Undercover Boss (2010) s01e08 Episode Script

Male announcer: The economy is going through tough times.
Many hardworking Americans blame wealthy CEOs, out of touch with what's going on in their own companies.
But some bosses are willing to take extreme action to make their businesses better.
each week, we follow the boss of a major corporation as they go undercover into their own company.
How you doing, Dan? I'm Hank.
This week, the president and C.
O.
O.
Of north America's largest plumbing and drain-cleaning company poses as a new recruit.
The boss will trade in his tailored suits and pristine home for a blowtorch and raw sewage.
Lord, have mercy.
That's lovely.
I have nothin' to hide.
I had plenty to hide.
There's people going through it every single day, so I don't complain.
I give a damn about the guys that go out there every day and bust their ass.
And he'll discover the unsung heroes that make his company run.
Whoo! Rotten eggs.
Smell that? Yeah.
That's money.
How hard is it to put a hose in a pipe? This was a little more than I had bargained for.
Watch as the boss takes a journey more personal than he ever imagined.
You taught me how to be a better person.
Next on undercover boss.
For over 75 years, Roto-Rooter has be snaking, draining, and unclogging America's worst plumbing problems.
And leading the way through the muck and the mire is Rick Arquilla.
I'm president and chief operating officer of Roto-Rooter.
Call Roto-Rooter that's the name and away go troubles down the drain Roto-Rooter serves approximately 90% of the U.
S.
population and has expanded its enterprise across the world.
As president and chief operating officer, I'm responsible for the sales, the operating profit, delivering high quality service, day in, day out.
Life's been pretty good to me.
Got a great wife, great kids.
Cheers.
Cheers.
It's great to be here.
Here's to being together.
Got lucky I think.
You know, I'm kind of living the American dream.
But I didn't always have it so easy.
I was raised in a blue-collar town in a working-class family.
Rick's growing-up years were pretty tough.
Because of that, I think it was very important for Rick to work very hard.
My dad was a factory worker for over 30 years.
He hated his job, started drinking, and never really stopped.
It really took a toll on our family.
I went off to college and started a new life, and I dove in and worked my way up the corporate ladder.
Businesses are in business to make a profit.
It's not a dirty word.
It's an okay thing.
What I would define as success is coming out of this economic downturn stronger.
You can either say, "hey, it's tough economic times.
Poor Roto-Rooter," or say, "there's never been a better time than right now to find out who we really are.
" My employees will be told that they're being filmed, training new recruits as part of a show celebrating Roto-Rooter's I'm not gonna waste any time on this.
For my first stop, I'm going to new Orleans.
It's one of our more recent acquisitions, and it's one of the fastest-growing branches in our company.
I'm gonna go undercover, because I want to find out the secret to their success.
Thank you.
Have a good stay.
Hello? Hey, Greg? Yeah? Rick Arquilla.
Hey, don't say anything.
Don't say, "hey, Rick.
" Don't do a thing.
Okay.
Here's the deal.
Greg's gonna be the guy that can get me out there in the field, get me on the right job types.
I certainly can't just go knock on the door and say, "hey, I'm Hank.
How's it going?" I'm about five minutes away from you.
Don't tell anybody what you're doing, but can you--can you come pick me up? I'll explain it all later.
I'm at the motel on Martin Luther king boulevard.
Okay.
All right.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
Hey, Greg, how you doing? Hey, how you doin'? Good to see you.
Did I make you a little nervous with that phone call? Yeah.
You still wondering what the heck's going on? Yes.
Yes.
So I've come to new Orleans.
I'm gonna go undercover as Hank denman.
I'm gonna put on the Roto-Rooter blues.
I'm gonna put the uniform on, gonna put the hat on.
I'm gonna be Hank.
Can't call me Rick, man.
You're gonna me Hank.
I'm Hank.
All right? I need you to say, "hey, I got this Hank guy.
" I can do that.
You know? I can do that.
You'll do it for me? Piece of cake.
I can, um, take you to the office and put you out in the field.
How about that? All right, let's get going.
All right.
All right, man.
Let's go.
Let's do it.
Today, I'm gonna go out with a general technician.
We're gonna do the bread-and-butter stuff, what Roto-Rooter's been doing since 1935, and that's cabling drains.
Hey, Hank, this is darrell.
Hey, how you doin', Hank? I'm good.
How you doing? Pretty good, babe.
So I need you to train Hank.
Okay.
You have any experience at all? No.
No? No.
Okay.
Well, we'll take it one step at a time.
All right.
So this--this is home? This is home for me.
Born and raised in new Orleans.
You like being out here? Yeah, I like the work.
You get to meet people, you know? Every day you meet somebody.
Right.
Mr.
claret? Hey, how you doin'? Darrell Walker with Roto-Rooter.
All right, nice to meet you.
That's Hank.
That's my partner.
I'm Hank.
Hey, how you doin', Hank? I'm good.
Yeah, the tub's clogged up, stopped up.
Let's take a look at it.
Let's do it.
First thing we gotta do Here.
Over here.
Okay.
All right, see if you can get a bite with these grips.
Yeah, that looks pretty good.
We're gonna get this.
Uh Damn it.
Ah.
See if I can get it this way.
Yeah, it's turnin'.
Okay.
Okay.
We gotta try a couple of things till we get something opened here.
What do you want out of the toolbox? That big pump.
Okay.
Now just pump until it get up.
Hit it.
Pump it.
Put some muscle in there.
Muscle in there.
You see it's starting to jump up? Yeah.
Okay, now pull that trigger slow.
Slow? Yeah.
Keep it down and pull it slow.
Go ahead.
That's not slow.
I mean, we got a shower, but we all right.
Get in there and Twist it up a little bit.
Okay.
See if you can grab and pull it up.
See all that hair? Yeah.
Can you get your finger in there? Grab them two fingers.
It feel like mop strings.
You feel it? I can't--I can feel it, but I can't get it out.
Okay, uh Okay, starting to get something.
Okay, just grab it with your finger.
Hey! Bingo! So a towel was down there? Yeah, that was the main culprit.
See it been there for a while.
You kidding me.
I thought, tub, easy stuff.
That's a wrap.
That wasn't easy stuff.
So it's time to move on? Time to roll.
Okay, we're looking for canal street.
Okay, customer ready to go.
Do you know what the address is? You're just cracking it loose.
Once we open that end, it should be it.
There you go.
I don't know that I could do what darrell does.
He's been very thorough.
He's a hard-workin' guy.
That's the boss calling.
That was Greg calling? No, my boss.
Oh.
My wife.
That's what I call the boss the boss called.
Yeah.
They checkin'.
You know how that go.
Does she check up on you a lot? In march of last year, I started getting pains in the chest.
They found a 95% blockage.
Wow.
Now, the procedures wasn't nothing but 20 minutes.
Yeah? But recovery was four months.
So you were out quite a long time.
Pretty much.
Do you feel much better now? Yeah, I'm back.
I'm back to 100 now.
You know, your bills start to come, that don't stop.
And then so I went through my savings.
Now you start worrying.
He's had some heart problems.
He's been off of work, and he had to borrow money.
I'm sure that wasn't easy.
Are we finished? No, not yet.
Hi.
Hello.
Roto-Rooter.
I'm Hank.
Nothing is draining.
Nothing's draining? Nothing's draining.
Well, it's draining, into the bathroom, into the shower.
We find a cleanout, we have to do it from the roof? Oh, boy.
You got it? Yep.
One step at a time.
I think Hank could make it.
He took it and ran with it.
Yeah, overall, he did good.
How we gonna know when it unclogs? You over this vent? That gas gonna hit you in your face.
Oh.
And you gonna smell it.
You gonna say, "whoo! Rotten eggs.
" I don't know what time it is, but it seems late to me.
It's cold, and I'm hungry.
Smell it? Yeah.
That's money.
But however later darrell wants to work, that's how late I gotta work.
Coming up, Rick struggles to figure out a system that he designed himself.
Yellow means standby, green for go means they're going to that customer.
Green for go.
What was the other color? Uh, blue.
Am I confusing you? And later, Rick isn't going deep enough with his undercover mission.
Come on, Hank! What are you doin'? How hard is it to put a hose in a pipe? Rick Arquilla, C.
O.
O.
Of Roto-Rooter, is a boss undercover in his own company.
His employees think he's part of a show about the company's His journey continues at a call center in Chicago.
I'm here in Chicago at the call center.
This is where we take the phone calls from the customer and dispatch the work to the thnicians.
This is where it all gets started.
I was involved in putting together the dispatch system, so now I get to figure out whether the system I helped design, I can actually do it.
Hey, how you doin'? Are you Chris? Yes.
I'm Hank.
Hank denman.
I've got you sitting with Candace this evening.
I've never dispatched, never had customers talking to me.
Candace? This is Hank denman.
I'm gonna have him sit with you tonight.
Hi, now are you? Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
I know it's a tough job.
We'll see if I can handle it.
Your customers come first.
You need to make sure that they are priority, and they are getting the proper tech to do the proper job.
Are you ready? I think so.
Okay.
Right.
These technicians, they are in yellow.
Yellow means standby, blue means they have been assigned a job.
All right.
Green for go means they're going to that customer.
Green for go.
What was the other color? Uh, blue.
Which is what? They have been assigned a job.
Okay, once they accept the job, they turn orange.
So the orange is before green.
Yes.
Am I confusing you? Yeah.
See, I'm I'm colorblind.
Somewhat humorous that a colorblind guy would develop a dispatch model that's primarily based on a color-coded system, but I guess I never intended to be doing it myself.
When a customer calls, and they tell you their issue, then you want to say-- can I have your phone number? No, wait, you have to listen first, okay? Actually, the best question to ask them is their street number.
Okay, now what? Now, hold on.
The next question that you're gonna want to ask the customer is-- can I have your zip code? Then push f6 to add a new customer.
Say that again.
Hold on.
We'll start from scratch.
It was very frustrating training Hank.
I like helping people who have semi an idea of what's going on.
He had no idea.
Are you ready for a break? I'm ready for a break we need a break.
I'm ready for a break.
Then we'll regroup later.
Feels good just to get away from that computer screen for a minute.
So tell me about yourself.
I'm a scorpio.
I like long walks on the beach.
I have a lot of things going on in my life right now, um, but nothing that I can't handle.
Got any family out here or no? I have one autistic child.
He's 2 1/2.
Who's taking care of Of your child right now? My parents take care of my son.
I can't afford daycare.
Daycare's expensive.
How do you get through it? I mean, you know, I can-- just laugh.
Just have a good time.
Well, that's a pretty full plate, and I gotta admire someone who has that mindset.
If I can get caught up on my mortgage and be able to afford to pay for daycare, things would be okay, but There are people going through it every single day, so I don't complain.
Understand.
We'll see where we left off.
Okay.
I'd like to take an inbound call, see if I can book a ticket.
Do you want me to be honest? Yeah.
I don't know if you're ready just yet.
I thought I was doing okay.
Actually, what I think you're ready for is for you to speak to the customer, and I can type.
Relax.
Breathe.
When a call comes in, you're gonna push "answer.
" Hello, this is, uh, Hank from Roto-Rooter.
Can I help you? I was hoping what your, uh, hours of operation are.
Well, hang on just a second.
UmUm I want to see something.
We can actually have somebody out there tonight between 7:00 and 9:00.
We can someone out there tonight, uh, within, uh, two hours.
How does that sound? Oh, you know, let me, uh Aw, don't cancel out on us.
I mean, we'll come out tonight, if you're thinking about canceling out on us.
I mean, I also need to call the landlady.
Oh, you're not gonna call another plumber or anything like that.
Hank talked at the customers.
Want to do the 8:00 to 10:00 A.
M.
tomorrow.
If we could, please.
And what we'll do tomorrow morning is the dispatcher will give you a call approx Talking at a customer makes the customer feel incompetent and helpless.
One of the things that we need to work on is you want them to be with Roto-Rooter, but we don't want to shove it down their throat, either.
Also, do not interrupt a customer.
I did that a couple of times.
I love my customers, and you want to be just compassionate and understanding.
I'm so sorry that you're having this issue.
You've certainly called the right place, and I'm gonna take wonderful care of you.
Basically, you want to be their hero.
Okay.
And that is that.
I came into the dispatch job believing that all I've gotta do is turn it on, here we go.
I got the reality check on, uh We want people to be loyal to the Roto-Rooter brand, I gotta bring in some of that customer service mentality.
I gotta--I gotta be a little warmer and fuzzier.
Today, I'm back at the new Orleans branch.
I hope to get out on a jet truck.
Simply put, it's blasting water through a pipe and knocking out everything that's in its way.
I want to see if this technology could be expanded to other markets in the U.
S.
This is Hank.
Hank, this is Chris.
How you doin', Hank? I'm Chris.
Nice to meet you.
Good to meet you.
So you gonna be easy on me? Trust me.
He gonna get his hands dirty.
I hope this, uh, nice little hand don't end up in the sewer.
My pasty, white hands? 'Cause they won't be clean by the end of the day, that's for sure.
This first place we're gonna be going is an old nursing home.
Yeah? You know, they dumpin' stuff down the line that don't belong down the line.
You know, I used to like oatmeal I don't like oatmeal no more.
Why not? You're kiddin'.
No.
Man, I like oatmeal, too.
Yeah, there she is.
Wow.
She's backed up over there, too, but this is the main cleanout.
Man, this is an awful smell.
Let's get some gloves, get some safety glasses on.
Shouldn't be that hard, puttin' this on, you wouldn't think.
Is this a test, see if I'm smart enough to put my helmet together? Is this part of the hazing process? This what you do to new guys? I got--I gotta be a jockey in Kentucky derby, what do you think? There you go.
We're good to go? Hopefully, huh? Yeah, I'm good.
All right.
What's the deal? The jetter is used for pumping out high-pressure water through a sewer line.
All right.
You're gonna be running this hose Back to there? All right, here we go! Oh, yeah.
That's That's lovely.
Feed it in there about another three feet, then I'm gonna give you pressure.
All right, three feet? Fire in the hole.
Stand up.
Lord have mercy.
Ahh! Is that right? Yeah, I gotta tell you, keep thinking about that oatmeal thing you were telling me.
You want some? I don't like oatmeal anymore.
Keep going.
Moist sewage was coming out of the top of that pipe, and so I guess I was just wading through raw sewage.
This was little more than probably I had bargained for.
To the drain all the way down? Just keep feeding it.
Just keep feeding it? Could I be hitting something? Aw, come on.
All right.
How hard is it to put a hose in the pipe? I can't figure out how to get it through there.
Did I-- did I screw something up? How about I put the penetratin' nozzle? So we're gonna give it another go with that smaller end on it? Yep.
Stand right there for a second.
Gotta keep on working it.
You're not so tough now.
All right, it's coming down so I can see a little bit of the pipe.
That's awesome.
The line's open.
We can hose that down there, 'cause we don't want to leave a mess there.
Yeah.
Here.
Hose that.
Go ahead.
I gotta take something real quick.
All right.
All right.
Hello.
Well.
Come on, Hank! What are you doin'? Damn! You were gone and I So I-- that don't mean for you to stop.
God "dern!" Today's his first day.
I mean, he may come around, he may not.
But only time will tell.
He might be my boss one of these days.
We done? That's it.
Do you like, uh, this kind of work? I been doin' it, like I said, almost six years.
But, you know, you're good at it, and, you know, people who don't-- I'm average.
Ah But that's just my opinion.
I'm very willing-- you know, open-minded to learn something.
That's why I am where I'm at today.
What do you mean? I be in recovery for 6 1/2 years.
I had a drinking and drug problem.
Drinking and a drug problem.
That's gotta be tough.
It's very tough sometimes.
I realized I had a problem.
I actually had to go through rehab.
I'm standin' right here in front of you.
Well, I give you a lot of credit for saying, hey, enough of this, you know.
I have no problem sharing it with anybody.
I have nothin' to hide.
I had plenty to hide.
Right.
I suspect, though, you're a lucky guy.
Very lucky.
I've really had trouble sleeping.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about Chris.
It brought back a lot of childhood memories for me, and thoughts started racing through my head that I, frankly, hadn't experienced since I was a little kid.
My dad, uh, drank, and he drank too much.
He was an alcoholic, and it, uh, caused a lot of heartache in our family, and, unfortunately, he went to his grave without he and I bringing closure to that issue.
Coming up, Rick's trip to the shop floor rattles him to the core.
I've worried about coming in some morning, and a big sign on the door, "closed.
" I really let this company down.
Rick Arquilla, the president and C.
O.
O.
Of Roto-Rooter has gone undercover in his own company.
His journey continues in new Orleans.
I'm spending a day with a technician that handles the trickiest jobs.
I've been told he's one of our best, and I can't leave new Orleans without meeting him.
Henry.
Yes, sir, Greg.
I want you to meet Hank.
How you doin'? Good to meet you.
Okay.
I have this customer waiting on me right now, so, uh We gotta get going? Yeah, we gotta get going, okay? All right.
So you been with the company a long time? Three years.
I was a, uh, pipe superintendent.
Built ships for a living.
Navy ships.
Navy shipyard kind of thing? Exactly.
Wow.
Hey, ma'am.
Hi.
How you doin'? I'm okay.
Okay.
What was your problem? The sewer was running out of the drain under the bathtub.
Right.
And everything was going underneath your house.
Yeah.
Okay.
So I'm gonna go out now.
I'm gonna go underneath, okay? Oh, okay.
Okay.
All right, ma'am.
So what we gonna do? Okay, now the bathroom is coming from that way.
Take this light and see if you can shine down into that cast-iron piece right there.
Come on, now.
I've got it.
Crawlin' like an old man there.
There's no lid on it.
There's no lid? It's broken off.
Good.
You haven't seen any rats under there, huh? I don't like rats.
You don't like rats? I see a rat, I'll be screaming like a little girl under here.
Okay, this is a camera.
Okay.
I want you to run that through the line.
Yeah.
It's pretty cool.
I can see it on the tv.
Right.
Good, good, good.
Keep goin'? Yeah, keep goin'.
Keep goin'? Keep goin', yeah.
Keep goin'.
Keep goin'.
Keep goin'.
Keep goin'? Keep goin'.
Keep goin'? Yep, keep goin'.
Keep goin'? Keep goin'.
Yeah, keep goin'.
Keep goin'.
I tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm just gonna tell you when to stop, okay? Okay.
All right, good.
Tell me when.
Wow, look at that.
Ooh.
The only way the roots can get in there is you have a break.
We can go down here about three feet down Okay.
And cut that piece out and put another piece in there.
Normally, this is about a $1,200 job, okay? You got tests and stuff like that? Yeah.
I understand.
I tell you what.
Okay, uh When you meet people like that, you know, it just does something to you, you know? And I'm gonna do all I can here to make uure she's okay.
Can you do 5? At first, I was taken aback by Henry's giving such an extreme discount.
Okay.
And I'll have somebody out here tomorrow.
But I thought about it, and I realized Henry works on commission, so he was taking money out of his own pocket.
Henry was really trying to help her out, and he wanted her house up and running again.
It made me feel great that he was putting his heart out there, too, for her.
We'll see you tomorrow, okay? Okay.
Okay, ma'am.
Yes.
With the storm drain, there's no combination.
They just got a regular "t.
" All right, buddy.
Man, look at all these call, man.
Hey, darrell, what's up, buddy? Hey, look, I got a quick question.
You got a minute? What you got, buddy? Man, that's like call number four or five since we've been here? Yeah.
As the day wore on, I noticed that Henry gets a lot of phone calls from the other field technicians.
He's the answer man.
He's the go-to guy.
I don't know that he nominated himself, but for a guy that's only been there three years, everybody seems to look to him to be the guy.
So we're done here.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, we're done here.
Yeah.
Yeah, I gotta go to basketball practice, man.
Practice? Yeah.
I coach after work.
You're welcome to come.
You ain't got nothin' else to do? I don't have anything else to do.
Maybe we can let you run around, okay? Let's go.
I decided to come along to the basketball practice.
I watched Henry give and give and give all day.
I want to see Henry outside of this environment.
This is my wife, dropping the kids off.
All right, b.
Thanks, yeah.
All right, how you doin', man? Y'all all right? Good, good, good.
Since we had to work late today, she picked the kids up and So if you didn't bring 'em, they wouldn't get here.
Right, some of 'em wouldn't get here.
Exactly.
We just step in to keep the team together to keep 'em off the street.
Good defense, Mike! Good defense! Up high.
Good job.
What kind of a time commitment does Henry have to make to this? Four nights during the week.
Why do you think he does it? He just loves children.
He could work all day on his job, go pick up the children that need a ride, coach.
That's kind of pain in the rear end though.
Well, we do what we have to do.
Yeah, I know.
Mm-hmm.
It's amazing how much time Henry and his wife spend shuttling the kids back and forth to practice, and they ask for nothing in return.
It seems like he likes this, though.
You know what I mean? He loves it.
He loves it.
Good job, Mike.
Good job.
Good job.
Oh, hi, honey.
How's your week been? I've been up on roofs, I've been under sinks, I've been sticking my fingers in crap.
So you've met a lot of great guys.
Yeah.
Guy named Henry, coaches a basketball team.
He donates 20, Oh, that's wonderful.
A guy named Chris shared with me that he's been in rehab, and, you know, I mean, we've talked about it a lot.
My dad, uh, just screwed up his life drinking too much and, uh But it's also made you who you are today, too, Rick.
You're a great husband, a great family man, and someone who's very caring and concerned about the employees that work for Roto-Rooter.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So Well, thanks, and, uh Um, I can't wait to get home.
I know.
I know.
We can't wait to have you home.
This is my last day undercover.
I'm here in des moines, Iowa, this morning.
This is the factory where we make the Roto-Rooter machines that our plumbers use out in the field.
it all started for Roto-Rooter.
I want to make sure that we're building good equipment, and I look forward to getting back out on the shop floor like I did with my dad.
Dan nichols, this is Hank.
Hi there.
How you doin', Dan? I'm Hank.
And I told him that you're more than welcome to train him on the welding job, and you're the man to do it.
We can do it.
All right.
So I button this thing up, or what do I do? Yeah, I'd button it up.
Like this? Yep, that's it.
I'll get you a helmet and some gloves.
All right.
This is one of our newest machines.
It's a 9200 upright Roto-Rooter machine.
Come on over here.
You put your weld, your gun right in here all right, let me try it.
Can I just keep on going where you were? Put about a one-inch weld right there.
Put a one-inch weld.
Yeah.
You don't pull the trigger till you're ready.
I think I'm ready now.
Yeah.
Ready to do it? Yep.
Okay.
I don't know.
Yeah, burned a hole through there.
Oh, no.
Actually, put this wire just kind of right in that crevice right there, then you come down here and do it again.
Yep, give it a whirl.
Ah! I got--there's something went down in my shoe.
Man! I've never had anybody quite as difficult to learn how to weld, and then when he got the splatter in his shoe and he had to take his shoe off and everything, I--I had a hard time to keep from laughing.
About the only thing I've welded is my foot.
I think it's about time for a break.
What do you think? I don't need you to train me on that.
I can do a break.
So, uh, this is where you want to live.
You're an Iowa guy, right? Yeah, I'm a Iowa guy, midwestern guy.
I like to ride motorcycles, and I like to mess with my old cars.
You like old cars? Yeah, muscle cars.
I like to refurbish old muscle cars.
We got a guy here that's got a '64 chevelle, '67 chevelle.
I mean, I don't know much about the town.
Seems like a good place, though.
You know, the economy's been real lousy here for the last couple years.
Yeah? But, uh, we've lost some manufacturing and stuff like that.
Little bit of a cutback, slowdown kind of thing.
I've had concerns myself here at Roto-Rooter.
Uh, we've been the slowest I've ever seen here in the past year, and I been here around 13 years.
Others here in the company have been worried about possibly losing their jobs, uh, whether it'd be they would shut this down, or take it overseas or to Mexico and manufacture things there.
And we got some people here that's getting close to retiring, and then they're a little bit concerned about that.
Well Anyway, uh, I suppose we probably better head back.
Our break's about over.
I think I've slowed you down long enough, so, uh, can I keep this? Yeah, you can keep it.
Kind of a memory of what I didn't do very well.
It's the red, white, and blue.
It reminds me of the American worker right there.
Darn right.
Mm-hmm.
If the employees who make this great stuff think they're not gonna get to make it much longer, then you gotta rethink everything you do.
I don't know if my dad were working here today that he'd say this is a great place to work.
This is a big deal.
they get up every day and they work as hard as they know how, 'Cause that's what they're supposed to do, 'cause it's their job.
That's just what you do.
I give a damn about the guys that go out there every day and bust their ass.
If it sucks to show up every day, that's on me.
Someday, they go, "here lies old Rick, he made a lot of money for Roto-Rooter," and then they go, "well, what else?" "That was about it.
" If that's all they can ever say, then II I really let this company down.
I should have been able to do a lot more.
Coming up, Rick summons his co-workers to headquarters.
I am a little nervous.
And reveals his true identity.
What if I told you I was president and chief operating officer of Roto-Rooter? After a week undercover, I've gained a new perspective, not just on our company and how it operates, but on the individuals within it.
Now it's time for me to reveal my true identity to all the people I've worked with this past week.
I have no idea what I'm doin' here.
I am a little nervous.
Hello there.
HelloHank.
I gotta tell you something.
I'm not Hank.
Hank's brother? What if I told you I was Rick Arquilla, president and chief operating officer of Roto-Rooter? You're who? No.
Are you? What I learned from this is the work is a lot harder than I thought it was.
I was so mad at you.
I know you were.
Ohh! Darrell, you're a very valuable employee to Roto-Rooter, and there's some things we'd like to do for you.
Mm-hmm.
You know that disability claim? I investigated it, and what we found out is the paperwork wasn't filled out right.
They're gonna make good on all the money you had to spend.
I appreciate that.
Here's something else I've been thinking about.
How about if we put some gym equipment in your house? We're gonna get you a nutritionist.
Mm-hmm.
I want you to eat right.
I want you to stay healthy, okay? I appreciate that.
Now, to make it even easier, we're gonna find a local health food store, gonna set up an account, the company's gonna pay for it.
And the company payin' for it? The company's gonna pay for it.
Oh, God bless you.
I get a feeling that not only because he's president of the company, but it's a peonal thing that he gets involved.
That really means a lot to me.
Dan, it's hard work, what you do.
Never met a guy that loves his work more than you do.
I do.
I like my job, but I expressed to you before that I was concerned about, you know, someday, I might pull in the parking lot, and there'll be a big sign on the door, you know, "closed.
" I want you to tell everybody in des moines we're not outsourcing anything.
We're staying right here in the good old U.
S.
of "a.
" Okay.
Will you do that for me? I'll do that.
I want the morale to be high on the shop floor.
So I know you're a car guy.
I'm gonna make sure that the company sets you up with a garage, so you and your Roto-Rooter buddies can come over and work on cars together.
Now, that would really be fun.
I'd like that.
We'd really appreciate it.
You're welcome.
Knowing that they care about our feelings and what our concerns are makes you feel better about your job, because they do care.
Candace, one of the things that really bothers me is that you're a single mom who works really hard every night, and then you come home to a son with special needs.
That's a lot to deal with, so there are some things I want to do to help you.
Chicago has an autism program.
I want you to enroll in that.
I want to be able to help you get therapy, counseling, help you get through this, and the company wants to pay for it.
You're kidding.
But that's not everything.
The company wants to give you $5,000 to apply towards your mortgage.
Can I hug you? Sure.
I'm gonna be able to do a lot more for my son.
I am so happy and overwhelmed, andIncredible.
Henry, I gotta compliment you on just the way you go about your work.
You truly are a special person.
Thanks.
My heart went out to you watching you coach, 'cause you're the most, uh, selfless person I know.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm not happy about the way you and your wife have to go back and forth and find transportation for those kids.
The company's gonna give you a 15-person van to take all those kids to practice, and I've got the keys.
Oh, man.
This is wonderful.
Thank you.
Let's talk about Henry for a second.
It's okay about-- it's all right about Henry.
As long as we take care of the kids.
How about a promotion? Gonna make you a field supervisor, first level manager in Roto-Rooter.
Gonna give you a raise.
Thank you.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you.
I'm overwhelmed.
This is what I love.
This is for the kids.
When you work hard, when you do the right thing, you know, it pays off, I guess.
Chris, I want you to know that it's a real honor having met you, and, uh, something else I didn't tell you is my dad was, uh An alcoholic.
It ruined his life, made it hard on me, and we never reconciled, but, uh I did reconcile.
I reconciled this week with him.
You're the guy that allowed me to do that.
I know from my experience, it was very hard, you know, to actually admit I had a problem with it.
You know, and that's why today, I tell everybody.
I won't hide it.
I know what that struggle's like 'cause I saw my dad lose that struggle.
It's all right.
Let it out.
I wish my dad would have fought the fight.
I wish he'd have done what you're doing, one day at a time.
You're an inspiration, uh, to me.
I want you to go around to different cities in Roto-Rooter and speak about your alcohol addiction.
That would be an honor.
You know, if I can reach out and just help one person, then it would make it worthwhile.
Wow.
That's all I can say is thank you very much.
I thought good old Good old Hank was gonna be super undercover guy.
I'd slide in there, and I'd learn everything about Chris, and, uh Learned a lot about me.
I'll be forever grateful.
You ever want to talk, you can call me.
Thanks so much.
Thank you very much.
I'm looking forward to doing this, you know.
I had the president of the company say, hey, I want you to, you know You gotta do it.
You can't let Rick down.
The main thing is I don't want to let myself down or let somebody else down who needs the help.
now that the undercover journey has come to an end.
I look forward to sharing with the entire company what lies ahead and what needs to be done.
Your president and chief operating officer, Rick Arquilla.
Well, you know, and it's great to be onstage celebrating it with you, but I gotta tell you a little secret.
The reason you're here is I went undercover.
I wanted to see what the company was really all about.
I needed to hear the truth, and I wanted to learn some things to see if I could come back and make this a better company.
I think we've got some video clips here.
Let's take a look.
Put some muscle in there.
Now pull that trigger slow.
Slow? Yeah.
Keep it down and pull it slow.
Go ahead.
That's not slow.
Once they accept the job, they turn orange.
Yeah, I'm colorblind.
Is this part of the hazing process? This what you do to new guys? He might be my boss one of these days.
Hey, Chris, I am your boss, buddy.
To each and every one of you Ahem.
Thanks, um Ahem.
Uh, you taught me You taught me how to do the work, but you also taught me how to be a better person.
And for that I'm-- I'm grateful.
Thanks, everybody.
I didn't have no idea Rick was the boss.
You know, I just thought he was some goofy ball off the street that didn't know his head from a hole in the ground.
Henry! Come on, family! Family! It's magic.
This whole thing was magic.
I can't remember a stretch of time personally or professionally that was more difficult than this, and more gratifying than this.