Undercover Boss

Undercover Boss
Title card
Genre	Reality
Created by	Stephen Lambert
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	3
Production
Running time	43-45 minutes
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	February 7, 2010 (2010-02-07) – present

Undercover Boss is a television series on CBS produced by Studio Lambert. It is based on the 2009 British Channel 4 series of the same name.

Each episode of the show features a senior executive at a major corporation, working incognito as a new entry-level hire in his or her company for one week, to find out how the company really works (including the impact of "corporate policy") and identify some of the unsung heroes among the employees.

The first episode premiered on February 7, 2010 after Super Bowl XLIV and featured Larry O'Donnell, President and Chief Operating Officer of Waste Management, Inc.

Season 1

Episode #	Original Airdate	Company	Boss
1	February 7, 2010	Waste Management, Inc	Larry O'Donnell, President & COO
2	February 14, 2010	Hooters, Inc	Coby G. Brooks, President & CEO
3	February 21, 2010	7-Eleven	Joseph M. DePinto, President & CEO
4	February 28, 2010	White Castle	Dave Rife, Owner & Executive Board Member
5	TBA	Churchill Downs, Inc.	William C. Carstanjen, President & COO

Episode synopsis

Waste Management, Inc/Larry O'Donnell

First aired February 7, 2010

Lawrence (Larry) O'Donnell, President and Chief Operating Officer of Waste Management, is featured in the premiere episode. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Waste Management is one of the two largest waste disposal firms in the United States. Despite his responsibilities in running a $13 billion company, his family—wife Dare, son Larry Jr., and daughter Linley—are priority. Linley suffered permanent brain damage due to medical malpractice; thus, safety practices are a main issue with Larry. Larry assumes the identity of "Randy Lawrence", an unemployed construction worker; the explanation for the camera crews was that Randy was being filmed for a documentary as someone beginning in the waste disposal industry.

On his first day Randy works at a recycling facility in Syracuse, New York. His boss for the day is Sandy, who issues him protective gear including special sleeves to protect him from sharp objects such as needles, which occasionally pop up on the line. Randy's task is to remove trash and cardboard from the conveyor belt. He struggles with the task, and Sandy informs him that he is working on the slowest line in the plant. Eventually the line is shut down due to a stuck object. At lunch Randy remarks that he hoped he didn't cause the shutdown. Sandy suddenly leaves the breakroom and clocks in, telling Randy that Kevin, the site manager, instituted a policy for late reporting: two minutes of pay docked for each one minute an employee clocks in late.

The second day, Randy works picking up trash on the side of a hill at Central Landfill in Pompano Beach, Florida. Walter is his assigned boss for the day and informs him that he should fill up one bag every ten minutes; when asked about any proper technique, Walter replies that "it isn't rocket science". Randy struggles to fill up even one bag and is close to being fired halfway through the day, but the two go to lunch. Walter tells Randy that he has little patience with slow workers; he is currently on dialysis and is still able to complete his task. Walter then gives Randy one more chance; however, Randy is still unable to fill up one bag and is thus terminated. Larry remarks that this was the first time he was ever fired from a job.

The third day finds Randy at High Acres Landfill in Fairport, New York - a small suburb just east of Rochester. Jeff, the site manager, actually knows Larry and is thus asked to keep Randy's true identity safe. Randy's task is to operate the scales for incoming refuse trucks; Jaclyn is his assigned boss. Jaclyn chastises Randy for wearing boots instead of sneakers, as he will be running around quite a bit. Randy discovers that Jaclyn is officially an administrative assistant, but actually serves also as office manager, scale operator, and scale supervisor, and also does accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll for the facility. Jaclyn—who survived five different forms of cancer before age 25—invites Randy to dinner at her home. There he learns that Jaclyn not only supports her husband and daughter, but also her father, sister, and brother-in-law, who all live together in the same house—a house that Jaclyn is in danger of losing. Larry remarks that he was unable to sleep that night; the following day he contacts Jeff who agrees to send Larry ideas on how to improve Jaclyn's position in the company.

The fourth day finds Randy back in Houston, but this time working at a traveling carnival. He teams with Fred and his task is to clean portable toilets (the standard is 15 per hour). Notwithstanding the hard work, Fred, a 10-year veteran of toilet cleaning, has a very positive attitude and is impressed with Randy's abilities at toilet cleaning. Larry is also impressed with Fred's attitude and commitment.

The final day finds Randy back in Rochester, this time as a helper on a trash collection route—"the public face of the company", as Larry put it. Janice is the truck driver, who remarks that they must complete 300 houses on today's run. Randy's inexperience with the automated cart loader concerns Janice, who remarks that "corporate" has placed strict productivity targets on the drivers, compounded by direct supervisors spying on routes to check on productivity. Worse, Janice is unable to take a normal restroom break due to the targets, and has resorted to using a tin can as a portable toilet. Despite the setbacks, Janice also is positive and introduces Randy to some of her favorite customers, one of whom is a mentally-challenged female that reminds Randy/Larry of his own daughter.

Back in the boardroom, Larry resumes his true identity and tells his senior leadership team of his findings. He is displeased with the docking policy from the Syracuse recycling facility, and when discussing productivity—an area he pushed the most—mentions how the targets need to be adjusted to make work better for the drivers.

Larry, meanwhile, has summoned his "bosses" to corporate to reveal his identity. He compliments Fred on his positive attitude and invites him to speak to the senior leadership team. He reveals to Janice that the empathized with her about how "corporate" was making things hard, and promised to consult with her on improving conditions. He tells Walter that he is impressed with his personal story and doesn't hold a grudge over his firing, and promises him paid time off to help other dialysis patients. He informs Sandy that the docking policy is not what was intended, then calls Kevin into the office who agrees to rescind the policy. Finally, Larry tells Jaclyn that he is impressed with her ability to perform multiple roles; he then promotes Jaclyn to supervisor, telling her she needs to hire her replacement, and places her in salary status and also in bonus eligibility. Larry then reveals his true identity to the employees and together they watch clips from the show.

The final segment provides an update to the employees featured:

• Fred left Waste Management to work at a hospital inspiring patients
• Janice continues to work with Larry in improving conditions for female employees
• Walter now serves as a health mentor for Waste Management
• Sandy's issue with the pay docking was corrected, resulting in improved morale and production; the facility even won a company award
• Jaclyn hired two people to replace her and now works as a Customer Account Manager; the resulting pay increase allowed her family to keep the house.

Hooters, Inc./Coby Brooks

First aired February 14, 2010

The episode begins with Coby Brooks explaining the story of the Hooters chain and how he unwittingly came to be president and CEO upon the retirement of his late father, Robert Brooks. He also reveals himself to be a divorced father of three children. To facilitate his going undercover, Coby Brooks assumes the alias "Scott", shaves his facial hair, and wears eyeglasses. The first four days involve Brooks working at Hooters locations in the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex.

Brooks' first day on the job has Scott working back-of-house at the Hooters restaurant in the Dallas West End, performing duties such as taking out the trash, clearing bus trays, and washing dishes. He learns that the manager, Dave, used to be in the military and law enforcement. Dave constantly chides Scott for his slow pace and ultimately asks him not to come back.

The second day, Scott returns to the West End location and works on the street with two Hooters Girls, Brittany and Amanda, promoting the restaurant, with the hidden goal of trying to gauge public perception of the company. Several people tell Scott and the girls that they believe the chain degrades women.

Next, Scott works as an assistant manager at the South Arlington location under Jimbo and is horrified to see Jimbo orchestrating a degrading game in which several girls compete over who could go home early that evening. After struggling to maintain his disguise while the game was going on, Scott exits the restaurant and, in the privacy of his vehicle, calls the franchise owner (as Coby) to inform him that something needed to be done about Jimbo.

The next day, Scott works as an assistant manager at a Fort Worth location with a manager (Marcee) who was promoted to the position from waitress. He learns of her struggles to support her family and of the unique position she has being a mother and a female manager who had once done the job her employees do.

Scott's last day on the job brings him to the Naturally Fresh, Inc. plant in Atlanta, Georgia, which makes the dipping sauces and chicken wing sauces used throughout the Hooters chain. This was especially difficult for Coby, as his father was very proud of the plant, but Coby had not been there since long before he took over the company. As many of the plant's longtime workers might have recognized him, Scott arranges for the plant manager and another manager to sneak him in through a back entrance. He is assigned to fill sauce buckets and is paired with a newer employee who was hired shortly after Brooks' father retired. While taking a break, the employee tells Scott that he had learned from other workers that ever since the elder Brooks retired and subsequently passed away, the family atmosphere that had existed among the employees at the plant had subsided and morale was low. The employee also tells Scott that the other employees never mention Brooks' son who now owns the company, which particularly disheartens him. He visits the general manager's office and vows to stop in every once in a while.

He returns to the company's headquarters in Atlanta and shares his findings with the company's board of directors. He then summons several of the employees he worked with to company headquarters to reveal his identity:

• Brittany and Amanda are invited to work with the Marketing department to improve the Hooters Girl image.
• Dave is informed that Coby will make a $50,000 donation to Operation Homefront.
• Marcee is given an all expenses paid vacation for her and her family.
• Jimbo is informed that his managerial style is not acceptable and he needs to formally apologize to his staff. Though Jimbo initially protests (citing how well he does at bringing in sales), eventually he relents and agrees to change his managerial style.

7-Eleven/Joseph DePinto

First aired February 21, 2010

White Castle/Dave Rife

Air Date TBD

Churchill Downs/William C. Carstanjen

Air Date TBD

Reception

U.S. ratings

Order	Episode	Rating	Share	Rating/share (18-49)	Viewers (millions)	Rank (Timeslot)	Rank (Night)
1	Waste Management, Inc/Larry O'Donnell	19.1	32	16.2/38	38.65	1	2
2	Hooters, Inc/Coby G. Brooks	8.5	13	6.8/13	15.45	2	2

Canadian ratings

Episode	Viewers (millions)	Rank (Season)
Waste Management, Inc/Larry O'Donnell	1.830	15

External links

• Official website
• Template:Tv.com show
• Undercover Boss at IMDb
• Undercover Boss on Twitter
• Undercover Boss on Facebook

Preceded by The Office 2009

Undercover Boss Super Bowl lead-out program 2010

Succeeded by FOX program 2011