Reuters
Bosses in staffer shoes get a reality check
Thursday March 4, 12.58 pm ET
By Jui Chakravorty
NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - Never having cleaned a bathroom in his life, Jonathan Tisch was down on his knees, scrubbing with great effort but little interest, under the watchful eye of his supervisor.
Tisch, the chief executive officer of Loews Hotels, a unit of Loews Corp. was one of several CEOs to get down and dirty for a week's worth of labor in the new reality-based show "Now Who's Boss?" airing March 8 on cable's The Learning Channel.
The grueling week humbled them, said the executives, who agreed to work in lower-level jobs in their own companies, but it also made them affect changes in the workplace.
The temporary duties of John Selvaggio, president of Song Air Service, the low-cost carrier of Delta Air Lines, included making sushi and disposing of raw sewage. He also became aware of more efficient ways of time-management.
"I asked myself: Can you have caterers load an airplane, while cleaners are cleaning it, while passengers are boarding it?" Selvaggio said in an interview. "And I realized while working on the plane -- Yes, we can."
Selvaggio helped reduce turn-around time for planes from one hour and 20 minutes to just 40 minutes.
Song, known for its tempting and varied menus, sells food on its flights -- unlike most other airlines. The carrier hired all its flight attendants from its parent, Delta Air Lines.
"Since flight attendants always served food at Delta, I noticed they knew how to serve the food, but not how to sell it," said Selvaggio, who walked up and down the aircraft aisle, selling candy bars to passengers unaware of his identity.
"I made a sales pitch out of it. I had a better time and the customers had a better time. Oh, and I sold every single Snickers bar we had on board," he said.
The series, based on the popular British show "Back to the Floor," has six episodes.




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