Buy Low Price From Here Now
During a two-year urban adventure through the world of commerce, journalist Alex Frankel proudly wore the brown uniform of the UPS driver, folded endless stacks of T-shirts at Gap, brewed espressos for the hordes at Starbucks, interviewed (but failed to get hired) at Whole Foods, enrolled in management training at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and sold iPods at the Apple Store.
In this lively and entertaining narrative, Frankel takes readers on a personal journey into the land of front-line employees to discover why some workers are so eager to drink the corporate Kool-Aid and which companies know how to serve it up best.
Readmore
Technical Details
See more technical details
By Michael Lima (Fresno, California USA)
Alex Frankel states very early in Punching In that his purpose for writing the book was to explore companies with strong corporate cultures, and the effect those corporate cultures had on front-line employees. True to his word, Frankel does look at the culture of several companies, like UPS, Starbucks, The Gap, and Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. He also touches on that culture's impact on both management and employees within those companies. But, the lasting image that the reader takes away from the book is the effect that these companies and their cultures had on Alex Frankel. Frankel isn't shy about describing his feelings while working at these companies, and the eventual insights he made about his personality. As a result, the reader ends up finding out more about Frankel than they do about corporate culture.
The reader is left with the impression that Frankel worked for four to six weeks at each job. If that's true, then perhaps that wasn't enough time for him to really evaluate what impact a particular company's corporate culture had on its employees. Thus, while the book is concisely written and contains some interesting anecdotes, it doesn't deliver what it sets out to deliver. Given that flaw, I'm not sure too many readers will want to shell out money for a lightly concealed psychological profile of Alex Frankel.
By Nidish Kamath
Alex Frankel, a writer from San Francisco, is enamored with the success of a few retail and service giants. So he works undercover for a few months at some of these to understand what corporate culture nuances make them tick.
A very nice light read that illustrates principles of organizational behavior at work (social proof and fairness among other concepts).
By Larry Underwood (Scottsdale, AZ)
As a former long term Enterprise Rent-a-Car employee (1974-2000), it was interesting to read about the whimsically inquisitive Alex Frankel's brief tours of duties, not only with Enterprise, but UPS, Starbucks, and Apple, among others.
I suppose I enjoyed his perspective so much, because I remember what it was like working in the trenches with Enterprise, although those tactics about calling the competition to check on pricing and availability of certain specialty vehicles hadn't even crossed our minds back in the '70s and '80s. We were busy enough as it was just taking care of our normal insurance replacement type customer; and besides, as far as I was concerned, the rate was the rate, and that was all there was to it.
As far as selling the "extras" was concerned, one would be hard pressed to find any retail establishment that didn't try to figure out some way to generate "ancillary revenue". With Enterprise, and I'm pretty sure just about every rental company on the planet, we tried our very best to sell that collision damage waiver, or as we used to call it, "dub" (they still call it that, in fact).
Go into a Best Buy, purchase anything at all, and wade through the list of extras you can tack on to that purchase, to make sure you're fully covered; or Sears; or Uncle Larry's TV land; they'll try to sell you their form of "dub". Welcome to Retail-ville, America. You may walk in to buy that $399 whatever, but you may walk out paying a couple hundred extra. That's just American capitalism, baby.
What I found interesting is how so many companies, Enterprise included, really work those new worker bees into the corporate culture; some were laid back, others more conservative than bankers. Personally, I've long been a proponent of letting the Enterprise employees wear more comfortable attire when summer rolls around; particularly if you're working in the desert southwest, where 110 degrees is considered "chilly" in July and August.
By the way, as far as Starbucks is concerned, whatever they're doing is working as far as I'm concerned. I've never been treated rudely and my Venti Mocha Lite Frap...whatever is always perfect; every time.
But, I guess you could say I'm "old school". I think everybody should start out at the absolute bottom, anywhere. They learn the business from the ground floor up, and by the time they get into some sort of management capacity, they're ready for just about anything (aside from micro-managment, of course).
I liked Alex's style of writing, and his dry sense of humor. It made for an enjoyable trip through the ever changing cultures of corporate America, where the "sales" end of the culture is very strong; so buyer beware. If you don't want the "dub" don't take it. Personally, every time I rent a car, I always take the "dub". I knew that poor kid writing that contract would get something to brag about, after he sent me on my merry way. Besides, who needs the hassle if something did go wrong? My God, I'm trying to sell you the "dub" now.
Time to say, bye, and thank Alex for a fun-filled romp through the trenches where the going is still tough; but so what? This ain't no country club, kid.
By K. Stopher (Pleasanton, CA)
Going to work for the Apple store, Starbucks, Enterprise rent a car, UPS, and GAP takes Frank through a funny and strange trip behind these companies and the front line employees that work for them. For people who have worked the front lines, like Office Space, The Office, 10 Items or Less and similar things will likely find familiar and funny stories within these pages.
By Sibelius (Palo Alto, CA USA)
Alex Frankel's, "Punching In," is a decent to very good read for nosy folk like myself who have often wondered what it would be like to be a hourly waged worked at the likes of UPS, Starbucks, Gap, The Apple Store, etc. Frankel covers the entire process for each of the outlets he works for chronicling the application and hiring process, the minutiae of the actual workday itself and post-mortem reflections upon his inevitible resignation.
For the most part, "Punching In," is a brisk read and Frankel does a worthy job in capturing the employee atmosphere and atitudes of each of his postings and for these reasons alone the book is worthy of a 4-star review for anyone interested in the companies discussed or the thematics concerned. What would've pushed this book into 5-star territory would've been the inclusion of 2 items that were curiously lacking. First off, it would've been nice to learn the specifics of Frankel's hourly wages, what kind of perks workers are entitled to, etc. For a book that aims to be a 'fly on the wall' peek behind the curtain said omissions are puzzling. Also lacking is more insight into the lives of Frankel's co-workers who unlike him are actually in need of these monotonous and low-paying work for the sake of subsistence. Barbara Ehrenreich's, "Nickel and Dimed" is a brilliant and superior comparison to Frankel's. In the end however, this book is certainly worth a read if the material is of any interest to you.
Buy Punching In: One Man's Undercover Adventures on the Front Lines of America's Best-Known Companies Now
0 Responses to "Punching In: One Man's Undercover Adventures on the Front Lines of America's Best-Known Companies"
Post a Comment