Undercover Boss.

Imagine this situation.  There you are, slugging away at work.  Slugging as in working hard and nothing to do with slimy critters or brawling with fellow workers.

You resent the lack of recognition for all your efforts on your minimum wage, high demand, stressful job.  I mean, really, you would think that just once, your photo would be proudly displayed above the pop machine as, "Employee of the Month".  After all, you take great pride in slapping together the best darned 'Big Crap' burger, complete with the secret sauce, at this fine eating establishment.  Yet, every month, you go unnoticed and the supervisor's lazy son always seems to be Employee of the Month.  Yep, a photo of his smirking face seems to be a permanent fixture above the pop machine.

Aha, what's this?  A television crew has descended upon the restaurant.  You've seen all those shows where television crews come into places to do 'documentaries'.  All those times when somebody made out they were doing a documentary about getting some work experience.  And all those times the person getting work experience was actually the boss of the company, posing as an old unemployed, down on their luck, man or woman.

The supervisor comes over to you.  "Hey you!  What's the name on your tag?  Hey Ernie, this is a television documentary crew and this old unemployed guy, down on his luck, is trying to get some work experience. He wants to see how tough it can be to get a job these days.  I want you to train him."

"Hi, my name's Fred", states the guy who is featuring in the documentary.  You think to yourself, 'Result!  It's the boss of the company pretending to need some work experience.  I'm gonna' show him just how good I am.  I shall then be rewarded at a meeting back at headquarters.  Yes, 'Fred' will heap praise on me, give me a huge bonus, a brand new job, buy me a fancy car and send me and my impoverished family on a luxury cruise around the world!'

So you show Fred how things work in the restaurant.  You are polite, pleasant and patient.  You demonstrate the fine art form of creating the very best 'Big Crap' burger, complete with the secret sauce.  Fred is useless and makes loads of mistakes.  This is overwhelming proof to you that he must be the boss.

The day comes to an end.  The camera crew pack up their gear.  You shake Fred's hand.  "Thanks for that", he states.  "It was most enlightening and I hope it will be of benefit to the viewers of the documentary."   "Okay", you state with a wink and a smile.  "Um Fred, I look forward to be taken to a mystery meeting at headquarters in the very near future!"   "What are you talking about?", responded Fred.  "This was a documentary called, "Old Folks and Finding Work".  I'm just an old unemployed, down on my luck, kinda' guy."

Still not believing him, you wait, week after week, month after month, for that 'meeting' that praises you for all you do.  It never happens.  Suddenly, you rush over to the tub of secret sauce and cover the supervisor and his smirking son, with the entire contents.

A few days later and now jobless, you notice that the documentary you were in is on TV.  On the screen, 'Fred' announces that due to unforeseen circumstances, the guy who was training him was not getting rewarded.  Instead, you see on the screen, the supervisor and his smirking son, being praised and rewarded for a job well done.