"UNDERCOVER BOSS"

[diane]

Has anyone seen this show? We usually avoid reality
type shows like the plague but this came on and
before the end we were wiping away the tears.
Each show features a boss from a quite huge
American company - Waste Management, 7 11, are
the two we have seen, who goes "undercover" trying
to see if he can make a difference to the workers.
There have been some memorable workers, but the
"boss" have been really wonderful (my daughter would
say - where are these bosses - why haven't I ever worked
for one". Herb said that the "bosses" would have to be
pretty nice to want to participate in the show in the
first place. I just think it's nice that there are "bosses"
around like that and maybe the show may encourage
others to sign up and help the workers that are not
as fortunate.

[Midge]

I haven't seen the show, Diane, but now that you've described it, I would like to. I agree with your daughter - where are those bosses?

[diane]

Interestingly, the next "Undercover Boss" we saw did not have the same impact
on us. I said to Herb, if I had seen this one first I would not have raved about
it. It did give us a discussion though - the first two programmes had "bosses"
that had been hired by the company - this show was about "White Castle"
(has anyone had these hamburgers and what do they think about them - the
ones featured on the show looked ghastly) - anyway, it was a family business
and his great grandfather started the company (he must have mentioned it about
20 times). It was all about efficiency - Herb and I were just discussing whether in
family run businesses it is all about keeping the family happy and not about helping
the workers. The workers were the unhappiest I had seen on all the three shows.

[Midge]

White Castle is an 88-year-old hamburger chain, the first in the United States. Their restaurants are located in the Eastern half of the country. The original White Castles were small boxy white structures with blue trim and a castle turret on the roof.

When I lived in New York, I went to a White Castle once and tried the hamburgers. It was one of those things that you have to do at least once if you live in that part of the country because there is such a mystique surrounding White Castle, and they have almost a cult following.

The first thing to know is that the bun and the patty are both square. The second thing to know is that they're TINY. If you order just one, they'll laugh at you. A standard serving size is three burgers.

The meat patties are thin and are poked with holes so that they cook faster. They're OK but nothing special. Some people really love them, though I think this is probably more from the nostalgia factor than for the actual taste of the product.

White Castle restaurants are located only in states east of the Mississippi, but their hamburgers are so legendary that the company now freezes them and ships them to supermarkets all over the U.S. They're even sold in vending machines.

Here's a link to some fun facts about White Castle from their corporate website:
www.whitecastle.com/company/fun-facts

[dvdjunkie]

The original White Castle was in Wichita, Kansas and the structure still stands today, and it is still a hamburger stand, but does not carry the White Castle name anymore. There has been a lot of uproar in recent months over the fact that there has been a movie made about the chain, they have been featured on Travel Channel, Food Network, and even the Cooking Channel.

Wichitans have been lobbying for a White Castle to return to Wichita. There have been petitions signed, and letters to the editor, and everything known possible to try to bring White Castle back to Wichita.

[Midge]

That's interesting, Bill. I didn't realize that White Castle originated in Kansas. I have amended my post accordingly. I checked the White Castle website, and their restaurants are located in the following states. It seems ironic that Kansas is not among them:

Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Tennessee
Wisconsin

[Kimmer]

I was a big fan of this show. I missed the 1st episode, but enjoyed the others. It was interesting to see the big shots see what sort of work the average person has to do in a day. I hope they make more episodes.