Yes, this is a rant. I just figured I’d warn you before you got here.
Last night my husband and I sat down to watch the latest reality show on TV: Undercover Boss. This show takes CEOs, presidents, and owners of some of the country’s largest companies and puts them undercover within their operations to discover several things: what really goes on inside the company; what employees think of management; and the perspective the customer has of the company. Last night the boss that went incognito was Coby Brooks, CEO of Hooters. Yeah, you know the restaurant.
Prior to watching this show I despised Hooters. I’ve only stepped foot in the place one time and that was to meet a relative’s fiance. I made it a point to be too busy to attend the luncheon because I dislike Hooters and what they stand for that much. While I was there I saw first hand the outfits these Hooters girls wear, the fanny spanking that customers dish out to the girls and worse that is tolerated by management, and the comments that these women have to endure just to make it through a shift.
Did I mention I was there less than 20 minutes?
With all of that said, I decided to watch this show in hopes of the CEO discovering these lewd practices and initiating some type of change. He did witness some very disrespectful practices by managers of some franchises and he also was able to talk to the public about their perspective of the restaurant. Most said that they found the practices to be degrading and disrespectful to women. And it is. These women are chosen for their beauty, waist size, and how appealing their cleavage is. I was hoping and praying for their sake that change was coming. So what did Mr. Brooks do?
He made excuses.
He argued that the Hooters uniform is a tradition and one of the main reasons patrons visit their restaurants.
Let me stop right there. In the beginning of the show Mr. Brooks said that their profit margin has been way down and that was the reason he was going undercover. He wanted to diagnose some problems and change them for the betterment of the company.
So… if these patrons are visiting just to fanny spank and gawk over these women who are chosen for their assets and according to their profit margin these customers aren’t spending as much as they were and new customers won’t come in because they believe Hooters is degrading to women (understatement) then why not change the “tradition”?
In my opinion this goes beyond the fact that they are hired on a similar scale as most exotic dancers but it also speaks to the other 90% of girls who would never qualify as a “Hooters Girl” because they are a size too large or not as attractive (in some manager’s opinion) as someone else. What does that teach the young women of today? What does that speak to your daughters Mr. Brooks? What if one grew up to be overweight and didn’t “qualify” to work in Hooters based on a set or requirements you created?
Mr. Brooks stated on TV that he was instituting a new campaign to change the way people think of the Hooters girl. He wants to show that they have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. His attempt will be to justify his lust for women, money or both but don’t buy into it.
For years women have gone on to such careers and they never stepped foot into a Hooters. The credit goes to them, not Hooters. And by the way Mr. Brooks… the fact that these women succeeded proves one thing: they finally realized their full potential and the knowledge that they were worth way more than the logo stretched across and barely covering their chest.
After watching this show I despise Hooters even more. Mr. Brooks has made it clear that their intention all along was to exploit these girls for entertainment. It didn’t just happen that way. It was intentional. I for one hope their profit margin continues to decrease as long as the “Hooters Girls” are their main attraction.
I can make my own chicken wings. thank.you.very. much.
