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Velocity, or VMS, is a family-run company that had hit a plateau, said Danoush Khairkhah, CEO and Barakat's husband. Its biggest problems were with personalities, not with business, he said. "Opportunity knocks only several times in your life," Khairkhah said. He was interested to see how his employees would perform when given the chance to take issues into their own hands. They knew what they were getting into, he said, although they didn't know specifically they would see film of colleagues criticizing them or learn their salaries. "It's not bad to sit there and hear what your colleagues think of you," he said. "How many times in your life does someone sit you down and say,
'Here are the things I don't like about you?' That's great. Now you can correct them and go on the right path. Some people can, and some people crumble when they hear negative things." Things have improved at VMS since the show was filmed over five days last December, he said. Employees are taking more initiative and aren't afraid to speak up about problems. Khairkhah and his employees haven't seen the show yet. They plan a party Thursday night to all watch it together. He does have some concerns after seeing commercials promoting the show. "No one wants to see a commercial about your business saying 'toxic office,'" he said. "If it was toxic, we wouldn't be here 15 years. When I saw that I was kind of shocked. But I understand this is show business and they've got to build up drama." 352 Media Group was very close to participating, Wilson said. Most of his employees wanted to, although there was a vocal minority. He was told the show was called "Office Life," he said, but noticed a clause in the contract that gave producers the right to change the title if they wanted. Hmmmm. That made him suspicious. "I wouldn't say the producers lied to us," he said. "I would say that they creatively represented the facts." (Abrego said that dealings with the companies have been "100 percent above board.") After Wilson turned Endemol down, producers sent him a copy of a show pilot to see what it was like and offer advice. He breathed a sigh of relief; his company depends on teams working well together and a public airing of dirty laundry would have been devastating, he said. "I am unbelievably happy that our sixth sense told us to stay away from this," Wilson said.
[Associated
Press;
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