I don’t write as much about Public Relations on this blog because I write A LOT about Public Relations over on the Journal Record’s PR blog.

This week’s PR post is about Waste Mangement COO Larry O’Donnell’s trip to the trenches to experience what his employees actually do during their work day and the chronicling of that experience on the new TV show “Undercover Boss.”

This week’s episode, airing Sunday, features a Hooter’s exec doing the same thing. So… first garbage and portable toilets and second hot wings and hot chicks.

Aside from the potential PR benefits and pitfalls, which I talk about in the Journal Record post, consider for a moment the PR possibilities for the show itself by starting with something everyone thinks is awful (cleaning toilets) and following it with something highly controversial (hot pants or hot wings… why do you go?).

Undercover Boss is pulling out all the stops to launch successfully and letting the buzz in the leadership, management, business, environmental, feminist, manly men and reality TV camps and in social media drive the ratings.  What do you think? Too much calculatedness on the part of the show? Do you “trust” that the experience matters to the companies?

via adobemac on flikr.com. Used under CreativeCommons 2.0 license

I’d be ashamed of myself the only way I could explain no job were to sue the college I willingly gave years of my life and thousands of my dollars to because they somehow failed me. Really? I mean…. really!!??

Grad Sues College for $70,000 Because She Cant Find a Job – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com.

Even if the education was substandard, she wasn’t required to CONTINUE to give them her money and stay there to not learn. There is so much wrong with this entire picture that I’m nearly speechless… which is a rarity for me.

True, it’s a rough environment out there for job seekers, but the majority of folks out there are, in fact, still employed. Thank goodness. And I’m guessing there are jobs out there, even for her, just not the job she really wants. How many of you got your first job out of college and it was perfect? You walked in, sat down at your new (new to you, anyway) desk and said to yourself, “Yeah, man… all those dollars and time… definitely worth it for THIS job!”

I bet the internal conversation went more like, “OK… so the office smells, the chair’s hydraulics don’t work, this computer is a relic, and I have to make the coffee and deliver it to everyone else… but it’s in my field and it’s a start.” Why do people expect things to just come easily? Most worthwhile events and occasions have a serious effort quotient attached. I wish this girl the best… and perhaps the best thing that could happen would be for some serious reality to infect her world view. What do you think?