Mind-numbingly apolitical and completely boring. Frankel ain't no Ehrenreich. ( )

In this book, the author recounts his experiences as an "undercover" front-line employee. Basically, he decided to work in some of America's most well-known and loved corporations to see what life is like for the front-line employee and how that varies from the corporate message. The companies he is able to get jobs for include UPS, the Gap, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the Container Store, amongst others. Because these are all companies I am familiar with, it was doubly interesting to me to get an insider's view inside companies I use or shop in on a regular basis. You certainly won't think the same about your UPS driver again after reading this book! ( )

Alex Frankel is at his strongest when he develops personal anecdotes and stories. His descriptions of his interviews at the jobs where he worked and his efforts to defeat online screening provided the brightest moments in this book. It would have been a perfect book if Frankel could have taken this analysis to the next level and speculated more about the future of business or the deeper question of what drives employees to buy into the corporate culture being promoted by these companies. Instead, at times, Frankel falls back on general research citations and haphazardly inserts references to business school professors and other theoretical writing. Mid-discussion, a sentence falls in that reads, "Harvard business school professor so-and-so says, 'blah blah blah.'" More often than not, the comment isn't analyzed or discussed further – it's just dropped.

By far, the best sections of the book were those dealing with UPS. The section related to the Apple Store had unrealized potential to live up to the standard of the UPS section. Instead, the descriptions of his coworkers fell relatively flat. It seemed almost as though Frankel became afraid to share the details of his experience. Or perhaps he was just rushed at the end. Either way, though Frankel clearly believed that the Apple store had accomplished the corporate-culture promotion goal that Frankel considers the pinnacle of retail success, the details of that accomplishment failed to come through to the reader. Frankel also brings to life the interview at The Container Store with wit and descriptions of the other candidates that actually made me laugh out loud. His ability to laugh at his own errors gives the novel a self-deprecating humor that was much appreciated by this reader.

Overall, this enjoyable book allows readers to peer into the back rooms of familiar stores. I wish that the author had delved more deeply into the larger questions raised by his exploration of corporate culture -- whether development of such corporate culture is actually good for society, whether the government should strive to instill similar types of cultural output in government functionaries, whether such corporate culture is a lasting good, etc. -- but the just the memoir of the experiences provides some insight. ( )

About: Frankel takes jobs with several well-known companies and reports back from the front lines of customer interaction.

The first job he tackles is as a holiday season driver helper at UPS (where he's told that most do not last longer than 4 days due to the grueling amount of stuff to be delivered during this time). Fun fact: UPS is the world's 8th largest airline.Then he heads to the suit-required halls of an Enterprise Rent-a-Car where they really want customers to buy their insurance and he is told to phone competitors, posing as customer, so if say they were out of SUVs, Enterprise could hike their SUV rental prices.

After dealing with autos, it's off to the GAP where workers can only wear Gap clothing or clothing with no visible competitor markings and employees' bags searched by Loss Protection when they leave for the night. This job requires lots of folding, listening to the same music for 6-8 weeks at a time, and pressure to sell Gap credit cards to customers.

Frankel heads from clothes to coffee as he is hired as a barista at Starbucks. While you must wear either a white or black shirt with black pants or khakis while slinging coffee, they do offer health insurance to employees. Note for your next visit: Coffee Masters (who have had special training) wear black aprons instead of the green standard.

The final job takes him from black coffee to the glaring white of an Apple Store where the dress code is pretty much just the black Apple logo shirt he is given. At the Apple Store, he's encouraged to "be who you are" and the work force is only 10% female. Although employees do not work on commission, there is large emphasis on selling "extras" with each computer sale.

Frankel also attempted to get positions at Container Store where didn't get past the group interview and Home Depot where he answered some questions "wrong" on the "these questions have no wrong answers" section of the application, so the computer locked his application as it deemed him not a good fit for the place. He was also not hired at Best Buy or Whole Foods.

He provides a nice sum up at the end, stating that UPS had the most adventure, the Apple Store had a much "looser" feel than then more codified Gap, Enterprise and Starbucks, where he never felt quite at ease.

Pros: Very enjoyable read. Writing is crisp, to the point and exudes honesty. Nice balance of analysis of the companies he's working for and tales of his actual employment (the cross section of Starbucks customers he describes is a highlight). Index and endnotes are a pleasant surprise.

Cons: He doesn't explicitly say how long he worked for each company. I hope he was allowed to reveal all of the things about the companies' workings and policies that he does without getting sued.

Grade: A ( )