have Buzz to kick around anymore. Hope they go after Kate Gosselin.

Who in the heck is voting for Kate? She can’t dance at all. At least she is getting a better attitude but please, don’t keep her around for another week.

Next week’s competition will involve a double score from the judges. One score will be for technical presentation and another for performance. We’ll see how that works out for everybody.

My favorite star, Evan Lysacek, is still on top of the leader board and I hope he stays there. The game is on!

Until later,

Linda

Last night’s story telling dances on Dancing with the Stars didn’t quite hit the mark for me on many of the dances. First of all, Len Goodwin tells the stars to perform dances that tell stories. Then he criticizes many of the stars that there was too much story telling and not enough dancing. Gosh, Len were you off your meds last night? He was cranky and wasn’t giving very good scores.

You know, I’m tired of the judges patronizing Buzz Aldrin. They compliment him, but give him low scores and then hint that he shouldn’t be on the show. This is getting very boring and for Buzz’s sake I hope he leaves tonight. He doesn’t need this kind of backhanded compliments from the judges. Besides, do you think he can do two dances in one show in the coming weeks?

Once again, there were weepers and criers – Kate Gosselin who has no talent whatsoever was crying as well as Niecy Nash. Niecy’s story-telling dance showed the emotion of a mixed racial couple in the ‘50’s who could not be together. She said if she couldn’t be with her boyfriend who she loved she would be devastated. Her partner, Louis, said that he feels her pain and that everyone who wants to get married should get married. Is Louis gay? Hmm?

It seems that Chad Ochocinco has found his grove. His Paso Dobla was pretty good. Erin Andrews Waltz was sensational, I liked her dance the best last night. Jake Pavelka’s Quick Step was fun as well as Aiden Turner’s Quick Step. Len didn’t like it, but like I said I think Len wasn’t on his meds last night.

Evan Lysacek left with the highest score of 26. He brought a lot of energy and fun to his Quick Step. I bet his partner Anna is happy to have such a talent to work with after all of these years with not very good partners. Nicole Scherzinger’s Quick Step was once again too vaudevillian. I’ve seen this dance from her partner Derek too many times and it’s getting old. Finally, I agreed with Len, he gave them a six. Bruno gave them a nine and they ended up with a 23.

There is a big brouhaha between Pamela Anderson and Kate Gosselin. Pamela doesn’t like Kate and both of them danced the Paso Dobla. Quite frankly, neither one’s story-telling dance was good. Pamela forgot some steps and looked like she was stumbling around the dance floor. Kate looked mean but stiff. She reminded me of a Zombie moving around the dance floor.

Who will be leaving tonite? For my sanity sake I hope it’s Buzz Aldrin. He doesn’t need the comments he is receiving from the judges. But if I had by druthers, it would be Kate Gosselin.

Until later,

Linda

Last night’s Undercover Boss involved Rick Arquilla, the President and COO of Roto Rooter. Roto Rooter is a large company that has been in business for 75 years and services about 90% of the population throughout the world.

This episode was rather unique in that Mr. Arquilla’s father used to work in a manufacturing plant and because of his dislike of what he was doing became an alcoholic that affected Mr. Arquilla deeply. How do I know this? Because this episode not only featured all the wet, disgusting stuff that his technicians do, it also featured Mr. Arquilla weeping and crying throughout the episode. Gosh I didn’t realize that he was a sensitive guy.

I understand his grief about his alcoholic father and his effect on him, but his employees also have their drama in their life. Most of the undercover work was located in and around New Orleans, LA. Did the producers pick this area because of the devastation that took place from Hurricane Katrina? Did the producers want to find some very devastating drama in the town that would make the viewers weep and cry just like Mr. Arquilla? It seems that people there are going on with their lives just fine.

What I found interesting is that the technicians are paid on commission. So the pricing for their services are not set in stone, just whatever they can get from the customer. That is why Henry in New Orleans dropped his price from $1,200 to $500 to work for a poor older woman’s drain problem. Next time you have a problem, negotiate the price to fix it.

Mr. Arquilla found his sole mate who was a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. More weeping and crying and bonding with this guy.

The funniest job Mr. Arquilla did was in the call center/dispatch. He designed the color-coded system used in the call center. But Mr. Arquilla is color blind! Glad he is in the front office and not in the call center.

Finally, he did try a job in the manufacturing plant and found out that people there were afraid that the company would outsource their jobs. He assured them that he would keep manufacturing in Des Moines, Iowa and not outsource the plant. Once again, we had a weepy moment from Mr. Arquilla with this one.

The season finale is next week with 1-800 Flowers. Now that would make me weep, cry and sneeze!

Until later,

Linda

Like I said, this is a tough season to predict who would be eliminated. I predicted either Kate Gosselin or Chad Ochocinco. But I was wrong, Shannon Doherty was eliminated. This was good news and bad news.

Bad news is that Chad and Kate are staying but good news because Shannon’s professional dance partner, Mark, jacked up his knee. He pulled his knee muscle and would be out for at least six weeks. So if Shannon stayed she would have to have another professional dance partner.

Shannon said that she was an actor and only danced for her Dad to see her dance. She did dance two dance routines and made her Dad proud.

The best part of tonight’s show was the Beach Boys. They are still rockin’ great. They sounded just like they did nearly forty years ago. I really enjoyed their songs.

Next week the stars need to do their dance routine by telling a “story.” Len doesn’t want to see any gimmicks just tell a story.

It should be fun to watch.

Until later,

Linda

Last night’s Dancing with the Stars showcased the Jive and Fox Trot. You can tell that all the stars are really working hard to dance their best. I agree this season is going to be a tough one to call.

I really enjoyed watching Buzz Aldrin’s Fox Trot to “Fly me to the moon”. How appropriate. I think the fans will keep him for a couple of weeks.

Once again, Kate Gosselin added drama to the show. I never did watch her reality show, but when I saw her tiff with Tony, I could tell that she is a person who is all about “me.” Tony walked out on her but came back as a true professional. I think he may not need to be worried about next week, because Kate’s performance was really poor. The judges gave her a 15 but I think she had a poorer performance compared to Buzz.

A rivalry is happening between Nicole Scherzinger and Evan Lysacek. Both are extremely good dancers and performers. We’ll see how long Nicole can outlast Evan.

At least Shannon Doherty didn’t cry last night. Her performance of the Jive was good. What can I say about Pamela Anderson? Her Fox Trot took me back to Marilyn Monroe’s “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” movie. I’m not quite sure what to make of Pamela. She did have missteps but stayed in character. She’s not really a high performing dancer.

Aiden Turner’s Fox Trot was a solid dance as well as Jake Pavelka’s Jive. Chad Ochocinco was once again too stiff. He bends his knees too much and his posture was poor. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was eliminated tonite.

So here are my predictions – it’s a toss up between Kate Gosselin and Chad Ochocinco.

 Until later,

Linda

Last night’s Undercover Boss was about Joel Manby, CEO, of Herschend Family Entertainment. His company provides Christian theme parks for 22 properties. There are several of these theme parks in Branson and Silver Dollar City in Missouri including a new Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey.

This episode was better then some of the previous ones. At least with this episode the CEO found out that he had to provide several benefits to make sure his employees were treated well. While they do have a financial assistance available to all employees, he found out that this benefit was not communicated well. As a result, he made available money to one of his employee to help rebuild a house damaged by a tornado. This poor man was struggling for about a year or more and now his damaged house will be fixed in a short time.

His company also is providing college money for one of his employees. This young 20-year-old employee can now go to college full time and work during the summer months at the theme park.

He also decided to start a fund for daycare for single parents. What a great concept. Since many single parents in their theme park have to work odd hours, at least they won’t have to worry about paying for daycare for their kids.

Now this is what should be expected from going undercover and seeing what employees need and want.

Next week’s episode is about the RotoRooter Company.

Until later,

Linda

Last night’s Dancing with the Stars was all it was expected to be, fun filled dancing and getting to know the stars for this season. I have one big complaint about how this show pairs up professional dancers with un-professional star dancers. Why would you pair up a young woman with an 80-year-old man?

I’m talking about Buzz Aldrin. He is a great historic man, but he is 80-years-old. Why don’t they pair him up with a “retired” dancer in her 50’s, or 60’s? She would understand that Mr. Aldrin may have the stamina but may not have the sharp memory he used to have. She would teach him dance steps that are easy to remember and even tell him to just go with the flow of the music and enjoy himself. Watching Mr. Aldrin dance last night was not very pretty. He was stiff and couldn’t get the rhythm of the music until way into the dance. I’m not saying he was terrible, I’m saying he’s 80-years-old and can only do so much. Totally unfair.

As for the high scorers last night, Evan Lysacek and Nicole Scherzinger they will be a force to reckon with. Evan looked terrific in his Waltz as did Nicole. But I found her Waltz was all fluff and no stuff. Evan’s dance was flowing as well as hitting the technical aspects of the dance.

So what was up with Pam Anderson last night? Was she nervous or was she drunk? Swinging her hair around and acting sexy was about all she had in her Cha, Cha, Cha. Yah, I know, the guys loved it!

Once again we have a weepy woman – Shannon Doherty – and of course the scared looking women – Kate Gosselin and Erin Andrews. Relax and enjoy the dance you’ll do a lot better.

Then there were the guys. I was totally surprised at Chad Ochocinco dancing his Cha, Cha, Cha really stiff. I thought he would be more flexible than what he showed. Aiden Turner’s Cha, Cha, Cha was also stiff.  I thought Jake Pavelka’s Waltz was pretty good and he may be a real contender.

Next week the stars will dance one more dance before one is eliminated. I think this season of stars should be fun to watch and very entertaining.

Until later,

Linda

This series is getting boring. The series continues with the same theme, same people with the same problems and same predictable results. The CEO of GSI Communications, Michael Rubin, leaves his lash living style and goes into the “trenches” to see how his people are doing in his company.

One job he was at that really caught my attention was the job at the Call Center. He was teamed with an employee, Danielle, who had no business in a call center. Usually, call centers are monitored by supervisors and if an employee is belligerent with a caller, they are called out and retrained again. Where was the supervisor? I can’t believe that this woman continued on the job without proper supervision. So instead of retraining her, Rubin tells her to change her attitude. Not very managerial to me. So what happened to her, she left the company. Do you think she was fired? It didn’t say at the end of the series.

Then he goes to work at the distribution center and gets fired. Too funny!  Next week we go to a theme park and see how the boss handles this one.

But before that – Dancing with the Stars premieres tonight. Can’t wait.

Until later,

Linda

Last night’s Undercover Boss featured the COO, Bill Carstanjen, of Churchill Downs. Once again, we are shown a very prosperous COO driving away in an expensive car from his lavish home to go undercover to see how the “other” side lives. What really surprised me were the successful racetracks that Churchill Downs own. Headquarters are in Kentucky, racetrack in Florida and another in Illinois.

Although this is a different type of business from previous shows, the theme is the same. The poor workers are working hard and the boss is not understanding where they are coming from. I really think that they are planting these workers for the show. One gal needed more horse stalls in order to make money, another one is a hard working cleaning lady that is afraid of walking through a dark parking lot at night by herself – I don’t blame her. Then there is a story of a young woman who is eager to do more than just PR and clean horses. Finally, the heart retching story about a father who is an energetic valet wanting to memorialize his daughter who passed away.

At the end of course, Mr. Carstanjen “fixes” everything for these employees and promises to continue to be in touch with his employees.

At first I thought this series would show real problems and real solutions. But a one hour fix of problems really doesn’t cut it. It is just putting a band aid on a massive bleeding wound. I really think these people are “plants” just to make the show a tear jerking show. Yes, they are real people with real stories, but come on, this is getting really old.

Next week the Undercover Boss is Michael Rubin, CEO of GSI Commerce, an e-commerce and interactive marketing services for retailers.

Until later,

Linda