From how the United Center transforms its basketball court into an ice hockey rink.

To the journey your holiday packages take to arrive at your door wt do you zone?

Jeffrey Bears latest project.

Chicago works brings to the forefront the behind the scenes work, the work that we might take for granted.

That helps keep the city running.

The new special premieres tonight at 07:00PM.

Take a look.

>> Chicago is known as the city that works.

keeps that point?

was just like a dream come true do this.

And this is going to come out with this It's why.

Oh, We just don't smell it anymore.

All right.

Here.

Just a doll.

But Inside the ballparks in America.

>> During a says, the man who gets all the fun job, the W T Tw our own Jeffrey Bear.

Welcome back having to You just said it there in that trailer.

But we're known as the city that works.

Why is that?

Well, it's a tribute to the first Mayor, Richard J Daily.

You know, the city that works.

I don't know that anyone has documented exactly where that came from or who his team.

it goes back to daily kind of promoting Chicago is.

>> You know, a city that that where we know how to get things done.

Yes, in Chicago a proud of that as well.

You take us on sort of a career day.

How did you narrow down which jobs to Well, it's only a one-hour show where there's all kinds of jobs that we would have loved to have included in.

There are more on our website, by the way, but I guess, you know, we talked about what would be the most the visual I got to do some bucket list of things that I would love to do.

Writing Metro locomotive.

And as you saw going inside the scoreboard at Wrigley and just things we thought would would be surprising actually, to people.

So one of the jobs that viewers get to see its workers at the United Center and they're converting that basketball court into the ice hockey rink, as we mentioned.

And of course, it is very timely this time of year.

Tell us about that.

Yeah, I mean, I got to help them a little bit.

>> You know, when you're watching a basketball game, you just looks like a smooth floor, right?

But it's it's it's into sections.

And you don't even see the seams.

>> But, you know, the minute the you know, basketball players are off the floor.

This other team takes the floors that were literally, oh, yeah, the And, you know, the big surprise is that the ice is always under there.

Whether you're at a concert the basketball game, the ice is there all the time.

So there's a layer of something called ice decking, which is sort of this some fiberglass material.

And then the the basketball floor has these little pads.

So there's a little bit of a cavity and are there.

So best ballplayers feet don't get cold and yeah, that's that's how they do.

You think it would keep them cool weather a planet might use that.

You mention that you did get to help out.

Let's take a look at that.

They only started this 15 minutes ago and >> And how much gone already?

Braddock not not too bad.

I'll just give up.

United Center.

>> Do they know how much costs for okay.

So our viewers who are familiar with the blue bins in Chicago, we also get to see some behind the scenes of of the recycling sorting facility and we see how automated systems are used.

There's also a lot of manual painstaking.

work to This is always been a big cause of Big recycler and you throw everything in the blue bin and you're like, who sort all that stuff and does it get recycled?

Not a huge percentage of it.

Sadly, really does glass paper metal is pretty good.

Plastic is is a is a problem in turn because part of it has to do with the price of oil.

>> They're meant to be a market for the plastic that they're recovering.

But listen to what I'm saying right now.

Do not throw plastic bags in the recycling plastic just just gum up the works.

You saw those crazy machines.

the spinning augurs and things?

So there are people all around on that.

This is device that's like the size of the biggest ride you've ever written at 6 Flags under one roof.

But they human beings all around all day long.

Just pulling plastic bags out because otherwise they get caught in the works and the whole system stop literally gumming up the works with What were some of the interesting things that you saw, what we Yeah, I mean, that's part of it is that you're seeing the detritus of people's daily lives right the woman who tours me around in the show is a former school teacher and she spotted the kids math homework going by.

I'm some were looking for.

you know, there's that energy drinks, you know, and you just think about all the things that people tossed in the recycling that, you know, you know, didn't really they used and didn't, you know, think where's it going to end up?

And so it is fun because you're in there and it's massive operation.

But it is kind of a a metaphor for our daily lives.

All the stuff gets discarded personal question.

What were some of the jobs that you had before you were t tw that shaped you?

My first job was a big donalds and I made a $1.60 an back then that minimum wage was a $1.65 But you becomes a restaurant so they can pay less because of tips.

Expedient allows too excited to get you and then actually one of my great jobs that I loved was I was the amazing Alfredo 6 Flags, Great America back then was Marriott's Great American.

My job was to get your name age weight or month of birth.

Which one did you tend to pick when you want to go?

They re had today.

They say had to tell you they could tell me, yes, my weight or my age weight was very delicate issue.

sure it was.

All right.

so an angel with mandate for that Yes, okay.

So in the specially also take a visit to the Shedd Aquarium.

Here's a clip of that.

>> It's a school oh, my gosh, I'm going to have nightmares.

>> Now comes the fun part.

All right here.

Just a goal.

But >> The whales are pretty cute.

Aren't paying 3, baker's order.

Both sides of the car to say that.

It's cute.

I know you can't really in your pocket, but they're so So be on feeding the beluga whales also learned about how should get water.

Yes, so in the early days, the salt when it first opened, they actually shipped to the salt water to the shed in railroad tank cars from Florida.

They actually built a special track through what is now the museum campus.

But now there's a person whom we interview areas down in the lower level, their their areas.

It's the same product.

If you've got an aquarium and home, it's the same products you use to put that make your water salty in the aquarium.

But this comes in one town bags and, you know, they very carefully calibrate the amount of salinity that the various animals need.

So that's it's a very high tech process.

But yeah, they make their salt water make this the guy who doesn't.

Then they got a guy.

They something that I noticed while watching this.

And I wonder what common thread you found in the people that you spoke with this that everyone you spoke with is really they like their jobs.

They are enjoying their jobs and happy to do that.

Which I love to see right.

We left it.

If people who are lucky as lucky as me, new mayor who to do jobs that they enjoy.

What what common thread did you notice?

Yeah, I mean, we really I really expected.

You know, we're going to show up with a film crew and these people are busy and they were just going get out of our way.

You're bothering us.

They were so excited to share their work with us because not they're not often.

People don't often get to see what they do and they're proud of the work that they do so by and large, except for engineer in the metro locomotive I don't know if we actually told them we're going interview him.

But ahead of time.

But I was riding alongside this, you know, engineer in the locomotive.

And I said we love strains.

We always wanted to be.

And engineering 3rd generation real runner and my family said don't get into this business because it's, you know, weekends and nights and vacations.

And you know, so he didn't love it.

But the other people that Metra, oh, my goodness, there was a young woman who's a dispatcher in the control center.

You know, she sitting in the console and controlling trains across hundreds of miles.

And I said, if you know like your John Shaw, I've always wanted to do this when I was a little girl, least run alongside the freight trains when they came through town.

>> And I always wanted to do this.

>> Jeffrey Jahre, Chicago works.

It I enjoyed And thank you for joining us again to share with whole thing kind recognized.

Of course.

>> And you can see bonus content and you can stream