Customer Reviews

Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

After I finished this book, I sat down and thought about all the companies I have worked for over the years. The number was rather daunting, including jobs in college and in high school. After I figured out who I had worked for, I looked at which companies I had enjoyed working for and which I had found boring and dull. After thinking for a while, I realized that the author had hit the nail on the head perfectly with his assertion that there are employees for every company, but not every company is for all employees.

While reading the book, it quickly became apparent that there are many companies that want bodies to fill space and do menial tasks, while there are some companies who are looking for intelligent people to think and be individuals, even in the front line of retail. The authors take on what each company wanted and how they tried to get an employee to that point was fascinating. I enjoyed the inside look at the companies, and I can say that I will not look at some of these companies in the same light ever again.

I was really hoping for some more interesting tidbits about the various companies. More stories would have been useful, especially about the Apple Store. In some ways it seemed like Alex ran out of energy by the time the Apple Store chapter was written. By contrast, the UPS chapter was full of good imagery and insight into what it felt like to be a UPS delivery agent. The Enterprise chapter also made me feel that I had enough information about Enterprise to know if I would like to work there or not and some clues to why the business succeeds.

All that said, this was a quick read for me and I'd recommend it especially when it comes out at the paperback price.

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.

Punching In
Written by: Alex Frankel
Published by: HarperCollins
ISBN: 978-0-06-084966-5

Reviewed by: Stephanie Rollins for ReviewYourBook.com
"Behind the Scenes of the Front Lines"
5 stars

This is a great book! All business owners/entrepreneurs, sociologists, and industrial psychologists must read "Punching In". The author informally studied different cultures of well-known businesses, such as UPS, Starbucks, and Enterprise. Only one of these companies would I work for, after reading this book.

The bonds between the employees are profound. The attempt to "brainwash" the employees into accepting the company culture is incredible. Even more amazing is the willingness of certain employees to adapt to this environment. Being an entrepreneur, I cannot understand this.

The tidbits of information about each workplace are hilarious. For instance, UPS workers think that women find them attractive and lust after them. So today, I was at Subway. A UPS worker sat next to me. I kept looking at him out of the corner of my eye. Did I think he was attractive? Yes, strangely I did.

The ways Enterprise employees try to sell insurance was disgusting. Starbucks workers take coffee way to seriously. The training and hiring practices varied from company to company. Some stores use statistics to determine the best employees.

"Punching In" is fascinating for those who are business-minded. It is hilarious, and it is from the personal experience of the author. Professors of human sciences and business should add this to the required reading list.

The book is certainly insightful and a good read, however it falls short of deeper analysis and takeaway lessons about frontline employees motivation. For example when it describes the fact that some hard-core employees represent so strongly the brand that they can transfer their passion to newcomers, it does not answer the question of what made them so hard-core employees in the first place.

But overall, a good read worth the money.

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.

If you have a job in any retail establishment in America, be prepared to sell. The author seems to think this is unusual as he bounces from one boring job to the next. Is this really supposed to be some startling revelation? Get a life. Other than being a pretty good writer, his stories were as bland as the "Have a nice day" monotones we hear every day, from McDonald's to Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

These adventures are about as exciting as watching someone drink a Venti brew at Starbucks, while pouring over the latest USA Today. Be still my racing heart.

I've always admired the work done by UPS drivers . . . in
addition, I've always been impressed by how well
employees at Starbucks go about getting coffee
to the vast numbers of people who enter their
stores each day.

Other businesses come to mind, too, including
Gap, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Apple stores . . . they're
all covered in Alex Frankel's PUNCHING IN,
an engaging and unauthorized look at what it's like to be a front-line
employee at these various organizations in America.

Frankel went undercover to get hired by each one, then
spent time doing such tasks as folding endless T-shirts,
selling iPods and completing a management training
program . . . what really caught my attention was how
he attempted to find out how these firms then tried to turn
thousands of job applicants into new hires and eventually
loyal--even fanatical--workers.

For example, at UPS:
* . . . we were given only a brief lesson in how to treat
customers. It went something like this: If a customer is angry
at you or upset that a package has not been delivered, tell them
that you are sorry. Do not confront them or engage them.

That was one extreme . . . at Gap, things were different:
* On my first day, I had a gnawing sense of not really knowing
what to do, but I received constant advice that I needed to be
doing something. "A little secret," said one coworker. "Don't stand
around, or management will say, 'Why isn't he doing anything?' "
My first day was a blessedly abbreviated four-hour tour of duty;
I wandered around aimlessly and tried to avoid both the eyes
of my managers and the questions of customers before I was set free.

I also liked the so-called advice that others gave Frankel, including
this from a coworker at Enterprise:
* Another guy shared his own method of selling insurance to
unsuspecting customers and regaled us with stories of selling "trips":
"Dude, I'd like, rattle off a bunch of stuff and, like, totally confuse them,
and then I'd, like, say, 'So, you want full coverage?' And they're like
'Okay,' " said Allan.

Lastly, all was not so perfect for the author . . . he interviewed for
a job at Whole Foods, but did not get it . . . probably because he
had difficulty with the online application:

* The test consisted of statements and a choice of four
answers--"strongly disagree," "disagree," "agree," or "strongly
agree"--for each statement. Trying to guess which answer would
get me invited in for an interview as quite difficult. Statements bobbed
and weaved in unpredictable directions and included the basic
and the absurd:

You have confidence in yourself. Your stuff is often kind of messy. You like
to have exciting fun. It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go
free. There are some people you really can't stand. You are somewhat of
a thrill-seeker. You are always cheerful. You like to stir up excitement when
you are bored. It is easy for you to take advantage of others. You are not
afraid to tell someone off. You can wait patiently for along time. Realistically,
these days, companies do not expect much loyalty from employees. You
deserve to be better off than you are. You like to be alone. Slow people
make you impatient. You love to listen to people talk about themselves.
Your behavior gets out of control at times. You've done your share of trouble-
making. You think about your feelings and try to understand them. You
would rather work on a team than by yourself.

Overall, PUNCHING IN is a great book to read or give as a gift
for anybody entering the workforce . . . it will also make others
presently employed rethink the wisdom of leaving their current
job for something that often isn't as wonderful as it may look.

Frankel sets out to experience first-hand the life of front-line workers in today's economy. UPS, The Gap, Starbucks, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Apple retail stores are included.

Frankel first reports on his experience at UPS, working as a seasonal overload driver helper at $8.25/hour. We learn about their DIAD (Delivery Information Acquisition Device) terminals that immediately report deliveries, indicated the number of stops remaining, and lay out the prescribed route. Frankel, with his driver, make up to 200 stops/day, then call in to see if needed to help other drivers. (Interesting aside - many drivers delay reporting completion as a means of avoiding extra work; I'm surprised UPS' computer system doesn't catch this.)

Few helpers last over four days, reports Frankel. Regardless, he takes pride in being part of "the team," and being complimented by regular workers, and lasts the entire season. Afterwards he is also given a tour of other UPS facilities and its premier Worldport facility in Louisville.

Worldport utilizes 5,000 workers (75% college students), and processes 304,000 packages/hour using its 17,000 conveyor motors. The facility handles about 1/15th of UPS' daily 15 million packages/day.

After two years most drivers make $24/hour, and average about $55,000 with overtime. Promotions come from within. Reading Frankel one clearly gets the impression that morale, and worker retention is high within UPS, though there are some dark undertones of management surveillance.

Frankel finds the employee culture design at Starbucks at bit contrived (Who really cares about what's going on within the lives of multiple customers?), and the product overpriced. The best employees are those with a passion for coffee, and are motivated by little "signs" such as a pin for displaying the five wanted behaviors, and the right to wear a black apron after demonstrating mastery barista knowledge by passing a day-long written exam. Tips amount to about $2+/hour (about 1/5 employee income), and those working 20+ hours/week get health insurance. Again, like UPS, there is the dark undertone of quarterly service assessments by mysterious evaluators.

Apple employees at its retail stores are hired primarily on the basis of, like Starbucks, a passion for Apple products. Uniforms consist of an Apple-issued shirt, and staff are particularly encouraged to sell extras - eg. maintenance contracts, extra storage service, etc.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car clearly came out as the last favored employer - Frankel even tells us about www.Failing Enterprise.com, a site updated by disaffected employees. College graduation is a hiring requirement for a job that doesn't begin to utilize it. Employees are lured in with a $36,000 starting salary that includes about 20 hours OT/week.

Reportedly, 96% remain on the job after 90 days - though this doesn't seem much to brag about. Regardless, Frankel tells us that the employees are generally quite young because there is little room to grow and be promoted.

The most dramatic feature about Enterprise, however, is its emphasis on pushing renters to buy insurance - 73 pages of the new employee instruction book covers insurance, vs. only 10 covering customer service. Again, there is the background cloud of monthly service assessments - conducted via random phone interviews of 33 customers.

Finally, there's Frankel's experience at The Gap. Lots of shirt folding, and an emphasis on getting customers to take on Gap credit cards.

Overall, an interesting and educational assessment; the importance of selling financially-oriented extras is reinforced by the fact that American auto companies make more on sales financing than manufacturing.