Undercover Boss (2010) s02e18 Episode Script
Mgm Grand
Americans are worried about the economy.
Many of them wonder if our corporate and elected leaders have the answers to our problems.
In these tough times, some bosses are taking radical steps to discover how to improve their companies.
Each week, we follow the head of a major organization as they work undercover alongside their own staff.
- Come on 8.
- 8.
- Whoo! That's you.
- Look at that.
This week, the president and C.
O.
O.
Of the MGM Grand Las Vegas poses as a reality show contestant competing for a job.
- Hi.
- Hi, Paul.
- I'm Sandy, Paul.
- Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, Paul.
This Vegas vip goes all-in on the front line Whoa.
To see how his business can do things better.
No, that's yours.
That's yours.
Will his gamble pay off or will he go bust? Now what am I doing? Just do what I'm asking you to do and stop asking.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
The MGM Grand is the second-largest hotel in the world, stretching across 126 acres of prime real estate on the Las Vegas strip.
Frequented by more than the MGM Grand's glowing green exterior is world-renowned.
Overseeing this property's 9,000 employees and keeping this billion-dollar city of entertainment on a winning streak is one man.
I'm Scott Sibella, the C.
O.
O.
And president of the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.
The MGM Grand was built in 1993.
It was successful since day one.
And it started the wave of all these new properties opening on the Las Vegas strip.
And today, we're called the city of entertainment.
It's everything to everybody.
How are you? I've been in this business about 25 years.
I'm a UNLV grad.
So I graduated in hotel administration.
I started off at the golden nugget downtown.
I started as a front desk clerk and worked my way up to hotel manager and all the way up to vice president of hotel operations.
Man.
I most recently was the president of the mirage, one of our sister properties, for five years.
And I've been president and C.
O.
O.
Of the grand for a couple months now.
We have 170,000 square feet of casino space.
I definitely don't have my arms around this property.
It's just so big and there's so many moving parts, and there's so many employees.
And I'm really not in control at this time.
We didn't grow up as a wealthy family.
When I moved to Las Vegas, I was a young, two- or three-year-old kid, and it was a very small town.
There were only a few casinos on the strip.
In my opinion, I think Las Vegas just grew too fast.
With the recession, the city is struggling.
You know, it hurts me to see that we have the highest unemployment and that we have foreclosures.
I want it to get better, and I want my kids to see it get better because Las Vegas is a part of me.
It's in my blood.
Just throw it more over your head like that.
My family's everything to me.
I've been married 17 years.
I have two kids.
Taylor, 15, and my son chase, 13.
Think you'll miss us while you're gone? I don't know.
It's a lot of chaos.
I might get some rest.
I think that Scott will struggle a little bit going undercover because he's used to giving direction.
Dad, are you ready for it? I figure if I can run this household, I can do anything.
Okay.
So for him to have to step into those shoes, it's gonna be a little stressful for him, I'm sure.
Living in Las Vegas, if you're gonna get tickets to something or go to a restaurant, it's usually the best of the best.
So it is a challenge teaching your kids that we're fortunate to do those type of things because of your dad's position.
But that's not how everybody lives, so don't take this for granted.
And you hope that they're not spoiled getting these things.
Our company is mgm resorts international.
We have 13 properties here in Las Vegas.
So we own practically the entire strip.
I have a boss that I report to, so it's important that I get some feedback from senior executives because I'm brand-new here.
I've only been here a few months.
Welcome to the Bellagio, Mr.
Sibella.
How you doing, okay? I'm fine, thanks.
Have a great day.
You know, the big day's here.
Tomorrow I go undercover.
I would love to hear what advice you might have.
We've learned quite a lot about ourselves and about this economy over the last three years.
So the key is to get involved with the employees' side.
And I want to know what they're thinking right now.
'Cause they've been through an awful lot.
Right.
And obviously we're a gaming enterprise.
So Yes.
When the strip starts to get better, it's going to trickle down to the city itself.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
So not only that mgm do well, but I want to see the entire valley get the community back to where we were at one time.
While undercover, my alias will be Paul Thompson.
My coworkers will be told that I am part of a reality show where two candidates compete for the same job.
Today's the first day going undercover.
The last time I worked with the customers on a front level basis was probably 25 years ago when I was a front desk clerk.
I'm not sure if I'm gonna get recognized.
I hope not.
There's a little risk today.
'Cause usually I'd walk in the building as a president and C.
O.
O.
Today I'm walking in in another position.
Boy, I wish I had this much hair.
But I don't think I will, because, again, I've only been there a couple months.
Perfect.
Let's do it.
They know there's a new boss here, but I think we can fool 'em.
Today I'm gonna be a Blackjack dealer.
Blackjack.
I just get goosebumps when I walk through the casino.
It's a passion for me, so I'm really excited about doing this.
Ma'am, I'm looking for Eddie.
Eddie? Eddie's over there.
Oh, thank you.
Yes.
Hey, Eddie.
Hey, how you doing? Paul Thompson.
How are you? Good, good.
Blackjack is the most popular game.
So it's important for the dealers to be trained properly because the house could lose money, and that's not a good thing.
The floor lady's gonna come, and they'll bring the cards.
Once you get 'em, you're gonna string them out across the table.
You're gonna make sure they're all in there.
Then you're gonna flip them over, check the back.
This is to make sure there's no defective cards.
You know what I'm saying? Okay, and then when you're done with all that, you stack 'em back up.
You'll stick 'em out here, and you're gonna start washing them.
What you're doing, you're mixing them up.
And then shuffle them.
Put them there.
That's how that works.
- And again, just more - Next one in the middle.
This is integrity again, right? It's just procedure.
We don't ever question it.
We just do it.
Customer's gonna come, they're gonna pick a lucky spot.
Then you take it and you put it in here.
Then you're gonna take this.
You're good to go.
Now you're ready for customers.
Ooh, now you're playing with Fuego.
All right, is that good? Ooh, let's make some money, my brother.
Are we, like, good now? We're all right? Just put it all in, one shot.
- Thank you.
- Whoo! Eddie hit the nail on the head when he said his job is to interact and create experiences.
Where you from? Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
And that's what we ask from our dealers.
Then you're gonna do the next one.
She gives it to you.
And see how you clap out at all times.
And then you step in there.
There you go.
How many that's no good, right? It's okay.
They're slippery, huh? Yeah, brother, you're gonna respect my job after today.
Ha ha.
We have too many decks here.
Slide them out and bring them to the middle.
- There you go.
- This your first time, Paul? Yes, sir.
How long does this process take? For Paul it's gonna take a couple days.
I think reality hit Paul when he had to step up to the plate and had to deal with a live game.
Let's give you a hand for that, all right? That was good.
Oh, my goodness.
Go, Paul! Whoo! Bring it on.
Bring it on, Paul.
I don't know him.
No, that's yours, that's yours.
Oh, wait.
Oh, come on! Ooh! - Now you gotta stop.
- Uh-oh.
Now you call your floor person over.
When Paul accidentally didn't give himself a card, I had to stop him and call the floor lady over.
Let her deal with that situation.
You just sit there and listen to what she says and do it.
He flipped it, and he showed the card.
No, I saw.
- Did you see it? - We didn't see it.
Sorry about that, guys.
This is ridiculous.
Just relax, man.
Gotcha.
Hey! Good job, Paul.
Took a while, but you got paid.
Whoo! Okay, I need some help here.
Paint it.
Paul! I hope no one sends a letter in or contacts us because of the way I was dealing.
I don't think it'll happen because I think most of the people won.
- Paul, thank you.
- Thank you, ma'am.
- You did wonderful.
- Thank you.
And you know what, we all had to start somewhere.
Okay, time for a break.
Spin out.
Good job.
Nah, you were all right.
Don't worry about a grade.
So you're happy with what you're doing? You know, when you feel, like, what I feel, you enjoy coming to work.
I enjoy what I'm doing.
People here treat me like family.
I mean, they feed you good.
They take care of you.
Anything I need, they give it to me, especially when it comes to my boys.
So how many boys you have at home? I have five boys.
That's great.
We just drove all the way out, 40 hours.
- And never went back? - And never went back.
No family out here, nobody.
No mothers, just nobody.
What do you think woulda happened if you stayed in Brooklyn? Oh, I'd be in jail or dead.
I woulda never made it.
I just know for a fact I wouldn't have made it.
And it's going well in Vegas? - Yeah, it started rough but - What happened? Oh, I was staying in the streets.
So he's like, "Eddie, you gotta go back to New York.
" I said, "no, I'm not.
I'm staying here.
" So you just lived in the streets for a while? And the rest is history.
But we gotta get up.
Break's over.
We can't be late.
You know what I'm saying? Eddie was telling me about how he came to Las Vegas with nothing.
He's done really good for himself, and he's proud of that, and he's happy to be where he is.
What do the boys like to do? Oh, you like UFC? While he's telling me all these things, I'm just thinking how fortunate I am.
You know, I'm married and have a wife to help me take care of my two kids.
But Eddie had to do all these things on his own, and he survived.
Once you practice that, you'll pick it up in no time.
It was touching to me that he's just not a great worker but a great father.
Coming up - Checking in? - Yes.
The boss gets frozen out.
See how the computer's frozen? Thanks for your patience.
It's my first night.
And later, Scott breaks the cardinal rule.
- Uh-oh.
- We got a ball out.
That will get you fired in a heartbeat.
Scott Sibella, the President and C.
O.
O.
Of the MGM Grand, is a boss undercover within his own company.
They're slippery, huh? We got too many decks here.
His employees think he's part of a reality show where two candidates compete for the same job.
How long did it take for you to get, like, totally like two minutes, 'cause I'm good like that.
No, I'm just kidding.
His journey continues in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I'm excited today because I'm going undercover as a front desk agent.
- Hi.
- Hello, how are you? - I'm looking for Angelina.
- Yes.
Front office operations are my roots.
It's where I began my career.
I was a front desk clerk over 25 years ago.
Hi.
How are you? - I'm Angelina.
- I'm Paul.
Nice to meet you.
On any given day, we could have over 2,200 check-ins.
It's very important to have quality front desk agents because this is the first interaction our customer has with our employees.
So let me just run you through this real quick.
This screen is where we log in.
So it brings up the screen where you can check people in, check people out, check how many arrivals we have, departures, things like that.
The system that we used to have was a little more complicated than this one.
This one kinda just brings it all so this is all new? This is all brand-new.
We just did this.
Okay.
So when somebody comes to check in, you're gonna ask them, "hi, how are you?" You're gonna ask them for their I.
D.
And their credit card.
You're gonna put in their last name, and you're gonna pull up the reservation.
You're gonna run through basically everything.
"I show that you're requesting two queen beds, non-smoking.
Is that correct?" They're gonna say yes.
"Would you like a high or a low floor?" Okay, do you have any questions for me so far? So would you ask for their address or you just take it off their I.
D.
? Take it off of their I.
D.
Just make sure it matches.
I mean, when someone checks in.
When somebody checks in.
Yes, absolutely.
- How long have you been here? - 2 1/2 years.
Customer service has pretty much always been my thing, so I've always done this.
My first job in college was a front desk clerk.
It's so much advanced.
I mean, I couldn't do it right now.
Oh, you're gonna check in people though, and you'll be just fine.
It's not as hard as it looks, I promise.
Hi, welcome to the mgm.
- Checking in? - Yes.
Can I see your I.
D.
And credit card please? You're my first check-in, so bear with me.
Now hit search and see what comes up.
Oops.
Click it again.
You're gonna go to options.
You're gonna go to privileges.
Ask him how many keys he'd like.
How many keys would you like, sir? Two, please.
It's frozen.
Sir, I'm sorry, it's gonna be just one moment, okay? Give me just a second.
It's okay, we'll make another one.
It's fine.
Do it again.
Takes this long? Why is that? I don't know, it just it always has.
I'm so sorry, sir.
Just be one more minute.
It always has.
It takes forever.
See? - Appreciate your waiting.
- No problem.
Have a great time.
Thank you.
I mean, that was crazy waiting for that to come out.
And all you can do is you don't know what to say to the guest either.
And I'm pretty quick at this.
But when it's, you know, it's taking that long, the guests get mad, no matter how fast you are.
Was it like that with the old system? No, old system was a lot faster.
About a month before I started, the computer system at the front desk was upgraded.
See how the computer's frozen? So I was very surprised that the system was so slow.
- How many keys, Mr.
Hoffman? - Just one.
One of the things with the key thing is you can't let it sit too long 'cause it'll freeze like it just did.
It's important that this system works.
These customers have been traveling, they're tired.
They want to check in and move on.
I don't know why this isn't working.
I'm having no luck today.
I'm so sorry about this, sir.
Just give me one more minute, okay? We have lines out there, and this is freezing.
There's too many windows.
"Do you want to close? Do you want to do this?" Thanks for your patience.
I'm it's my first night.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for your patience.
I appreciate it.
No problem.
Thank you.
- Have a good stay.
- Thank you very much.
You go home and drink a bottle of wine - or something after this? - Seriously.
I think this system's a little too slow for how big our hotel is.
Is there anything you would do differently to make it easier? Yeah, I would stop making us go through - 80 million windows to open - Like I did, huh? Yeah, just do what I'm asking you to do and stop asking.
Do you smoke? No, no, ma'am.
Okay, normally I take a smoke break - probably about halfway into - It's okay.
If you're taking a break, I'll go with you.
Do you wanna come with me? Yeah, okay, well then let's well, then let's go grab a smoke, yeah? - Okay, perfect.
- Cool.
Thank you.
I'll get the permission of any manager that's available and let them know I'm sneaking out.
These doors don't open back from the outside.
But they're okay with you smoking, right? - Yes.
- So that's why you just they let you hang out right here? When Angelina and I decided to take a break, I couldn't believe it.
I didn't know we were gonna smoke right there in valet.
Generally you're supposed to go around back.
Got our uniforms on.
We have name badges.
Customers are walking by, and I wasn't happy about that because that's not where you smoke cigarettes.
It's the closest area to go? This is the closest way to go.
Like, if we're kinda slammed or something's going on and they need me to come right back, I can sneak out here, get a cigarette real quick, and go back.
This is something I will look into right away, because that's not how we operate.
So you like living here? No, not really much for kids.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere? I want to move to Colorado.
It's tough raising your kids in an environment like this.
I get home too late.
So if I'm off when she gets out of school, we'll go do fun stuff.
So you do a lot together with your husband? We try, we have such different schedules.
We try.
We hardly ever see each other.
All right, so it's time to go back in.
- Ugh, do we have to? - We do.
My feet are killing me.
The clerks work so hard.
It's such a big lobby.
There's so much action going on.
So we have to have a perfect system.
It has to be fast.
They have to have the tools to do their job.
Do you want to stand in these? - I'll switch shoes with you.
- You got heels on.
Yeah, I'll switch with you.
People might think I'm a cross-dresser.
When Angelina told me that she'd love to move out of Las Vegas, I could relate to that.
I thought about my kids.
Las Vegas is a Disneyland, but it's more of a Disneyland for adults.
And you don't like the way you feel about that.
Hello.
How's Taylor? - She's fine.
- Well, that's good.
What's chase doing? Did he watch the football game? Yeah.
I didn't see one play today.
It's Saturday night.
The casino's packed.
I'll be working on the casino floor as a roulette dealer.
Let's see what we got this time.
No more bets.
I'm here to see don.
Right here? Thank you, sir.
Roulette's a game that's easy to play, and that's probably why a lot of people play, 'cause it's not intimidating, but it's not an easy game to deal.
All right, we have number six.
So we're off to a dubious start here.
There's a lot of different payouts, and there's a lot of things you have to watch.
So it's important that we have good game protection and we don't make mistakes.
Hi, don.
Nobody wants to lose money, but if you lose at least I want you to be happy losing here at the mgm.
- Where are you from? - San Diego.
San Diego, you gotta love it.
- Where are you from? - I'm from Nebraska.
- Husky fan? - No, huskers? No, actually I went to Oklahoma university.
- I'm a Sooners fan.
- Are you? - I'm a Sooners fan too.
- Are you? - Yeah.
- Yeah, so am I.
I'm a big Sooners fan.
Okay, have you ever dealt the game? No, I'm training.
Let me explain a little bit about it for you.
So you got 1-18.
You got an even or an odd.
You got a red or a black.
You got a 19-36.
That all pays one-to-one.
If they put ten chips here, they're trying for this column of numbers.
Pays two-to-one.
Then if you hit a number straight up, if pays If they're trying for this, pays 17-to-1.
If they're trying for this, pays eight-to-one.
If you bet out here, how much does each chip pay? - 15? - No, 17.
The hardest part about dealing roulette is the payouts that you have to do.
It was just confusing.
They spin the ball.
It goes into a red or a black or a green number.
Just spin it.
It has to go around at least three times.
Then you wave off before it comes to an end.
Number is in.
I hear it.
Come on, don.
- Ooh! - Now the ball hit.
You place it palm up like that onto the number.
Look at this loot.
- Oh! - There you go.
Okay, let me show you how to spin the ball.
I take it like this.
I put it in my two fingers right here.
Hold it with your thumb.
You put it in this groove.
And you just let it go, okay? Put it right in here like that.
I was scared to death to roll the ball for the first time because I didn't have a practice turn to do it.
It was already in a live game.
He's gonna take over for a little bit, guys.
I had no idea what was gonna happen.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
It wasn't a very good first roll.
Don't try to spin it hard 'cause you'll mess up.
Oh, that's terrible.
And I'd have a bad spin.
It would make it three times.
But they'd bet the entire board, and the number nobody bet it would hit.
And I'd have to take all their money.
Wow.
Wow.
Sorry, guys.
Sorry.
I'm sorry, sir.
Sorry, sorry.
All right, let's get it back.
I really did feel bad.
I musta said I was sorry I don't know how many times.
And I could see some of the customers' eyes rolling, and they were getting a little frustrated.
It's taking me a while to figure this out.
I'm learning.
That's not a good roll.
I'm sorry.
We got a ball out.
You never put your hands in your pocket.
- You know why, right? - Yeah.
- Yeah, you could have - I coulda put a chip in there.
You bet, more than one.
You absolutely can't put your hands in your pants.
That will get you fired in a heartbeat.
No more bets.
There's a lot of rules in this city.
Come on, 8.
Come on, 8.
- Yes, there is.
- Come on, 8! - You got it.
- Oh, yeah, baby! Whoo! What do you got here, how many chips straight up? Uh, what is it 70 - 105? - 105.
Okay, so now what do you have? You have - 32? - No.
If there was a bigger game with more chips on the table, Paul would have needed a calculator.
So it pays 15? No, 17.
It woulda been deer with headlights.
- Sorry.
- That's okay.
- I'm training.
- That's all right.
I didn't think of what I was doing, but I was breaking every rule.
And every time I would break those rules, don was there to see.
You're doing fine.
Believe me, when I started, I swear to you, I was much worse.
I promised myself that when I survived Vietnam that I wouldn't sweat anything else again in my life.
From what I saw over there, I said I said, "I'm not gonna sweat nothing else in life," - and I haven't.
- Change your life? Changed my life completely.
In his early age, he was in Vietnam.
And he didn't realize he was gonna have all these problems.
I got post-traumatic stress syndrome.
I have nightmares and flashbacks.
- Vietnam never leaves you.
- Wow.
And here's this man 62 years old and this happened when he was 18.
So how long have you worked here? Since it opened in '93.
You gotta be kidding me.
No.
I like the business.
I really do.
I mean, with the exception of the smoke.
The customers? The smoking kinda fills your lungs a little bit.
You know, they have these fans on the games.
But if somebody's sitting over here on this side and smoking, it still hits you.
And my cardiologist yells at me about all the smoke I get in my face, but you just adjust to it.
You know, smoking goes with gambling unfortunately, and so does the drinking.
If you get, like, five cigar players or something on the table, that can be a little tough.
But today it really hit home about some of the things they have to experience while they're doing their job.
On top of the there you go.
I care about all the employees.
No more bets.
They're our number one asset.
This is just a building.
The employees bring this building alive.
And if smoke's a concern, we need to look at it.
Thank you for your service.
And I thank you for thanking me.
Coming up, the boss of the MGM Grand gets denied.
Do you have a card, sir, so you can get rated? Get rated? And later, our boss gets an unexpected visit.
No way.
Scott Sibella, the president and C.
O.
O.
Of the MGM Grand, is a boss undercover within his own company.
It's taking me a while to figure this out.
I'm learning.
His employees think he's part of a reality competition where two people vie for the same job.
That's okay.
Actually that's a legal spin.
It went around three times.
His journey continues in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Today I'll be going undercover as a G.
S.
R.
, guest service representative, in the slot department.
Hi, I'm looking for Sandy.
Sir, she's right that way by the restrooms, okay? Okay, thank you.
More people are playing slots today in Las Vegas.
It's 50% of our casino revenue.
So G.
S.
R.
Is important to the hotel because they introduce customers to our new loyalty program, m life, that just kicked off.
- You Sandy? - Hi! - Hey, Paul.
- I'm Sandy.
It's important that we engage everybody on the floor and introduce them to our new loyalty program and make sure that their needs are being taken care of because slots are very, very important to us.
- This is my house right here.
- Yeah, it looks good too.
And it looks good.
You see? I don't like the carpet.
Well, I don't too much care for the carpet either, but I figure it'll change.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it'll change.
I bet it will.
What do you guys do? We make sure the area's clean, because if you're a guest coming in you don't wanna sit in an area that's dirty.
Another thing we do too is we sign people up for players cards for the M-Life, the new M-Life.
What is that? Every $2 that's played through this game - is a point.
- I see.
So if you get 1,500 points within a 24-hour period, we're gonna give you two buffet dinners and two tickets to see Ka.
I see a customer sitting here, they don't have a card, I let them know what the card does, how they can earn points.
We do basically ten cards a day.
Okay.
Is that easy? I mean, you gotta have the mind-set, you know? You gotta come in, say, hey, I'm gonna get this.
I'm gonna do this today, and, boom, there it is.
Before I even started today, I found out that the requirement was to get ten people to sign up.
And I'm thinking, well, that should be a piece of cake.
We're gonna try to get some cards done.
- You think you're ready? - Yeah, let's do it.
We have a couple guys here.
I'm gonna show you how this actually works.
- Hello.
- Hi, how are you? Hi, great.
I'm Sandy.
And I noticed you guys have money in the game and you don't have our new card yet.
It's free.
And if you can earn 1,500 points in a 24-hour period, they're gonna give you two free dinners, two tickets to see Ka.
So you want to take a shot at it? Oh, great.
We're gonna put this in and get you going, James.
Today's actually my birthday.
- Happy Birthday, buddy.
- Oh, cool.
Happy Birthday, James.
This is special.
You guys have a good day.
All right.
So let's see how good you can be talking somebody into a sign up.
Okay.
Walk around the corner.
Use your charm.
You can't be playing without a rating card.
All you have to do is give me your license, and we'll get you signed up and get you going.
All right.
Good luck.
Would you like to get a player rating card? Hey, partner, would you like a rating card? Get rated? Are you sure? All right, buddy, have fun.
You interested in getting a rating card so you can receive benefits? - M-Life.
- M-Life.
Yes.
That ratings thing, I mean, to know that somebody's tracking you, people are uncomfortable with that idea.
That's why you sell M-Life.
You're not gonna be back? Okay, have fun.
I'm telling you this, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart, I've never got that many nos in one day Okay, good luck.
As Paul got today.
The ten sign-up criteria, does everybody have to do ten? Yes.
Is there an incentive if you sign up more? Well You know, we celebrate in our own way.
The first thing I thought about is, we need a better incentive program.
Yeah, the objective is to get everybody to sign up and get a card.
Have you ever seen some big jackpots? Because it only makes sense when employees go beyond the ten that they should be rewarded for that.
All right, let's check all the ashtrays.
- Are you married? - Yes.
Good for you.
He's my friend, he's my buddy.
That's important.
Matter of fact, he's retired.
What do you guys do when you're not working? I volunteer every Monday.
I volunteer at the nursing home.
No way.
No, I've been doing that for at least, what, probably 15 years now.
Since I started here.
So we pick up flowers every week, and we cut the flowers, we put water in 'em, we go to the nursing home.
I just it's giving something back.
You know, it is.
It's giving something back.
Good for you.
If you want, I can show you how it's done.
You can go to the nursing home with me.
- Go with you? - Yes, we gonna go.
We gonna drop some flowers off on my break and come back, and we'll finish up our shifts.
Okay, that sounds like fun.
So how did you come up with this idea? My mother was in I had to put her in a nursing home.
And she was there maybe six months before she died.
She didn't stay there a very long time.
But I was there every day round the clock.
So tell me again now, how do you receive the flowers? Sam's club and Vons and whoever would volunteer them.
One week they would have them, the next week they didn't have them.
And I take the kids too.
The grandkids love going to the nursing home.
They should have all the kids doing it.
Yeah.
Because when I leave the nursing home, it's like God just gave me a little bit of peace, shined that special little light, you know? Yeah.
Sandy, she not only works hard and on her feet all day, but when she's outta work she goes down to the senior citizen home and delivers flowers.
- Beautiful.
- Aren't they gorgeous? Here, take this little.
I'll take the big one.
Okay.
I bet you if other people knew what she does here at the mgm, 9,000 employees, we can find other people to help her.
And that's her voice, and I want everybody to know what she does.
We're dropping off some flowers for the guests here.
This will make their day, huh? Oh, definitely.
Definitely will make their day.
We shoulda got more.
When people talk about Las Vegas, you usually hear about all the partying and all the fun things that happen and the craziness.
And you don't hear a lot about what people do for the community.
I really respect and admire people that give back.
And it's something I want my kids to do, and I think it has to start at a young age.
Hey! It looks just like you.
Stormy! Stormy.
Stormy.
So you like my suite? It's dad.
This is where I've been the last week.
That's your closet? My closet.
So what'd you bring to eat? I'm gonna go down here and eat.
Grab this, chase.
I worked harder this week than I've worked in a long time.
I'm tired.
My feet hurt.
The wig hurt my head.
Sometimes we take things for granted.
That's why you guys are gonna start getting more involved with community service stuff.
It's important that you learn at this age.
One lady every Monday delivers flowers.
Where? To the elderly homes.
- Every Monday? - Uh-huh.
How'd you feel if your mom was in there and somebody's doing this? How cool is that? How would you feel about that, chase? About what? If somebody was bringing me flowers 'cause I was in an old folks' home.
But you're not.
Bad.
Would you be happy that somebody was taking care of me? Yeah.
Right.
So I decided we're gonna start staying at motels like this when we travel.
- No, we're not.
- Wow.
- You might.
- Okay.
People are nice here.
I'm sure.
They let you bring your dogs.
Coming up, Scott's employees think they're going to a high roller suite to place their votes.
But how will they react when they find out the truth? Check, please.
I asked the employees to come up to a suite because I felt the office would be a giveaway.
- Hi, I'm here to vote.
- Absolutely.
I'm so excited to tell them why they're really here.
In the day that we trained together, Paul wasn't showing a lot of what it takes to do this job.
Oh.
Check, please.
Do you remember me? Paul, wasn't it? You dress up very well.
My name is Scott Sibella, and I'm the president and C.
O.
O.
Here at the MGM Grand.
Ooh, man.
Wow, Paul, you got me.
You got me good.
I'm kind of a little shocked right now, 'cause I was I wasn't as professional as I probably could have been with you.
Sandy, you handle yourself well.
- You're extremely positive.
- Thank you.
We also talked a lot about what you do in your spare time.
And when you told me what you do with the nursing home, it was just so touching.
I think there's more ideas and better things we can do to help you with the flowers.
There's flowers in the convention areas, and there's flowers throughout the property.
This never crossed my mind.
It's opened up my mind to think about, what else can we do for the community that we're not doing? If you don't mind, I would also like to invite myself and my kids to go with you.
Oh, I'm loving on you.
You work hard, and you give back to the community.
So I want to do something to take care of you.
You mentioned about going on a cruise with your husband.
So what I'd like to do is send you on that cruise.
You decide where you want to go.
All paid expenses on the mgm.
You deserve it.
I want you to have a good time.
Thank you.
There's also one other thing I'd like to do, 'cause I know you give back.
On behalf of the MGM Grand, I want to give a donation for $5,000 to the charity of your choice in your name.
Oh, thank you.
I just wanna dance.
I do.
I just wanna I just wanna dance.
Scott came into my life just right now when we needed him at the nursing home, and when we needed him.
I'm sure it happened for a reason.
And like I said, I'm overwhelmed.
Angelina, you're good at what you do.
- Thank you.
- It's not easy.
But the one thing that did disturb me, and I'm not taking it personal with you, is when we went to have our break and our smoke.
I wasn't happy where we actually went to do the smoke, because we're wearing uniforms and name badges, and our customers are walking right by us.
And it's something I had to address with our management team because it just it's not professional.
But besides that, I was just very impressed with how we operate the front desk.
Well, thank you, and sorry about that.
I don't blame you for that.
I'll handle that, don't worry.
Okay.
You gave me a lot of advice on what changes we need to make.
And I know one thing that frustrated me a little bit was the computer system.
But it will be fixed, and it'll make your job a lot easier.
Good, thank you.
We also talked about being married - and how tough it is and - Yeah, we sure did.
So I want to give you a one-week romantic vacation on us, including accommodations, air, spending money.
And just have a good time.
And remember, you're gonna get paid for it.
Oh, my God.
It's important to us that you have a good family life, and you need to spend time with your husband.
And I know it's been a long time.
Oh, my God, he's gonna freak out.
Thank you so much.
This is insane.
I cannot believe this is happening.
Just because being at the front desk you kinda get overlooked, that blew me away.
I'm completely blown away right now.
Don, you're a great employee, and that's why we're successful.
It was a pleasure not only working with you but getting to know you.
Working with you, you discussed the smoke in the casino, and it is a concern.
So beginning immediately, we're gonna put two or three fans on every table until we figure out the best way to do this.
The dealers will be very happy with me.
This is huge.
You talked about football.
You talked about being an Oklahoma die-hard fan.
You know what, I know the coach.
Bob stoops is a good friend of mine.
And he wanted to give you something.
So he sent this, this helmet.
Thank you so much.
But there's more than just that.
This is huge.
I want to fly your two brothers in town.
I want you to pick a game.
Bob wants you to sit in his box and just hang out with your brothers and just enjoy football that day.
Really? And it's all on the mgm.
That'd be thank you.
Thank you so much.
My brothers are gonna be thrilled.
You told me about Vietnam, and it was touching.
What I'd like to do in your honor is make a donation to the comprehensive services of vets.
Under your name, I'd like to give $5,000.
Because I know that means a lot to you.
That would be great.
It's the least we could do.
I'm ready to lose it, I really am.
Thank you, Mr.
Sibella.
Mr.
Sibella is going to give $5,000 to the Vietnam veterans fund and all that.
How sweet is that? I mean, they're gonna think I'm a hero.
It feels great to not be forgotten, because I thought for a long time we were.
Eddie, you not only are an employee for me, but you've become a friend.
You're a great father, you raised five kids on your own.
So not only are you an asset to us here, but you really are a great person.
I appreciate that.
You're always giving, so I think it's time to give back to you.
I want to give you $10,000.
Come on.
I want you to feel a little bit more secure.
You don't have to do that, seriously.
Everything's fine.
I enjoy what I'm doing, you know? It's the least I could do.
And you told me you don't go anywhere without your boys.
So Dana white, the president of UFC, is a friend of ours.
And when I told him about you, he wants to take all the boys on his private plane, fly out to a UFC fight, - vip treatment.
- Wow.
Get the whole, total UFC experience with all the boys together.
That'll be that'll be it's the least we can do.
It's gonna be a blessing, you know, for the boys and for us to spend some time together.
I live for my boys.
You can tell, and that's why you're a great father.
And they'll do things that, you know, once they venture off on their own they'll remember forever.
And that that means more to me than anything in the world.
God, I can't believe it.
Thank you, lord.
I'm backstage, I'm very excited because I'm getting ready to go out to reveal that I was undercover this week.
So I think they're gonna be surprised and shocked.
It is my pleasure to introduce to you our president and C.
O.
O.
Scott Sibella.
Thank you.
So you thought you were here today to talk about a special project, but the truth is for this past week I've been working undercover for a show called Undercover Boss.
When I decided to do this, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I can't remember the last time I worked this hard.
I wasn't very good, but I did try.
Watch this clip.
- Your first time, Paul? - Yes, sir.
How long does this process take? For Paul, it's gonna take a couple days.
You never put your hands in your pocket.
That will get you fired in a heartbeat.
I don't like the carpet.
Well, I don't too much care for the carpet either, but I figure it'll change.
I bet it will.
My objective going into this was to learn the culture here.
And working with these employees, not only did I learn the culture, I feel like I'm part of the family.
I learned something from all of you.
There was a lesson there that I will always cherish, and I'm so proud to be part of this team.
The only way I would have been able to see these things is to be in the employees' shoes.
Give me some.
After today, I'm gonna stop calling myself the new guy, because I'm the President now, and I'm part of this team.
And I'm just ready to go forward and do some great things there.
Many of them wonder if our corporate and elected leaders have the answers to our problems.
In these tough times, some bosses are taking radical steps to discover how to improve their companies.
Each week, we follow the head of a major organization as they work undercover alongside their own staff.
- Come on 8.
- 8.
- Whoo! That's you.
- Look at that.
This week, the president and C.
O.
O.
Of the MGM Grand Las Vegas poses as a reality show contestant competing for a job.
- Hi.
- Hi, Paul.
- I'm Sandy, Paul.
- Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, Paul.
This Vegas vip goes all-in on the front line Whoa.
To see how his business can do things better.
No, that's yours.
That's yours.
Will his gamble pay off or will he go bust? Now what am I doing? Just do what I'm asking you to do and stop asking.
Find out next on Undercover Boss.
The MGM Grand is the second-largest hotel in the world, stretching across 126 acres of prime real estate on the Las Vegas strip.
Frequented by more than the MGM Grand's glowing green exterior is world-renowned.
Overseeing this property's 9,000 employees and keeping this billion-dollar city of entertainment on a winning streak is one man.
I'm Scott Sibella, the C.
O.
O.
And president of the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.
The MGM Grand was built in 1993.
It was successful since day one.
And it started the wave of all these new properties opening on the Las Vegas strip.
And today, we're called the city of entertainment.
It's everything to everybody.
How are you? I've been in this business about 25 years.
I'm a UNLV grad.
So I graduated in hotel administration.
I started off at the golden nugget downtown.
I started as a front desk clerk and worked my way up to hotel manager and all the way up to vice president of hotel operations.
Man.
I most recently was the president of the mirage, one of our sister properties, for five years.
And I've been president and C.
O.
O.
Of the grand for a couple months now.
We have 170,000 square feet of casino space.
I definitely don't have my arms around this property.
It's just so big and there's so many moving parts, and there's so many employees.
And I'm really not in control at this time.
We didn't grow up as a wealthy family.
When I moved to Las Vegas, I was a young, two- or three-year-old kid, and it was a very small town.
There were only a few casinos on the strip.
In my opinion, I think Las Vegas just grew too fast.
With the recession, the city is struggling.
You know, it hurts me to see that we have the highest unemployment and that we have foreclosures.
I want it to get better, and I want my kids to see it get better because Las Vegas is a part of me.
It's in my blood.
Just throw it more over your head like that.
My family's everything to me.
I've been married 17 years.
I have two kids.
Taylor, 15, and my son chase, 13.
Think you'll miss us while you're gone? I don't know.
It's a lot of chaos.
I might get some rest.
I think that Scott will struggle a little bit going undercover because he's used to giving direction.
Dad, are you ready for it? I figure if I can run this household, I can do anything.
Okay.
So for him to have to step into those shoes, it's gonna be a little stressful for him, I'm sure.
Living in Las Vegas, if you're gonna get tickets to something or go to a restaurant, it's usually the best of the best.
So it is a challenge teaching your kids that we're fortunate to do those type of things because of your dad's position.
But that's not how everybody lives, so don't take this for granted.
And you hope that they're not spoiled getting these things.
Our company is mgm resorts international.
We have 13 properties here in Las Vegas.
So we own practically the entire strip.
I have a boss that I report to, so it's important that I get some feedback from senior executives because I'm brand-new here.
I've only been here a few months.
Welcome to the Bellagio, Mr.
Sibella.
How you doing, okay? I'm fine, thanks.
Have a great day.
You know, the big day's here.
Tomorrow I go undercover.
I would love to hear what advice you might have.
We've learned quite a lot about ourselves and about this economy over the last three years.
So the key is to get involved with the employees' side.
And I want to know what they're thinking right now.
'Cause they've been through an awful lot.
Right.
And obviously we're a gaming enterprise.
So Yes.
When the strip starts to get better, it's going to trickle down to the city itself.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
So not only that mgm do well, but I want to see the entire valley get the community back to where we were at one time.
While undercover, my alias will be Paul Thompson.
My coworkers will be told that I am part of a reality show where two candidates compete for the same job.
Today's the first day going undercover.
The last time I worked with the customers on a front level basis was probably 25 years ago when I was a front desk clerk.
I'm not sure if I'm gonna get recognized.
I hope not.
There's a little risk today.
'Cause usually I'd walk in the building as a president and C.
O.
O.
Today I'm walking in in another position.
Boy, I wish I had this much hair.
But I don't think I will, because, again, I've only been there a couple months.
Perfect.
Let's do it.
They know there's a new boss here, but I think we can fool 'em.
Today I'm gonna be a Blackjack dealer.
Blackjack.
I just get goosebumps when I walk through the casino.
It's a passion for me, so I'm really excited about doing this.
Ma'am, I'm looking for Eddie.
Eddie? Eddie's over there.
Oh, thank you.
Yes.
Hey, Eddie.
Hey, how you doing? Paul Thompson.
How are you? Good, good.
Blackjack is the most popular game.
So it's important for the dealers to be trained properly because the house could lose money, and that's not a good thing.
The floor lady's gonna come, and they'll bring the cards.
Once you get 'em, you're gonna string them out across the table.
You're gonna make sure they're all in there.
Then you're gonna flip them over, check the back.
This is to make sure there's no defective cards.
You know what I'm saying? Okay, and then when you're done with all that, you stack 'em back up.
You'll stick 'em out here, and you're gonna start washing them.
What you're doing, you're mixing them up.
And then shuffle them.
Put them there.
That's how that works.
- And again, just more - Next one in the middle.
This is integrity again, right? It's just procedure.
We don't ever question it.
We just do it.
Customer's gonna come, they're gonna pick a lucky spot.
Then you take it and you put it in here.
Then you're gonna take this.
You're good to go.
Now you're ready for customers.
Ooh, now you're playing with Fuego.
All right, is that good? Ooh, let's make some money, my brother.
Are we, like, good now? We're all right? Just put it all in, one shot.
- Thank you.
- Whoo! Eddie hit the nail on the head when he said his job is to interact and create experiences.
Where you from? Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
And that's what we ask from our dealers.
Then you're gonna do the next one.
She gives it to you.
And see how you clap out at all times.
And then you step in there.
There you go.
How many that's no good, right? It's okay.
They're slippery, huh? Yeah, brother, you're gonna respect my job after today.
Ha ha.
We have too many decks here.
Slide them out and bring them to the middle.
- There you go.
- This your first time, Paul? Yes, sir.
How long does this process take? For Paul it's gonna take a couple days.
I think reality hit Paul when he had to step up to the plate and had to deal with a live game.
Let's give you a hand for that, all right? That was good.
Oh, my goodness.
Go, Paul! Whoo! Bring it on.
Bring it on, Paul.
I don't know him.
No, that's yours, that's yours.
Oh, wait.
Oh, come on! Ooh! - Now you gotta stop.
- Uh-oh.
Now you call your floor person over.
When Paul accidentally didn't give himself a card, I had to stop him and call the floor lady over.
Let her deal with that situation.
You just sit there and listen to what she says and do it.
He flipped it, and he showed the card.
No, I saw.
- Did you see it? - We didn't see it.
Sorry about that, guys.
This is ridiculous.
Just relax, man.
Gotcha.
Hey! Good job, Paul.
Took a while, but you got paid.
Whoo! Okay, I need some help here.
Paint it.
Paul! I hope no one sends a letter in or contacts us because of the way I was dealing.
I don't think it'll happen because I think most of the people won.
- Paul, thank you.
- Thank you, ma'am.
- You did wonderful.
- Thank you.
And you know what, we all had to start somewhere.
Okay, time for a break.
Spin out.
Good job.
Nah, you were all right.
Don't worry about a grade.
So you're happy with what you're doing? You know, when you feel, like, what I feel, you enjoy coming to work.
I enjoy what I'm doing.
People here treat me like family.
I mean, they feed you good.
They take care of you.
Anything I need, they give it to me, especially when it comes to my boys.
So how many boys you have at home? I have five boys.
That's great.
We just drove all the way out, 40 hours.
- And never went back? - And never went back.
No family out here, nobody.
No mothers, just nobody.
What do you think woulda happened if you stayed in Brooklyn? Oh, I'd be in jail or dead.
I woulda never made it.
I just know for a fact I wouldn't have made it.
And it's going well in Vegas? - Yeah, it started rough but - What happened? Oh, I was staying in the streets.
So he's like, "Eddie, you gotta go back to New York.
" I said, "no, I'm not.
I'm staying here.
" So you just lived in the streets for a while? And the rest is history.
But we gotta get up.
Break's over.
We can't be late.
You know what I'm saying? Eddie was telling me about how he came to Las Vegas with nothing.
He's done really good for himself, and he's proud of that, and he's happy to be where he is.
What do the boys like to do? Oh, you like UFC? While he's telling me all these things, I'm just thinking how fortunate I am.
You know, I'm married and have a wife to help me take care of my two kids.
But Eddie had to do all these things on his own, and he survived.
Once you practice that, you'll pick it up in no time.
It was touching to me that he's just not a great worker but a great father.
Coming up - Checking in? - Yes.
The boss gets frozen out.
See how the computer's frozen? Thanks for your patience.
It's my first night.
And later, Scott breaks the cardinal rule.
- Uh-oh.
- We got a ball out.
That will get you fired in a heartbeat.
Scott Sibella, the President and C.
O.
O.
Of the MGM Grand, is a boss undercover within his own company.
They're slippery, huh? We got too many decks here.
His employees think he's part of a reality show where two candidates compete for the same job.
How long did it take for you to get, like, totally like two minutes, 'cause I'm good like that.
No, I'm just kidding.
His journey continues in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I'm excited today because I'm going undercover as a front desk agent.
- Hi.
- Hello, how are you? - I'm looking for Angelina.
- Yes.
Front office operations are my roots.
It's where I began my career.
I was a front desk clerk over 25 years ago.
Hi.
How are you? - I'm Angelina.
- I'm Paul.
Nice to meet you.
On any given day, we could have over 2,200 check-ins.
It's very important to have quality front desk agents because this is the first interaction our customer has with our employees.
So let me just run you through this real quick.
This screen is where we log in.
So it brings up the screen where you can check people in, check people out, check how many arrivals we have, departures, things like that.
The system that we used to have was a little more complicated than this one.
This one kinda just brings it all so this is all new? This is all brand-new.
We just did this.
Okay.
So when somebody comes to check in, you're gonna ask them, "hi, how are you?" You're gonna ask them for their I.
D.
And their credit card.
You're gonna put in their last name, and you're gonna pull up the reservation.
You're gonna run through basically everything.
"I show that you're requesting two queen beds, non-smoking.
Is that correct?" They're gonna say yes.
"Would you like a high or a low floor?" Okay, do you have any questions for me so far? So would you ask for their address or you just take it off their I.
D.
? Take it off of their I.
D.
Just make sure it matches.
I mean, when someone checks in.
When somebody checks in.
Yes, absolutely.
- How long have you been here? - 2 1/2 years.
Customer service has pretty much always been my thing, so I've always done this.
My first job in college was a front desk clerk.
It's so much advanced.
I mean, I couldn't do it right now.
Oh, you're gonna check in people though, and you'll be just fine.
It's not as hard as it looks, I promise.
Hi, welcome to the mgm.
- Checking in? - Yes.
Can I see your I.
D.
And credit card please? You're my first check-in, so bear with me.
Now hit search and see what comes up.
Oops.
Click it again.
You're gonna go to options.
You're gonna go to privileges.
Ask him how many keys he'd like.
How many keys would you like, sir? Two, please.
It's frozen.
Sir, I'm sorry, it's gonna be just one moment, okay? Give me just a second.
It's okay, we'll make another one.
It's fine.
Do it again.
Takes this long? Why is that? I don't know, it just it always has.
I'm so sorry, sir.
Just be one more minute.
It always has.
It takes forever.
See? - Appreciate your waiting.
- No problem.
Have a great time.
Thank you.
I mean, that was crazy waiting for that to come out.
And all you can do is you don't know what to say to the guest either.
And I'm pretty quick at this.
But when it's, you know, it's taking that long, the guests get mad, no matter how fast you are.
Was it like that with the old system? No, old system was a lot faster.
About a month before I started, the computer system at the front desk was upgraded.
See how the computer's frozen? So I was very surprised that the system was so slow.
- How many keys, Mr.
Hoffman? - Just one.
One of the things with the key thing is you can't let it sit too long 'cause it'll freeze like it just did.
It's important that this system works.
These customers have been traveling, they're tired.
They want to check in and move on.
I don't know why this isn't working.
I'm having no luck today.
I'm so sorry about this, sir.
Just give me one more minute, okay? We have lines out there, and this is freezing.
There's too many windows.
"Do you want to close? Do you want to do this?" Thanks for your patience.
I'm it's my first night.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for your patience.
I appreciate it.
No problem.
Thank you.
- Have a good stay.
- Thank you very much.
You go home and drink a bottle of wine - or something after this? - Seriously.
I think this system's a little too slow for how big our hotel is.
Is there anything you would do differently to make it easier? Yeah, I would stop making us go through - 80 million windows to open - Like I did, huh? Yeah, just do what I'm asking you to do and stop asking.
Do you smoke? No, no, ma'am.
Okay, normally I take a smoke break - probably about halfway into - It's okay.
If you're taking a break, I'll go with you.
Do you wanna come with me? Yeah, okay, well then let's well, then let's go grab a smoke, yeah? - Okay, perfect.
- Cool.
Thank you.
I'll get the permission of any manager that's available and let them know I'm sneaking out.
These doors don't open back from the outside.
But they're okay with you smoking, right? - Yes.
- So that's why you just they let you hang out right here? When Angelina and I decided to take a break, I couldn't believe it.
I didn't know we were gonna smoke right there in valet.
Generally you're supposed to go around back.
Got our uniforms on.
We have name badges.
Customers are walking by, and I wasn't happy about that because that's not where you smoke cigarettes.
It's the closest area to go? This is the closest way to go.
Like, if we're kinda slammed or something's going on and they need me to come right back, I can sneak out here, get a cigarette real quick, and go back.
This is something I will look into right away, because that's not how we operate.
So you like living here? No, not really much for kids.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere? I want to move to Colorado.
It's tough raising your kids in an environment like this.
I get home too late.
So if I'm off when she gets out of school, we'll go do fun stuff.
So you do a lot together with your husband? We try, we have such different schedules.
We try.
We hardly ever see each other.
All right, so it's time to go back in.
- Ugh, do we have to? - We do.
My feet are killing me.
The clerks work so hard.
It's such a big lobby.
There's so much action going on.
So we have to have a perfect system.
It has to be fast.
They have to have the tools to do their job.
Do you want to stand in these? - I'll switch shoes with you.
- You got heels on.
Yeah, I'll switch with you.
People might think I'm a cross-dresser.
When Angelina told me that she'd love to move out of Las Vegas, I could relate to that.
I thought about my kids.
Las Vegas is a Disneyland, but it's more of a Disneyland for adults.
And you don't like the way you feel about that.
Hello.
How's Taylor? - She's fine.
- Well, that's good.
What's chase doing? Did he watch the football game? Yeah.
I didn't see one play today.
It's Saturday night.
The casino's packed.
I'll be working on the casino floor as a roulette dealer.
Let's see what we got this time.
No more bets.
I'm here to see don.
Right here? Thank you, sir.
Roulette's a game that's easy to play, and that's probably why a lot of people play, 'cause it's not intimidating, but it's not an easy game to deal.
All right, we have number six.
So we're off to a dubious start here.
There's a lot of different payouts, and there's a lot of things you have to watch.
So it's important that we have good game protection and we don't make mistakes.
Hi, don.
Nobody wants to lose money, but if you lose at least I want you to be happy losing here at the mgm.
- Where are you from? - San Diego.
San Diego, you gotta love it.
- Where are you from? - I'm from Nebraska.
- Husky fan? - No, huskers? No, actually I went to Oklahoma university.
- I'm a Sooners fan.
- Are you? - I'm a Sooners fan too.
- Are you? - Yeah.
- Yeah, so am I.
I'm a big Sooners fan.
Okay, have you ever dealt the game? No, I'm training.
Let me explain a little bit about it for you.
So you got 1-18.
You got an even or an odd.
You got a red or a black.
You got a 19-36.
That all pays one-to-one.
If they put ten chips here, they're trying for this column of numbers.
Pays two-to-one.
Then if you hit a number straight up, if pays If they're trying for this, pays 17-to-1.
If they're trying for this, pays eight-to-one.
If you bet out here, how much does each chip pay? - 15? - No, 17.
The hardest part about dealing roulette is the payouts that you have to do.
It was just confusing.
They spin the ball.
It goes into a red or a black or a green number.
Just spin it.
It has to go around at least three times.
Then you wave off before it comes to an end.
Number is in.
I hear it.
Come on, don.
- Ooh! - Now the ball hit.
You place it palm up like that onto the number.
Look at this loot.
- Oh! - There you go.
Okay, let me show you how to spin the ball.
I take it like this.
I put it in my two fingers right here.
Hold it with your thumb.
You put it in this groove.
And you just let it go, okay? Put it right in here like that.
I was scared to death to roll the ball for the first time because I didn't have a practice turn to do it.
It was already in a live game.
He's gonna take over for a little bit, guys.
I had no idea what was gonna happen.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
It wasn't a very good first roll.
Don't try to spin it hard 'cause you'll mess up.
Oh, that's terrible.
And I'd have a bad spin.
It would make it three times.
But they'd bet the entire board, and the number nobody bet it would hit.
And I'd have to take all their money.
Wow.
Wow.
Sorry, guys.
Sorry.
I'm sorry, sir.
Sorry, sorry.
All right, let's get it back.
I really did feel bad.
I musta said I was sorry I don't know how many times.
And I could see some of the customers' eyes rolling, and they were getting a little frustrated.
It's taking me a while to figure this out.
I'm learning.
That's not a good roll.
I'm sorry.
We got a ball out.
You never put your hands in your pocket.
- You know why, right? - Yeah.
- Yeah, you could have - I coulda put a chip in there.
You bet, more than one.
You absolutely can't put your hands in your pants.
That will get you fired in a heartbeat.
No more bets.
There's a lot of rules in this city.
Come on, 8.
Come on, 8.
- Yes, there is.
- Come on, 8! - You got it.
- Oh, yeah, baby! Whoo! What do you got here, how many chips straight up? Uh, what is it 70 - 105? - 105.
Okay, so now what do you have? You have - 32? - No.
If there was a bigger game with more chips on the table, Paul would have needed a calculator.
So it pays 15? No, 17.
It woulda been deer with headlights.
- Sorry.
- That's okay.
- I'm training.
- That's all right.
I didn't think of what I was doing, but I was breaking every rule.
And every time I would break those rules, don was there to see.
You're doing fine.
Believe me, when I started, I swear to you, I was much worse.
I promised myself that when I survived Vietnam that I wouldn't sweat anything else again in my life.
From what I saw over there, I said I said, "I'm not gonna sweat nothing else in life," - and I haven't.
- Change your life? Changed my life completely.
In his early age, he was in Vietnam.
And he didn't realize he was gonna have all these problems.
I got post-traumatic stress syndrome.
I have nightmares and flashbacks.
- Vietnam never leaves you.
- Wow.
And here's this man 62 years old and this happened when he was 18.
So how long have you worked here? Since it opened in '93.
You gotta be kidding me.
No.
I like the business.
I really do.
I mean, with the exception of the smoke.
The customers? The smoking kinda fills your lungs a little bit.
You know, they have these fans on the games.
But if somebody's sitting over here on this side and smoking, it still hits you.
And my cardiologist yells at me about all the smoke I get in my face, but you just adjust to it.
You know, smoking goes with gambling unfortunately, and so does the drinking.
If you get, like, five cigar players or something on the table, that can be a little tough.
But today it really hit home about some of the things they have to experience while they're doing their job.
On top of the there you go.
I care about all the employees.
No more bets.
They're our number one asset.
This is just a building.
The employees bring this building alive.
And if smoke's a concern, we need to look at it.
Thank you for your service.
And I thank you for thanking me.
Coming up, the boss of the MGM Grand gets denied.
Do you have a card, sir, so you can get rated? Get rated? And later, our boss gets an unexpected visit.
No way.
Scott Sibella, the president and C.
O.
O.
Of the MGM Grand, is a boss undercover within his own company.
It's taking me a while to figure this out.
I'm learning.
His employees think he's part of a reality competition where two people vie for the same job.
That's okay.
Actually that's a legal spin.
It went around three times.
His journey continues in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Today I'll be going undercover as a G.
S.
R.
, guest service representative, in the slot department.
Hi, I'm looking for Sandy.
Sir, she's right that way by the restrooms, okay? Okay, thank you.
More people are playing slots today in Las Vegas.
It's 50% of our casino revenue.
So G.
S.
R.
Is important to the hotel because they introduce customers to our new loyalty program, m life, that just kicked off.
- You Sandy? - Hi! - Hey, Paul.
- I'm Sandy.
It's important that we engage everybody on the floor and introduce them to our new loyalty program and make sure that their needs are being taken care of because slots are very, very important to us.
- This is my house right here.
- Yeah, it looks good too.
And it looks good.
You see? I don't like the carpet.
Well, I don't too much care for the carpet either, but I figure it'll change.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, it'll change.
I bet it will.
What do you guys do? We make sure the area's clean, because if you're a guest coming in you don't wanna sit in an area that's dirty.
Another thing we do too is we sign people up for players cards for the M-Life, the new M-Life.
What is that? Every $2 that's played through this game - is a point.
- I see.
So if you get 1,500 points within a 24-hour period, we're gonna give you two buffet dinners and two tickets to see Ka.
I see a customer sitting here, they don't have a card, I let them know what the card does, how they can earn points.
We do basically ten cards a day.
Okay.
Is that easy? I mean, you gotta have the mind-set, you know? You gotta come in, say, hey, I'm gonna get this.
I'm gonna do this today, and, boom, there it is.
Before I even started today, I found out that the requirement was to get ten people to sign up.
And I'm thinking, well, that should be a piece of cake.
We're gonna try to get some cards done.
- You think you're ready? - Yeah, let's do it.
We have a couple guys here.
I'm gonna show you how this actually works.
- Hello.
- Hi, how are you? Hi, great.
I'm Sandy.
And I noticed you guys have money in the game and you don't have our new card yet.
It's free.
And if you can earn 1,500 points in a 24-hour period, they're gonna give you two free dinners, two tickets to see Ka.
So you want to take a shot at it? Oh, great.
We're gonna put this in and get you going, James.
Today's actually my birthday.
- Happy Birthday, buddy.
- Oh, cool.
Happy Birthday, James.
This is special.
You guys have a good day.
All right.
So let's see how good you can be talking somebody into a sign up.
Okay.
Walk around the corner.
Use your charm.
You can't be playing without a rating card.
All you have to do is give me your license, and we'll get you signed up and get you going.
All right.
Good luck.
Would you like to get a player rating card? Hey, partner, would you like a rating card? Get rated? Are you sure? All right, buddy, have fun.
You interested in getting a rating card so you can receive benefits? - M-Life.
- M-Life.
Yes.
That ratings thing, I mean, to know that somebody's tracking you, people are uncomfortable with that idea.
That's why you sell M-Life.
You're not gonna be back? Okay, have fun.
I'm telling you this, and I mean it from the bottom of my heart, I've never got that many nos in one day Okay, good luck.
As Paul got today.
The ten sign-up criteria, does everybody have to do ten? Yes.
Is there an incentive if you sign up more? Well You know, we celebrate in our own way.
The first thing I thought about is, we need a better incentive program.
Yeah, the objective is to get everybody to sign up and get a card.
Have you ever seen some big jackpots? Because it only makes sense when employees go beyond the ten that they should be rewarded for that.
All right, let's check all the ashtrays.
- Are you married? - Yes.
Good for you.
He's my friend, he's my buddy.
That's important.
Matter of fact, he's retired.
What do you guys do when you're not working? I volunteer every Monday.
I volunteer at the nursing home.
No way.
No, I've been doing that for at least, what, probably 15 years now.
Since I started here.
So we pick up flowers every week, and we cut the flowers, we put water in 'em, we go to the nursing home.
I just it's giving something back.
You know, it is.
It's giving something back.
Good for you.
If you want, I can show you how it's done.
You can go to the nursing home with me.
- Go with you? - Yes, we gonna go.
We gonna drop some flowers off on my break and come back, and we'll finish up our shifts.
Okay, that sounds like fun.
So how did you come up with this idea? My mother was in I had to put her in a nursing home.
And she was there maybe six months before she died.
She didn't stay there a very long time.
But I was there every day round the clock.
So tell me again now, how do you receive the flowers? Sam's club and Vons and whoever would volunteer them.
One week they would have them, the next week they didn't have them.
And I take the kids too.
The grandkids love going to the nursing home.
They should have all the kids doing it.
Yeah.
Because when I leave the nursing home, it's like God just gave me a little bit of peace, shined that special little light, you know? Yeah.
Sandy, she not only works hard and on her feet all day, but when she's outta work she goes down to the senior citizen home and delivers flowers.
- Beautiful.
- Aren't they gorgeous? Here, take this little.
I'll take the big one.
Okay.
I bet you if other people knew what she does here at the mgm, 9,000 employees, we can find other people to help her.
And that's her voice, and I want everybody to know what she does.
We're dropping off some flowers for the guests here.
This will make their day, huh? Oh, definitely.
Definitely will make their day.
We shoulda got more.
When people talk about Las Vegas, you usually hear about all the partying and all the fun things that happen and the craziness.
And you don't hear a lot about what people do for the community.
I really respect and admire people that give back.
And it's something I want my kids to do, and I think it has to start at a young age.
Hey! It looks just like you.
Stormy! Stormy.
Stormy.
So you like my suite? It's dad.
This is where I've been the last week.
That's your closet? My closet.
So what'd you bring to eat? I'm gonna go down here and eat.
Grab this, chase.
I worked harder this week than I've worked in a long time.
I'm tired.
My feet hurt.
The wig hurt my head.
Sometimes we take things for granted.
That's why you guys are gonna start getting more involved with community service stuff.
It's important that you learn at this age.
One lady every Monday delivers flowers.
Where? To the elderly homes.
- Every Monday? - Uh-huh.
How'd you feel if your mom was in there and somebody's doing this? How cool is that? How would you feel about that, chase? About what? If somebody was bringing me flowers 'cause I was in an old folks' home.
But you're not.
Bad.
Would you be happy that somebody was taking care of me? Yeah.
Right.
So I decided we're gonna start staying at motels like this when we travel.
- No, we're not.
- Wow.
- You might.
- Okay.
People are nice here.
I'm sure.
They let you bring your dogs.
Coming up, Scott's employees think they're going to a high roller suite to place their votes.
But how will they react when they find out the truth? Check, please.
I asked the employees to come up to a suite because I felt the office would be a giveaway.
- Hi, I'm here to vote.
- Absolutely.
I'm so excited to tell them why they're really here.
In the day that we trained together, Paul wasn't showing a lot of what it takes to do this job.
Oh.
Check, please.
Do you remember me? Paul, wasn't it? You dress up very well.
My name is Scott Sibella, and I'm the president and C.
O.
O.
Here at the MGM Grand.
Ooh, man.
Wow, Paul, you got me.
You got me good.
I'm kind of a little shocked right now, 'cause I was I wasn't as professional as I probably could have been with you.
Sandy, you handle yourself well.
- You're extremely positive.
- Thank you.
We also talked a lot about what you do in your spare time.
And when you told me what you do with the nursing home, it was just so touching.
I think there's more ideas and better things we can do to help you with the flowers.
There's flowers in the convention areas, and there's flowers throughout the property.
This never crossed my mind.
It's opened up my mind to think about, what else can we do for the community that we're not doing? If you don't mind, I would also like to invite myself and my kids to go with you.
Oh, I'm loving on you.
You work hard, and you give back to the community.
So I want to do something to take care of you.
You mentioned about going on a cruise with your husband.
So what I'd like to do is send you on that cruise.
You decide where you want to go.
All paid expenses on the mgm.
You deserve it.
I want you to have a good time.
Thank you.
There's also one other thing I'd like to do, 'cause I know you give back.
On behalf of the MGM Grand, I want to give a donation for $5,000 to the charity of your choice in your name.
Oh, thank you.
I just wanna dance.
I do.
I just wanna I just wanna dance.
Scott came into my life just right now when we needed him at the nursing home, and when we needed him.
I'm sure it happened for a reason.
And like I said, I'm overwhelmed.
Angelina, you're good at what you do.
- Thank you.
- It's not easy.
But the one thing that did disturb me, and I'm not taking it personal with you, is when we went to have our break and our smoke.
I wasn't happy where we actually went to do the smoke, because we're wearing uniforms and name badges, and our customers are walking right by us.
And it's something I had to address with our management team because it just it's not professional.
But besides that, I was just very impressed with how we operate the front desk.
Well, thank you, and sorry about that.
I don't blame you for that.
I'll handle that, don't worry.
Okay.
You gave me a lot of advice on what changes we need to make.
And I know one thing that frustrated me a little bit was the computer system.
But it will be fixed, and it'll make your job a lot easier.
Good, thank you.
We also talked about being married - and how tough it is and - Yeah, we sure did.
So I want to give you a one-week romantic vacation on us, including accommodations, air, spending money.
And just have a good time.
And remember, you're gonna get paid for it.
Oh, my God.
It's important to us that you have a good family life, and you need to spend time with your husband.
And I know it's been a long time.
Oh, my God, he's gonna freak out.
Thank you so much.
This is insane.
I cannot believe this is happening.
Just because being at the front desk you kinda get overlooked, that blew me away.
I'm completely blown away right now.
Don, you're a great employee, and that's why we're successful.
It was a pleasure not only working with you but getting to know you.
Working with you, you discussed the smoke in the casino, and it is a concern.
So beginning immediately, we're gonna put two or three fans on every table until we figure out the best way to do this.
The dealers will be very happy with me.
This is huge.
You talked about football.
You talked about being an Oklahoma die-hard fan.
You know what, I know the coach.
Bob stoops is a good friend of mine.
And he wanted to give you something.
So he sent this, this helmet.
Thank you so much.
But there's more than just that.
This is huge.
I want to fly your two brothers in town.
I want you to pick a game.
Bob wants you to sit in his box and just hang out with your brothers and just enjoy football that day.
Really? And it's all on the mgm.
That'd be thank you.
Thank you so much.
My brothers are gonna be thrilled.
You told me about Vietnam, and it was touching.
What I'd like to do in your honor is make a donation to the comprehensive services of vets.
Under your name, I'd like to give $5,000.
Because I know that means a lot to you.
That would be great.
It's the least we could do.
I'm ready to lose it, I really am.
Thank you, Mr.
Sibella.
Mr.
Sibella is going to give $5,000 to the Vietnam veterans fund and all that.
How sweet is that? I mean, they're gonna think I'm a hero.
It feels great to not be forgotten, because I thought for a long time we were.
Eddie, you not only are an employee for me, but you've become a friend.
You're a great father, you raised five kids on your own.
So not only are you an asset to us here, but you really are a great person.
I appreciate that.
You're always giving, so I think it's time to give back to you.
I want to give you $10,000.
Come on.
I want you to feel a little bit more secure.
You don't have to do that, seriously.
Everything's fine.
I enjoy what I'm doing, you know? It's the least I could do.
And you told me you don't go anywhere without your boys.
So Dana white, the president of UFC, is a friend of ours.
And when I told him about you, he wants to take all the boys on his private plane, fly out to a UFC fight, - vip treatment.
- Wow.
Get the whole, total UFC experience with all the boys together.
That'll be that'll be it's the least we can do.
It's gonna be a blessing, you know, for the boys and for us to spend some time together.
I live for my boys.
You can tell, and that's why you're a great father.
And they'll do things that, you know, once they venture off on their own they'll remember forever.
And that that means more to me than anything in the world.
God, I can't believe it.
Thank you, lord.
I'm backstage, I'm very excited because I'm getting ready to go out to reveal that I was undercover this week.
So I think they're gonna be surprised and shocked.
It is my pleasure to introduce to you our president and C.
O.
O.
Scott Sibella.
Thank you.
So you thought you were here today to talk about a special project, but the truth is for this past week I've been working undercover for a show called Undercover Boss.
When I decided to do this, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I can't remember the last time I worked this hard.
I wasn't very good, but I did try.
Watch this clip.
- Your first time, Paul? - Yes, sir.
How long does this process take? For Paul, it's gonna take a couple days.
You never put your hands in your pocket.
That will get you fired in a heartbeat.
I don't like the carpet.
Well, I don't too much care for the carpet either, but I figure it'll change.
I bet it will.
My objective going into this was to learn the culture here.
And working with these employees, not only did I learn the culture, I feel like I'm part of the family.
I learned something from all of you.
There was a lesson there that I will always cherish, and I'm so proud to be part of this team.
The only way I would have been able to see these things is to be in the employees' shoes.
Give me some.
After today, I'm gonna stop calling myself the new guy, because I'm the President now, and I'm part of this team.
And I'm just ready to go forward and do some great things there.