The Cut
It's a new Apprentice type show featured on CBS. The show premiered Thursday, June 9, 2005.
I liked it.
Although make no mistake the show is a total rip-off of The Apprentice. If such blatant plagiarism offends then this show will offend.
I would also suggest, softly, that this version of The Apprentice will not appeal to as broad an audience as its predecessor.
How many guys are going to watch a show about decorators? I'm guessing not near as many as those who tuned into The Apprentice. A show that did appeal to the business-minded as opposed to those who design clothing.
That being said, this Grandmother Blogger enjoyed the show and looks forward to the series and the many designer challenges.
The show begins with sixteen contenders. One, an "Amy" was eliminated last night. Like The Apprentice there are two teams: The Broadway Team and The 50th Street team.
This first night's challenge was to design a billboard for Tommy Hilfiger, The Donald of this reality show. Tommy too has a grand sanctum into which the teams are assembled. Within this room is something called "The Pit". Contestants under scrutiny are summoned into the Pit. Eventually the losing contender stands alone in the Pit before being sent on his/her way.
Kind of like a Christian in the coliseum as the lions roar hungrily in the background.
Speaking of lions. The Broadway team's billboard featured a billboard with Hilfiger's new logo, a squarish lion shape much like those that guard Chinese palaces. The team didn't paint the lion onto the billboard, but rather painted around the lion with colorful paint in such a manner that the outline of the lion could be discerned. The team also decided, for whatever insane reason, not to use the entire billboard for their display. Instead they left a large portion of the billboard empty all around. Even more bizarre, they put the designer's name up in some sort of Chinese script that was not visible from very far away.
Billboard rule number one, keep the design simple and insure that what is being advertised is visible from as far away as possible.
The 50th Street team's billboard won that night's competition although it too was subjected to much criticism from Hilfiger. Their team's billboard featured an outline of the NY skyline, squarish buildings and such jutting into the sky, painted, oddly, with diagonal stripes of colorful paint. The genius of that team's design was the play on the Hilfiger's name.
"TomMYNY" was how the designer's name was used on this billboard. The "MYNY" was a clever ploy that combines the last two digits of the designer's first name with the letters NY. A billboard observer would certainly get it as Hilfiger's first name is well known. The last four letters let said billboard observer know that this is Tommy Hilfiger of NY. The background of the NY skyline emphasized this connection.
One member of the 50th street team got it into his head to change the colors of the Tommy Hilfiger flag. Seems he didn't like the colors of the original.
Second rule of Billboard design, don't go mucking with the client's logo, no matter how much you dislike the color scheme.
Hilfiger isn't quite as dramatic as The Donald, however, something I find a bit refreshing. Sure the contestants squabble amongst themselves and yes, Hilfiger has some criticisms. But, at least on the first episode, the elimination of a contestant was not the main focus of the show as The Donald prefers.
I'd recommend this series to anyone interested in design. Most women and perhaps some young people will quite enjoy the show.
The men will likely stick to football.
RANT-I’m Sick of Doing the Government’s Job
This is the third installment on the “Know Your Paycheck” series that might become a book, who knows?
There’s been lots of hits on this topic. Something I find gratifying because hey, so very many folks do not understand their paycheck. Which is, by me, only the most important document in our lives.
The first two installments dealt with tax and other deductions. See the sidebar and check it out if yon reader has missed.
Let’s begin this chapter with my rant about how payroll departments routinely do the government’s work for them AND, indeed, do a better job than the bureaucrats in the government agencies.
Don’t believe me?
Let’s begin at the point of hire.
See, one cannot be employed in the United States unless one is a citizen or holds a legal visa.
Under penalty of great fines and possible loss of business license, payroll departments across the land must obtain two forms of identification BEFORE hiring anyone, American citizen or not.
The required forms of identification cannot be just anything willy-nilly. Citizens must provide an ORIGINAL social security card and another form of photo identification, usually a driver’s license.
Like a Chinese restaurant there’s choices of identity forms that can be chosen from column a or column b.
I once worked in a hospital, a business known for being chock full of foreign med students. I had green cards that were due to expire, weird sheets of stuff alleged to be valid from various countries and yes, one time a fake social security card.
Which got caught, by the way, the very first time I filed an annual W-2 form. The feds came right back at me that the name on the W-2 as I submitted did not match the social security number.
The person ended up getting fired because hey, it was a fake social security card! There was no way I could have known it at the time but soon enough such things are found out.
Several of the 9-11 hijackers had valid items of identification because for a couple of bucks some jerk at the local MVA will sell some driver’s licenses.
Yet, I say proudly, that big university hospital never had an illegal alien and yes I had to monitor the green cards and yes, sometimes had to withhold their pay until they came up with what was required for their continuing employment.
No, it’s not about ME. The hospital had an entire human resources department trained and vigilant over such matters. I caught the illegal SS card because I dutifully reported the W-2 info, the Feds came back at me, and I notified the human resource department.
In other words, ahem, we all did our jobs.
Waaaaay better than the government types I’d suggest.
Now how about the gal in the ER who won’t pay her credit card bill?
Yes. The district court sends the payroll department a notice and by law again, the paycheck is “attached” for the amount in the notice. Then a check is sent off to the Payee indicated in the attachment.
All of this, going along merrily with no special compensation from the government for doing THEIR job. Payroll departments across the fruited plains every day insure that illegal aliens do not get paid; that child support is deducted as demanded by municipal agencies or even finding deadbeat Dads because every new employee must be reported to the state; that lawsuit obligations are fulfilled because not to dutifully deduct as commanded by the mighty court leaves the BUSINESS responsible for the court ordered liability.
Yessir. Payroll departments are punished as well as the business they represent should they not continue to do the government’s job for which they receive no recompense.
Meanwhile government employees get twenty holidays a year, three week’s vacation, fifteen sick days and shortened hours on Friday.
Thanks. It’s a rant but I feel so much better.
A woman brought a very limp duck into a veterinary surgeon. As she laid her
pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the
bird's chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said,
"I'm so sorry, your pet has passed away".
"How can you be so sure?" she protested. "I mean you haven't done any
testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something."
The vet rolled his eyes, turned around and left the room. He returned a few
moments later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck's owner looked
on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the
examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked
at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.
The vet patted the dog and took it out and returned a few moments later with
a beautiful cat. The cat jumped up on the table and also sniffed the bird
from its beak to its tail and back again. The cat sat back on its haunches,
shook its head, meowed softly, jumped down and strolled out of the room.
The vet looked at the woman and said, "I'm sorry, but as I said, this is
most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck."
Then the vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced
the bill which he handed to the woman. The duck's owner, still in shock,
took the bill.
"$300!" she cried. "$300 just to tell me my duck is dead?!!"
The vet shrugged. "Look, I'm sorry. If you'd taken my word for it, the
bill would have been $40. But with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it all
adds up."
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