Undercover Boss (2010) s06e08 Episode Script
Forman Mills
(Male announcer) Since premiering to nearly 40 million viewers in 2010, more than 70 bosses - [Snap.]
- Oh, my God! (Announcer) have posed as subjects on a fake show to get honest feedback from their employees.
All right.
(Announcer) It's been shocking.
- [Cow moos.]
- A lot of people smoke pot.
(Announcer) It's been challenging.
It's not the homeowner's fault that I get paid peanuts.
(Announcer) But it's inspired them to change their employees' lives forever.
I've decided to invest around $3 million because of you.
Thank you.
For real? Like, this is real? - Without a doubt.
- [Sobs.]
I am going to give you your own store.
Yay! Probably the best thing somebody ever did for me.
I have a check for $250,000.
Oh, my God.
(Announcer) Tonight the latest boss to take the plunge is Rick Forman - Yeah.
- Is that your stomach? I guess so.
It's a little bit padded.
(Announcer) the founder and CEO of Forman Mills, a discount superstore that sells brand-name clothing at dirt-cheap prices.
By going undercover My name is Brad.
(Announcer) this eccentric street merchant turned mega mogul will see if he can stack up - Whoa, whoa.
- Whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa.
Out of control.
Ladies to Customer Service, please.
- Ladies.
- No, hang up.
That's it.
- Ladies.
- Oh, my God.
I would compare it to raising a child.
What is that? I cannot see Brad running his own business.
Let it go.
[Walkie-talkie blares.]
But I could see him running a circus, 'cause he's a total clown.
How do you think the employees Are you happy? I mean No, we're not happy here.
The working conditions are terrible.
(Announcer) and what will happen when this bargain king realizes that his company has some major defects? We really don't have a lot of incentive here.
Right.
You know, this company don't care about, you know, their employees.
There ain't a whole lot of future in a type of company like this.
(Announcer) Find out next on Undercover Boss.
(Announcer) With a base of operations in Pennsauken, New Jersey, Forman Mills is one of the fastest growing discount apparel and merchandise outlets in the country.
Leading this $1/4 billion a year bargain-lovers paradise and its 2,500 employees is one man.
(Rick) My name is Rick Forman.
I'm the founder and CEO of Forman Mills.
Forman Mills can give the customer ridiculous buys on thousands and thousands of name brands.
We are a big, open flea market, and we don't play any games.
It doesn't have to be hung fancy.
It's no frills, stack it high, let it fly.
I don't care if we sell it off the ground.
It's gonna be unbelievable deals.
At Forman Mills, it's a real dichotomy.
On one hand, we like things crazy and out of control, but at the other hand, we want things to be perfect.
I want it to look like it's shop-worn, and people are there, and there's excitement, because you're not gonna be mobbed and everything is gorgeous.
I don't think anybody can beat the mill.
We're in a growth spurt right now.
Currently, we have 35 stores in ten states in the Mid-Atlantic region.
We plan to double that number in the next year, while at the same time doubling our revenue from 250 million to 500 million.
I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
My grandfather manufactured ladies dresses, and my father ended up going into the business too.
And as my dad's business started to unravel, I think it affected me, so at that point, I learned basically to survive on my own a little bit.
As I got into my teenage years, I started making money at the flea markets, and I think it really propelled me into the business world.
And then that evolved to opening my first store in this old, burned-out alley in Philadelphia.
I'm part of the street, you know.
Forman Mills stores are located in low-income areas, and that's what really made us.
We went into the inner city when nobody wanted to go in there.
Where they abandoned all those stores, Forman Mills took their place.
We're also reviving the neighborhoods, and that's what our essence is.
When we open up a new store, we bring 120 jobs immediately to the community, and the customer literally thanks us.
It's like, "Thank God for Forman Mills.
" Our training is based on the school of hard knocks.
We bring somebody in, we throw 'em into the fire, and if they're not good, we have to get rid of them.
Just ship it out.
It's perceived that I govern by intimidation, but I don't know any better.
I don't have a filter, basically.
You know, I need a filter.
What does this need to retail for where they're waiting in the aisle? - If we can - $15, sold.
I don't care if we give stuff away.
I mean, we're gonna make money in the long run, and we make money on volume.
It's like the goose that laid the golden egg.
Take their money.
That's our number one priority.
Take their money.
Cancel all your appointments this week.
Tomorrow we're gonna repeat the same meeting.
It's not for everybody.
This is the big leagues.
At the end of the day, I have money, and now I'm able to provide for my family.
Hey, guys.
[All cheer.]
I've been married 25 years to my childhood sweetheart, Donna.
I have three daughters.
- Yeah.
- You are really good.
I don't know if I can spell that good.
My youngest daughter has special needs.
[All cheering.]
I know my daughters think I have a split personality.
I think I'm a little bit insane if you compare me to other people.
I know where I got that file at.
So I've got my own way of doing business.
My definition of perfection is imperfection.
Uh, it's right here.
(Woman) Let's get started.
(Rick) My challenge is gonna be my persona and being able to hold it in.
I'm not used to taking orders, and I don't even know what that's like.
Yes, and your wife might like it.
Oh, my God, like an old rocker or something.
- Exactly, I know.
- I don't know.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Brad Bandini, a retired football coach.
Throughout my undercover journey, my employees will think they're on a fake reality TV show.
The last time I was this nervous, I was walking down the aisle, getting ready to say "I do.
" - Oh, am I first? - Yeah.
[Laughter.]
Oh, my God! - What do you think? - Oh, my God.
Is that your stomach? I guess so.
It's a little bit padded.
[Laughter.]
(Rick) I'm going undercover because we're ready to launch a major expansion.
- Good luck.
- Bye.
I think the biggest weakness of Forman Mills is execution.
How do we take this great secret that we have and expand that around the country and the world? Today I'm in Chicago, Illinois, and I'm going undercover as a sales associate.
All ladies shoes are right here.
(Rick) This store in Chicago is one of our most underperforming stores, and I need to get in there and turn this store around.
Where is Mshinda? My adrenaline is up to the moon right now.
I'm ready to parachute in like Mary Poppins.
Excuse me, where is Mshinda? - Hi, I'm Mshinda.
- Oh, you're Mshinda.
Hi, I'm Brad.
- Hi, Brad, how are you? - How you doing? Nice to meet you.
(Mshinda) When he first walked up to me Oh, my God.
I was thinking, "This guy is from a '70s sitcom or something.
" Yeah.
Like, his mustache and hairdo was kind of outdated.
He reminded of a character or somebody from Brady Bunch.
This is the Ladies Department.
I'm the sales floor associate, so all of this here is my responsibility, okay? (Rick) Fantastic.
That includes detailing, price checks, and Customer Service.
Right.
So detailing when you detail a rack, you want to put everything together from light to dark, okay? Okay.
- Now, you see, you have some grays here.
- Yeah.
So what you're gonna do is take those out and put 'em with your grays and push back your blacks.
Let me show you what I'm talking about here.
- Brad.
Stay focused.
- Hmm, hmm.
Stay with me.
- That doesn't go there.
- What is this thing? Those are shorts.
- Don't throw it.
- I can't throw it? No, please.
That's not what you do.
- You never - I could probably land it.
- No, no.
- I used to - Okay.
- No.
Brad is he's on another planet, all up in space somewhere.
Brad, leave that alone.
What is this? We haven't gotten to that rack yet, Brad.
I-I keep looking at that shirt up there.
- I need to buy that.
- No, you don't.
(Rick) Most businesspeople have A.
D.
D.
, so I really can't focus in there.
All these items are coming at me.
- Can I just sweep the area? - No.
Brad, you need to continue.
Brad, stay over here.
Brad, I need you to stay with me.
It sounds like my mom when I hear "Brad," like, you know You're not focused.
[Stammers.]
Okay, let me ask you this.
How bad do you want this? I want it bad.
I need to win.
Okay, and if you want it bad, then you have to listen to what I'm saying to you.
You have to stay focused.
It's just so overwhelming to see what's here in the department.
I cannot see Brad running his own business.
- So what's next? - Finishing up your rack.
I just I thought I finished it.
No, it's not finished.
But I could see him running a circus, 'cause he's a total clown.
Brad, I'ma need you to stay focused.
I don't know how many times I have to say that.
All right.
You know, earlier, I mentioned to you that you're gonna be doing price check.
Okay.
Customer Service, they're gonna call you there for a price check.
Hit the button, say, "This is the Ladies Department," Okay, yeah, no, I got you.
so then they're gonna describe the item to you.
Then you're gonna have to come around here and look on the floor for the item.
Hello, 10-4.
- Let the button go.
- Ladies Department.
Let the button go.
What's the price check? Let it go.
It's always like that? Scrub top, scrub sets.
Ask her what the brand is again.
(Rick) What's the brand? (Mshinda) That's not it.
e-n-i-c-e? This is crazy, right? The price check system is so antiquated, we may as well have cavemen in there screaming out, "Price check.
" By the time we even try to find something, the customer's gonna be going.
They don't need this.
- Here it is, finally.
- Thank you.
I'm sorry.
(Rick) No wonder this store is underperforming.
It's not the employees' fault.
Some of these policies and procedures that we enacted are just crazy.
We're gonna process some stuff, all right? Okay.
Tag each shirt.
You know, put the price on it.
- Okay? - All right.
So you do that.
So let me ask you a question.
What kind of employees are you expecting to have at your facility? I want them to have the same values as what the customer would want.
We really don't have a lot of incentive programs here.
We don't have any bonuses, not for our employees.
Right.
And I'm thinking that you can take that with you, 'cause if you have a happy employee, they would do anything for you.
- Right.
- You know what I'm saying? Are you considered full-time? No, I'm not full-time here.
This is one of two jobs for me.
- I work a second job.
- Where do you work? I work at a hospital doing transportation.
Oh.
And I work there from 11:00 at night to 7:30 in the morning, and then I drop my kids off at school.
And then I come here and work from 9:00 in the morning to 3:00.
How do you do it? You know, you have to do what you have to do to take care of your family.
- And how many kids do you have? - I have two.
Wow.
I have My son is about to go off to college.
He just graduated from high school, so he's on his way to University of Iowa, so that's why I have to work the two jobs, 'cause it's all about my kids.
I have a lot of respect for Mshinda.
So we're gonna finish this up, and then we're gonna move on to something else.
(Rick) She perseveres, she works hard, and she doesn't get a lot in return.
That has to change.
Keep up with me.
It's hard to keep up.
You'll get it eventually.
(Rick) Today I'm going undercover in our new distribution center in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.
All of the merchandise comes into one central location, and it gets shipped out to our 35 stores around the country.
My last job really made me very concerned.
The lack of technology in the stores all starts with me.
It's very important for the distribution center to be very organized.
Is Elizabeth here? - How you doing? - I'm Brad.
- How are you? - Come around.
- Nice to see you.
- Hi, nice to see you too.
- I'll be your instructor for the day.
- Okay.
My job is to label the boxes, wrap the boxes up, and then load them to the trucks.
Right.
Okay, well, the first challenge that we have is, I need some wrapping done.
Basically what you want to do is pull all around the boxes.
Just make sure you cover everything.
- That's it.
- Okay.
Next.
That looks easy enough.
Can I do it fast or just, like, it doesn't matter? As long as it's tight.
All the way down.
All the way down.
- This is - That's good.
That's good.
Bring it down.
Aw, daggone.
Brad's wrapping was terrible.
He was, like, all over the place.
- Whew.
- Yeah.
I need a little oxygen.
(Elizabeth) He's not ready for this.
He's he's not.
[Laughs.]
- You ready for your next challenge? - I'm ready.
- Forklift is next.
- I mean Huh? - Forklift.
- Forklift.
- You ready? - Uh-oh.
I don't have a lot of experience with forklifts, so I'm a little bit nervous.
- Shift it forward, it goes forward.
- Mm-hmm.
- Let me get on real quick.
- Okay.
And shift it back, it goes back.
This right here, if you hurry up, you want to stop, just stop it.
- You want to just get on it? - Yeah, let me try it.
- You know, so you can try it? - I'll try it.
I'm scared I'm gonna mess something up.
(Both) Whoa, whoa.
Lift it up.
Lift it up.
- So I got to go slower than that then.
- Yes.
- Now, does this come back? - Mm-hmm.
- Or just - [Horn blares.]
Whoa.
Can't move by itself.
- Oh, my God, I'm nervous.
- Uh-oh.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, I go too fast.
I was nervous, shaking in my pants, because usually it do take a couple of minutes for people, you know, to catch on, but Brad Whoa! [Laughs.]
Out of it.
I'm getting it.
You're making me nervous here.
- All right.
Whoa! - See? Slow.
Move it.
It's not going now.
Yes, it is.
Nope.
Move it.
To teach Brad how to drive the forklift Oh, no! that was terrible, crazy, insane.
Now, move it back.
Back, back.
- Watch it.
- Whoa.
Out of control.
- I got it.
- You sure? - Yeah.
- You positive? Whoa.
[Clattering.]
Oh! - You okay? - Yeah.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.
Did I almost break this? Shoot, yeah.
I wanted him off because it was it was scary, and plus, I didn't want him to get hurt.
- You're not riding this.
- One more chance? No, no, no.
Hell no, Brad.
Get off the forklift.
How do you feel about, you know I feel like I should've done better on this.
Right.
So far here, like, what would you take to your business? Well, I'm looking to open up a gym.
Wow, hoping you, you know, open your own business.
Yeah.
Yeah So, I mean, do you have, like, any kids or anything? Yeah, I have two daughters.
- How about you? - I have three kids.
I have one girl, two boys.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
My daughter Probably get Oh, my God, I'm getting emotional.
Sorry.
I got pregnant when I was 21 years old.
Like, my grandmother, like she definitely, like, overprotective over me and everything, because, you know, my mom died when I was five.
And I got pregnant when I was 21, and my daughter's father passed away, like, two years ago.
He was, you know, doing drugs and everything, and he, like, you know, killed himself.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
- So you've seen a lot.
- Yeah.
Are you okay financially and everything? When there's no overtime, my money situation is like, pfft.
You know, crazy.
Matter of fact, couple of months ago, I just bought a van.
So far, I've been getting my payments on time, working overtime.
(Rick) Liz a fantastic person.
She's been through so much in her life, and she puts on a strong face, but she's barely making it.
My kids they're my strength.
Like, I want them to be better than me, like, get a better education, you know.
(Rick) We need to do a better job of taking care of people like Liz.
All right, let's get back to work.
- We have to go.
- All right.
Yeah, I think I learned a lot today, though.
(Announcer) Coming up Ladies to Customer Service.
- That's it.
That's it.
- Ladies.
- No, hang up.
That's it.
- Ladies.
Oh, my God.
(Announcer) Brad causes chaos at the register.
Oh, my goodness.
What did you just do? I want to tell him, "Move out my way.
" (Announcer) And later (Rick) Is morale good in this store? You know, this company, I feel like, don't care about, you know, their employees.
(Announcer) The boss is faced with the hard truth.
There ain't a whole lot of future in a type of company like this.
(Rick) Today I'm in Totowa, New Jersey, and I'm gonna be working as a Customer Service representative.
After the last two jobs, I'm a little concerned with how we're treating our employees and the effect that it has on our business.
- Hi, is Nikia here? - Yes.
I'm hoping today's experience will be a lot better, because the customer doesn't want to worry about our problems.
- Hi, is Nikia here? - Hi.
- My name is Brad.
How are you? - Hi, Brad.
I was told to see you.
I'm gonna teach you everything you need to know about Customer Service.
And we're busy today, so we're gonna have to just jump into it.
So when we just do a regular sale, the first thing you have to remember is to press one.
That's our sale.
Okay.
And you just start scanning after that.
I can't even see this.
Uh, okay.
[Chuckles.]
I was thinking, "Yeah, right.
This has got to be a joke.
" All right.
He was a grandpa.
He should be at home or retired or something.
Like, you're old.
When you're ready to call them, what do you say? When they're standing there, we just say "Next.
" Right.
When over there, "Next purchase.
" - Okay.
- Next purchase.
I don't greet them, either.
If they say hi to me, I just I speak back, 'cause it's out of courtesy.
- Mm.
- I know.
Why? What we was told in a meeting is that, you know, don't take too long, so I was like, "So do you want us to be polite to customers or what?" Hmm.
- We were told to hurry it up.
- Wow.
This is a shock to me.
Of course we want to get the customer in and out of the store as fast as possible $7.
17.
But not sacrificing Customer Service.
Do you guys have a training program? - I don't believe so.
I didn't have one.
- Wow.
(Rick) Nikia has never been trained properly on Customer Service, and that falls back on me.
Whenever you get these, you have to call for a manager.
Clara to Customer Service, please.
- For just any kind of coupon? - Any kind of coupon.
- That seems, like, crazy.
- It is.
I don't even know where to begin.
What do we do? We just stand here and wait for them to show up.
Okay, this is crazy.
I mean, it's ridiculous.
For, like, one $5 item, the customer has to wait, like, 40 minutes.
Next purchase.
Wow.
It's just crazy what's going on in that store.
All right.
What type of card do you have? - Credit.
- Credit? - Okay, Brad, over to the machine.
- Oh, my God.
- You don't have your own machine? - No.
The register system is so outdated.
It's ridiculous that every register can't ring up their own credit card sales.
This is ridiculous.
Look, we're almost done, I think.
Now you have to enter the approval code.
Wow, this is crazy.
And you can get people out quickly on this thing? No.
The way it should go is that your item is rung up, and you're out the door.
You're happy, and you saved a lot of money.
And the way it goes on our end is that everything stops.
Yeah.
Our register system sucks, and this has to change immediately.
See how my line is building? So we need to move faster.
I need to get these people out of here.
- They want to go home.
- Okay.
Next, please.
- That's a very nice shirt.
- Okay, so, Brad - Is that for - Brad, Brad.
- anybody special in the family? - Excuse me, Brad.
Brad.
Excuse me, Brad.
Wow, $3.
That's a good price.
My relationship with Brad I would compare it to raising a child.
Ladies to Customer Service, please.
- That's it.
That's it.
- Ladies.
- No, hang up.
That's it.
- Ladies.
Oh, my God.
I have a four-year-old, and she listens better than that.
Yeah.
What is that? But I really just want to tell him to just move out my way Oh, my goodness, what did you just do? and don't come back.
I can just do it myself.
I don't really need you.
I don't want to train you.
You're not right for this position.
You never will be, so you probably shouldn't own your own business either.
- Did I do a good job? I'm sorry.
- No, no.
Okay, Brad, I never had a headache training someone before.
- Right.
- It's hot in here.
- I need some water.
- Okay.
Oh, my gosh.
That was very difficult, right? Yes.
There was too many things to do.
- You have to learn how to multitask.
- Right.
That's part of the job description as well.
Okay.
How do you think the employees Are you happy? I mean No, we're not happy here.
I'm not happy here.
The working conditions are terrible.
The systems, you know, they're not updated.
They're slow.
Everything is part-time here.
Right.
But think I got a position at Walmart, so let's hope, 'cause they do pay more, and it's a lot more hours.
Right.
It's a disgrace that our employees are looking elsewhere, cannot find the right job opportunities within our company, and don't feel appreciated.
This company is really on life support right now, and I have to do something about that to change the morale.
There's a lot going on in here.
Yeah, it's ridiculous.
So how do you put up with that? - You know.
- My kids.
Right.
That's the only reason.
I am a single mother.
Mm, and how many kids do you have? - I have two daughters.
- Right.
They're, like, four and six, and it's difficult, 'cause I do have one daughter - she has Down syndrome.
- Oh, okay.
So it's, like, doctors' appointments - every other week.
- Mm.
There's a lot.
You know, my youngest daughter, who's now 23 you know, I'm an older guy, but has special needs.
She can't speak, you know.
She uses a you know, a computerized device.
Your daughter, you know, can communicate with you guys, right? Yeah, she's so social.
- Everybody knows her.
- Really? You know, I just want something better for my kids.
Right.
I live in Passaic in the projects, and that's not a good environment.
- Yeah, it's tough.
- Yeah, it is.
(Rick) Nikia doesn't really want a lot.
What she wants is the basics of life, that her daughters are happy, that they're safe, the same things that are important to me.
Ready? More customers? Yeah, let's get back to work.
- More focus, though, okay? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I realize that we've done more for the customers, but we have not taken care of the people that are working for us, and we need to turn this around in so many ways immediately.
Today I'm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I'll be working with the maintenance supervisor.
This is my hometown, and this is where it all began.
We bought this property.
We rehabbed it.
We created this neighborhood.
Hi, is Kurtis here? Yeah, he's over there.
(Rick) I haven't visited this location in quite a while, and I can't think of a better way to end this journey than to go back to where it all began.
- I'm Brad.
- Hey, Brad.
How you doing? I assume you're Kurtis.
- Yeah, how you doing? - Good.
- I'm the maintenance supervisor - Right.
So I take care of a lot of different things inside this building.
One of my major responsibilities is taking care of the bathroom.
Right.
Now, this is our bathroom.
Ooh, the smell in that bathroom it was enough to make you faint.
People pee behind the toilets.
- People pee on the walls, the handles.
- Wow.
So I'm gonna give you your gloves.
I clean bathrooms like I'm gonna use that bathroom.
Right.
- Smell like an extension of the store.
- Okay.
So first things first, spray it down.
Wipe the sinks, the counters, all around where the urinal at, and pick up the seat and under the seat.
- All right? - I'll get it done for you.
All right.
Oh, man.
Whoa.
Mm, I don't even know what I'm picking up here.
[Groans.]
Man.
I'm already soaking wet.
(Kurtis) Brad is complaining about the job.
You need to just man up and get it over with.
- Back of the toilet and under the urinal.
- Under? Oh, my God.
Oh, man, this is ridiculous.
Let's go.
Let's get ready to get out of here.
(Kurtis) It took Brad entirely too long.
Hopefully Brad do find his niche in life, but cleaning and maintaining the building is probably not one of them.
Now I'm gonna take you into the warehouse.
Okay.
Excuse me, little man.
Hi, Kurtis.
How you doing today? - Hey, Miss Denise.
How you doing? - All right.
All right.
I need you to cut up the boxes and get them ready, so we can put 'em in compact.
So this is your job, not the receiving job, or both? A lot of the stuff that I do is not under my title.
I treat this job like the job that I always wanted, because when I do get the job I always wanted, I want to be ready for it.
What would you really like to do? I wanted to possibly be a warehouse supervisor myself.
What happened? Well, they ended up bringing another young man in, so they put me back onto maintenance.
Is morale good in this store? You know, this company, I feel like, don't care about, you know, their employees, you know what I'm saying? There ain't a whole lot of future in the type of company like this.
It would be nice if the company had some type of incentive or some type of recognition for people that does, you know, a good job, but there's no incentive besides, you know, just have to feed your family.
Uh-huh.
(Rick) Kurtis is not disposable to Forman Mills, and I feel really bad that he thinks that way and is treated that way by me and the company.
It's a recurring theme, and I'm really gonna have to look into this.
But I will treat this job like it's the job that I always wanted, because I got to put myself in position to achieve better.
At one time, I worked at different places, and I didn't keep 'em long, because, you know, I was drinking all the time.
- I became homeless at one time.
- Wow.
And I was doing things I had no business doing.
So how did you change? Well, you know, I got to a point in my life where I got tired of being sick and tired.
- Did you go for help? - Yeah, I went for help.
Alcoholics Anonymous or any of these Yeah, you know, different programs and different stuff like that and got with good people.
- Right.
- You know what I mean? But the thing that I think that works more in my life is, the more I give - Right.
- the better I am.
That's why I go to the homeless shelters.
You know, I mentor guys out in the homeless shelters.
- That's my high now, you know what I mean? - Right, right.
(Rick) That really hit a nerve, because you really have to be out there, you have to really give in order to receive, and I don't think I've been doing that as a CEO.
It's almost lunchtime.
There's a shelter that I go in and I donate some stuff to.
- Okay.
- So if you'd like to do that with me - I would love to go there.
- All right, my man.
- Is it close by? - Yeah, it's just around the corner.
- Okay.
- All right? I remember when I was here.
- You know, it was a tough time for me.
- Yeah.
So, you know, I try to give back as much as I can, you know.
This stuff here I get you know, I actually pay for this type of stuff Right.
you know what I mean, with my little Forman Mills check.
That's great that you do that.
(Rick) When Forman Mills started, we were all about the community.
Hey, how y'all doing today? (Rick) And now I realize that we've been concentrating on growing and profiting and making our stores bigger.
This will be for all you guys.
We really need to get back to our grassroots, give back to the community.
It's a gift card for Forman Mills.
- Thank you.
- All right? And Kurtis really made me realize that today.
I can see why you want to do that.
You know, it ain't even that I want to do it.
- It's that I got to do it.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(Announcer) Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide whether or not Brad deserves an investment to start his own business.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? I'm Rick Forman, CEO and founder of Forman Mills.
Oh, my God.
[Laughs.]
Through this experience, I realized that employees are really working hard, and I really need to take some of the stress and burden off of the people so that they can focus and they can be happier.
I'm really looking forward to that.
- So how was Brad? - [Laughs.]
He didn't listen very well.
(Nikia) He was just playing too much.
You can't play that much on a job.
I'm Rick Forman, CEO and founder of Forman Mills, and I was Brad.
Get the crap out of here.
Oh, my God.
Oh, wow.
And you're on Undercover Boss.
[Laughing.]
Snap.
Are you kidding me? Did I really train the owner? Liz, now, is there any chance I can have one more chance on the forklift? - No.
- Please.
No, no, no.
Whoa.
[Clattering.]
Oh! I almost took the whole place apart, right? Yes.
Liz, your personality is infectious.
I wish we had more people like you.
[Laughs.]
Thank you.
It hurt me to hear that you have to rely on overtime just to support your family.
Yes.
You told me about your car.
I'm gonna pay off your car, no worries, to make your life easier.
Oh, my God, thank you so much.
Oh, my God.
Well, you know, I have three daughters of my own, and, you know, I want all of them to get a good higher education.
Right.
To ensure that your children can finish school, I'm going to, right now, give your three children $5,000 to put into a college fund, for each one of your kids, for a total of $15,000.
[Crying.]
That's that's perfect.
Perfect.
My kids is number one number one in my life.
- Number one.
- Yeah.
This this is very life-changing for me.
I just feel great.
Now I can just go home with half of the worries that I was worrying about before.
- I wish you the best, all right? - Thank you, thank you.
For something like this to happen to me, it's amazing.
Mshinda, I want to thank you for being a good instructor even though I probably wasn't a great student.
No.
I said that you were a clown.
- A clown.
- Yes.
[Both laugh.]
I was, however, very disappointed to see the price check system we have is outdated.
It's always like that? You inspired me to put a new price check system in place, and that will be for all the stores.
That's great.
That's great.
You're a great representative of the company.
What I'd like to do, I'd like to promote you to a merchandise coordinator and bring your salary up $25,000 more.
Wow.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh.
I'm just I don't I'm so overwhelmed right now, I can't even think.
When was the last time you were able to just relax with your kids and It's been a long time.
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
I want you and your kids to, you know, get to know each other again, relax.
Yeah.
And, yeah, my son is about to go off to college, so, yeah.
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna take care of the next four years, totally paid off.
I don't care, whatever it is, I'm gonna pay whatever cost there is involved.
That's crazy.
One more thing, I'd like to send you, your kids, to Disney World.
I never thought stuff like this would happen to people like me.
I'm so thankful.
I appreciate everything.
I'm so happy right now.
My baby gets to go to school.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
You were great.
Mr.
Forman is paying for my son's education? I can't believe it.
- What was my name? - Brad, Brad.
- Brad.
- It was like my mom.
All the time, I'm like, "This Brad character is, like, a clown.
" I'm like, "I can't wait till they hurry up and get to me, so I can tell them he's not good.
" It's hard to get me, but you got me.
Nikia, it was great working with you.
I mean, it was a little difficult.
Ladies to Customer Service, please.
- Ladies.
- Oh, my God.
- I thought you were gonna kill me.
- Sorry.
[Both laugh.]
You were fantastic.
I mean, you know the policy and procedure of the register area.
- It seemed outdated.
- Yes.
So one thing you inspired me with is that I am going to bring in a new merchandising and point-of-purchase system for the entire company, and that's gonna be a $3-million investment.
Aw, that makes me so happy.
I feel special right now.
- Yeah? - Yeah, I do.
'Cause I made a difference.
Always wanted to make a difference, and I made one.
I was impressed with you, but there were some things there that I was upset with.
You know, you basically said that you don't really greet the customers.
- You know? - Yeah.
And you weren't trained to really be nicer to the customer or - No.
- No.
That's my fault.
- We need people that care - Right.
and that want to be there, that want to help the customers.
They just got to be trained on how it's supposed to be done.
You got to encourage them.
What I would like to do, 'cause I believe in you I'm gonna make you a front-end manager, give you full-time hours, and give you a $17,000 raise now.
I want you to be happy.
I want you to focus on your family and your job if you would like to stay with Forman Mills.
[Chuckles.]
Yeah, I'll stay at Forman Mills.
That sounds great.
- You talked about your kids.
- Right.
And you mentioned that, you know, one has special needs, right? Yes.
My daughter has special needs too, so I know what that's like, you know? The pain of that, you know, sometimes.
So what I'd like to do is, I'm gonna give you $15,000 for each one of your kids, and I want that to go to help your children, for each one of them.
Oh, my God, thank you.
To help me get my kids out of the projects, it means the world.
It means I can give them things that they never had before.
They'll have a better environment now.
We're gonna leave the past behind and just start our new lives together.
Kurtis, you just had such a great attitude.
I clean bathrooms like I'm gonna use that bathroom.
- Right.
- Smell like an extension of the store.
You're like the Mayor of Forman Mills, you know? I mean, I just love how you went the extra mile, though, for the customer and for the people.
Yeah, well, I try to.
Since I stopped drinking and stuff like that, that's my high right now.
- When I help people - Right.
it helps me.
You brought me to the homeless shelter during this journey, and, like, when I walked in there, man, just to see it you know, that those kids are surviving Because you're so inspirational, I would like to put you in charge of our new outreach program to the community.
I'm gonna start the fund off with $30,000, and you're gonna help me head that up.
You're gonna get your own business card, and I'm gonna double your salary immediately on a full-time basis.
[Laughing, crying.]
Oh, man.
Stuff like that don't happen, man.
This is stuff like this just don't happen.
So I have one more thing for you.
I can't get over the fact that you were homeless at one time in your life, and I don't want you ever I don't want any of anybody that works for me to be homeless ever again, and I know that's not gonna happen, but I'm gonna give you a house.
I'm gonna buy you a house for up to $250,000, for wherever you want it.
[Mouthing words.]
Oh! - Will that help? - Would it help? Look, I don't know [Laughs.]
but look, come here.
(Kurtis) Five years ago, man, I was just out and just roaming the streets.
This is beyond my wildest dreams.
I You know, my life just changed.
- Hey.
- [Laughing.]
Oh, my God! What, baby? What? What? Baby, I was on Undercover Boss.
[Laughing.]
[Laughing.]
I was on Undercover Boss.
Wait a minute.
Wait.
Okay, stop.
Wait.
Okay.
He gonna give me $250,000 towards a home.
[Laughter.]
I told you.
I told you you were I told you you were worth it.
I told you.
[Laughing.]
Oh, baby, I'm so happy for you.
(Man) Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.
Rick Forman! [Cheers and applause.]
I've learned some valuable lessons this week.
We have so many good people out there, and and I realize there's very little incentives at the company right now.
So we're gonna do a profit sharing program immediately that is gonna be for the employees.
'Cause I realize we're not going to go anyplace unless you guys have a stake in the outcome.
[Cheers and applause.]
But we're not doing enough in the communities, and we need to get back to where we started.
A lot of lives can be changed.
But I want to devote that we're gonna put aside $1 million a year every year, and we're gonna be doing community outreach.
[Cheers and applause.]
It's about the people, and I think that was my biggest lesson.
Thank you.
Today is the first day of the rest of our business.
- Oh, my God! (Announcer) have posed as subjects on a fake show to get honest feedback from their employees.
All right.
(Announcer) It's been shocking.
- [Cow moos.]
- A lot of people smoke pot.
(Announcer) It's been challenging.
It's not the homeowner's fault that I get paid peanuts.
(Announcer) But it's inspired them to change their employees' lives forever.
I've decided to invest around $3 million because of you.
Thank you.
For real? Like, this is real? - Without a doubt.
- [Sobs.]
I am going to give you your own store.
Yay! Probably the best thing somebody ever did for me.
I have a check for $250,000.
Oh, my God.
(Announcer) Tonight the latest boss to take the plunge is Rick Forman - Yeah.
- Is that your stomach? I guess so.
It's a little bit padded.
(Announcer) the founder and CEO of Forman Mills, a discount superstore that sells brand-name clothing at dirt-cheap prices.
By going undercover My name is Brad.
(Announcer) this eccentric street merchant turned mega mogul will see if he can stack up - Whoa, whoa.
- Whoa, whoa.
Whoa, whoa.
Out of control.
Ladies to Customer Service, please.
- Ladies.
- No, hang up.
That's it.
- Ladies.
- Oh, my God.
I would compare it to raising a child.
What is that? I cannot see Brad running his own business.
Let it go.
[Walkie-talkie blares.]
But I could see him running a circus, 'cause he's a total clown.
How do you think the employees Are you happy? I mean No, we're not happy here.
The working conditions are terrible.
(Announcer) and what will happen when this bargain king realizes that his company has some major defects? We really don't have a lot of incentive here.
Right.
You know, this company don't care about, you know, their employees.
There ain't a whole lot of future in a type of company like this.
(Announcer) Find out next on Undercover Boss.
(Announcer) With a base of operations in Pennsauken, New Jersey, Forman Mills is one of the fastest growing discount apparel and merchandise outlets in the country.
Leading this $1/4 billion a year bargain-lovers paradise and its 2,500 employees is one man.
(Rick) My name is Rick Forman.
I'm the founder and CEO of Forman Mills.
Forman Mills can give the customer ridiculous buys on thousands and thousands of name brands.
We are a big, open flea market, and we don't play any games.
It doesn't have to be hung fancy.
It's no frills, stack it high, let it fly.
I don't care if we sell it off the ground.
It's gonna be unbelievable deals.
At Forman Mills, it's a real dichotomy.
On one hand, we like things crazy and out of control, but at the other hand, we want things to be perfect.
I want it to look like it's shop-worn, and people are there, and there's excitement, because you're not gonna be mobbed and everything is gorgeous.
I don't think anybody can beat the mill.
We're in a growth spurt right now.
Currently, we have 35 stores in ten states in the Mid-Atlantic region.
We plan to double that number in the next year, while at the same time doubling our revenue from 250 million to 500 million.
I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
My grandfather manufactured ladies dresses, and my father ended up going into the business too.
And as my dad's business started to unravel, I think it affected me, so at that point, I learned basically to survive on my own a little bit.
As I got into my teenage years, I started making money at the flea markets, and I think it really propelled me into the business world.
And then that evolved to opening my first store in this old, burned-out alley in Philadelphia.
I'm part of the street, you know.
Forman Mills stores are located in low-income areas, and that's what really made us.
We went into the inner city when nobody wanted to go in there.
Where they abandoned all those stores, Forman Mills took their place.
We're also reviving the neighborhoods, and that's what our essence is.
When we open up a new store, we bring 120 jobs immediately to the community, and the customer literally thanks us.
It's like, "Thank God for Forman Mills.
" Our training is based on the school of hard knocks.
We bring somebody in, we throw 'em into the fire, and if they're not good, we have to get rid of them.
Just ship it out.
It's perceived that I govern by intimidation, but I don't know any better.
I don't have a filter, basically.
You know, I need a filter.
What does this need to retail for where they're waiting in the aisle? - If we can - $15, sold.
I don't care if we give stuff away.
I mean, we're gonna make money in the long run, and we make money on volume.
It's like the goose that laid the golden egg.
Take their money.
That's our number one priority.
Take their money.
Cancel all your appointments this week.
Tomorrow we're gonna repeat the same meeting.
It's not for everybody.
This is the big leagues.
At the end of the day, I have money, and now I'm able to provide for my family.
Hey, guys.
[All cheer.]
I've been married 25 years to my childhood sweetheart, Donna.
I have three daughters.
- Yeah.
- You are really good.
I don't know if I can spell that good.
My youngest daughter has special needs.
[All cheering.]
I know my daughters think I have a split personality.
I think I'm a little bit insane if you compare me to other people.
I know where I got that file at.
So I've got my own way of doing business.
My definition of perfection is imperfection.
Uh, it's right here.
(Woman) Let's get started.
(Rick) My challenge is gonna be my persona and being able to hold it in.
I'm not used to taking orders, and I don't even know what that's like.
Yes, and your wife might like it.
Oh, my God, like an old rocker or something.
- Exactly, I know.
- I don't know.
While undercover, I'll be posing as Brad Bandini, a retired football coach.
Throughout my undercover journey, my employees will think they're on a fake reality TV show.
The last time I was this nervous, I was walking down the aisle, getting ready to say "I do.
" - Oh, am I first? - Yeah.
[Laughter.]
Oh, my God! - What do you think? - Oh, my God.
Is that your stomach? I guess so.
It's a little bit padded.
[Laughter.]
(Rick) I'm going undercover because we're ready to launch a major expansion.
- Good luck.
- Bye.
I think the biggest weakness of Forman Mills is execution.
How do we take this great secret that we have and expand that around the country and the world? Today I'm in Chicago, Illinois, and I'm going undercover as a sales associate.
All ladies shoes are right here.
(Rick) This store in Chicago is one of our most underperforming stores, and I need to get in there and turn this store around.
Where is Mshinda? My adrenaline is up to the moon right now.
I'm ready to parachute in like Mary Poppins.
Excuse me, where is Mshinda? - Hi, I'm Mshinda.
- Oh, you're Mshinda.
Hi, I'm Brad.
- Hi, Brad, how are you? - How you doing? Nice to meet you.
(Mshinda) When he first walked up to me Oh, my God.
I was thinking, "This guy is from a '70s sitcom or something.
" Yeah.
Like, his mustache and hairdo was kind of outdated.
He reminded of a character or somebody from Brady Bunch.
This is the Ladies Department.
I'm the sales floor associate, so all of this here is my responsibility, okay? (Rick) Fantastic.
That includes detailing, price checks, and Customer Service.
Right.
So detailing when you detail a rack, you want to put everything together from light to dark, okay? Okay.
- Now, you see, you have some grays here.
- Yeah.
So what you're gonna do is take those out and put 'em with your grays and push back your blacks.
Let me show you what I'm talking about here.
- Brad.
Stay focused.
- Hmm, hmm.
Stay with me.
- That doesn't go there.
- What is this thing? Those are shorts.
- Don't throw it.
- I can't throw it? No, please.
That's not what you do.
- You never - I could probably land it.
- No, no.
- I used to - Okay.
- No.
Brad is he's on another planet, all up in space somewhere.
Brad, leave that alone.
What is this? We haven't gotten to that rack yet, Brad.
I-I keep looking at that shirt up there.
- I need to buy that.
- No, you don't.
(Rick) Most businesspeople have A.
D.
D.
, so I really can't focus in there.
All these items are coming at me.
- Can I just sweep the area? - No.
Brad, you need to continue.
Brad, stay over here.
Brad, I need you to stay with me.
It sounds like my mom when I hear "Brad," like, you know You're not focused.
[Stammers.]
Okay, let me ask you this.
How bad do you want this? I want it bad.
I need to win.
Okay, and if you want it bad, then you have to listen to what I'm saying to you.
You have to stay focused.
It's just so overwhelming to see what's here in the department.
I cannot see Brad running his own business.
- So what's next? - Finishing up your rack.
I just I thought I finished it.
No, it's not finished.
But I could see him running a circus, 'cause he's a total clown.
Brad, I'ma need you to stay focused.
I don't know how many times I have to say that.
All right.
You know, earlier, I mentioned to you that you're gonna be doing price check.
Okay.
Customer Service, they're gonna call you there for a price check.
Hit the button, say, "This is the Ladies Department," Okay, yeah, no, I got you.
so then they're gonna describe the item to you.
Then you're gonna have to come around here and look on the floor for the item.
Hello, 10-4.
- Let the button go.
- Ladies Department.
Let the button go.
What's the price check? Let it go.
It's always like that? Scrub top, scrub sets.
Ask her what the brand is again.
(Rick) What's the brand? (Mshinda) That's not it.
e-n-i-c-e? This is crazy, right? The price check system is so antiquated, we may as well have cavemen in there screaming out, "Price check.
" By the time we even try to find something, the customer's gonna be going.
They don't need this.
- Here it is, finally.
- Thank you.
I'm sorry.
(Rick) No wonder this store is underperforming.
It's not the employees' fault.
Some of these policies and procedures that we enacted are just crazy.
We're gonna process some stuff, all right? Okay.
Tag each shirt.
You know, put the price on it.
- Okay? - All right.
So you do that.
So let me ask you a question.
What kind of employees are you expecting to have at your facility? I want them to have the same values as what the customer would want.
We really don't have a lot of incentive programs here.
We don't have any bonuses, not for our employees.
Right.
And I'm thinking that you can take that with you, 'cause if you have a happy employee, they would do anything for you.
- Right.
- You know what I'm saying? Are you considered full-time? No, I'm not full-time here.
This is one of two jobs for me.
- I work a second job.
- Where do you work? I work at a hospital doing transportation.
Oh.
And I work there from 11:00 at night to 7:30 in the morning, and then I drop my kids off at school.
And then I come here and work from 9:00 in the morning to 3:00.
How do you do it? You know, you have to do what you have to do to take care of your family.
- And how many kids do you have? - I have two.
Wow.
I have My son is about to go off to college.
He just graduated from high school, so he's on his way to University of Iowa, so that's why I have to work the two jobs, 'cause it's all about my kids.
I have a lot of respect for Mshinda.
So we're gonna finish this up, and then we're gonna move on to something else.
(Rick) She perseveres, she works hard, and she doesn't get a lot in return.
That has to change.
Keep up with me.
It's hard to keep up.
You'll get it eventually.
(Rick) Today I'm going undercover in our new distribution center in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.
All of the merchandise comes into one central location, and it gets shipped out to our 35 stores around the country.
My last job really made me very concerned.
The lack of technology in the stores all starts with me.
It's very important for the distribution center to be very organized.
Is Elizabeth here? - How you doing? - I'm Brad.
- How are you? - Come around.
- Nice to see you.
- Hi, nice to see you too.
- I'll be your instructor for the day.
- Okay.
My job is to label the boxes, wrap the boxes up, and then load them to the trucks.
Right.
Okay, well, the first challenge that we have is, I need some wrapping done.
Basically what you want to do is pull all around the boxes.
Just make sure you cover everything.
- That's it.
- Okay.
Next.
That looks easy enough.
Can I do it fast or just, like, it doesn't matter? As long as it's tight.
All the way down.
All the way down.
- This is - That's good.
That's good.
Bring it down.
Aw, daggone.
Brad's wrapping was terrible.
He was, like, all over the place.
- Whew.
- Yeah.
I need a little oxygen.
(Elizabeth) He's not ready for this.
He's he's not.
[Laughs.]
- You ready for your next challenge? - I'm ready.
- Forklift is next.
- I mean Huh? - Forklift.
- Forklift.
- You ready? - Uh-oh.
I don't have a lot of experience with forklifts, so I'm a little bit nervous.
- Shift it forward, it goes forward.
- Mm-hmm.
- Let me get on real quick.
- Okay.
And shift it back, it goes back.
This right here, if you hurry up, you want to stop, just stop it.
- You want to just get on it? - Yeah, let me try it.
- You know, so you can try it? - I'll try it.
I'm scared I'm gonna mess something up.
(Both) Whoa, whoa.
Lift it up.
Lift it up.
- So I got to go slower than that then.
- Yes.
- Now, does this come back? - Mm-hmm.
- Or just - [Horn blares.]
Whoa.
Can't move by itself.
- Oh, my God, I'm nervous.
- Uh-oh.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, I go too fast.
I was nervous, shaking in my pants, because usually it do take a couple of minutes for people, you know, to catch on, but Brad Whoa! [Laughs.]
Out of it.
I'm getting it.
You're making me nervous here.
- All right.
Whoa! - See? Slow.
Move it.
It's not going now.
Yes, it is.
Nope.
Move it.
To teach Brad how to drive the forklift Oh, no! that was terrible, crazy, insane.
Now, move it back.
Back, back.
- Watch it.
- Whoa.
Out of control.
- I got it.
- You sure? - Yeah.
- You positive? Whoa.
[Clattering.]
Oh! - You okay? - Yeah.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God.
Did I almost break this? Shoot, yeah.
I wanted him off because it was it was scary, and plus, I didn't want him to get hurt.
- You're not riding this.
- One more chance? No, no, no.
Hell no, Brad.
Get off the forklift.
How do you feel about, you know I feel like I should've done better on this.
Right.
So far here, like, what would you take to your business? Well, I'm looking to open up a gym.
Wow, hoping you, you know, open your own business.
Yeah.
Yeah So, I mean, do you have, like, any kids or anything? Yeah, I have two daughters.
- How about you? - I have three kids.
I have one girl, two boys.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
My daughter Probably get Oh, my God, I'm getting emotional.
Sorry.
I got pregnant when I was 21 years old.
Like, my grandmother, like she definitely, like, overprotective over me and everything, because, you know, my mom died when I was five.
And I got pregnant when I was 21, and my daughter's father passed away, like, two years ago.
He was, you know, doing drugs and everything, and he, like, you know, killed himself.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
- So you've seen a lot.
- Yeah.
Are you okay financially and everything? When there's no overtime, my money situation is like, pfft.
You know, crazy.
Matter of fact, couple of months ago, I just bought a van.
So far, I've been getting my payments on time, working overtime.
(Rick) Liz a fantastic person.
She's been through so much in her life, and she puts on a strong face, but she's barely making it.
My kids they're my strength.
Like, I want them to be better than me, like, get a better education, you know.
(Rick) We need to do a better job of taking care of people like Liz.
All right, let's get back to work.
- We have to go.
- All right.
Yeah, I think I learned a lot today, though.
(Announcer) Coming up Ladies to Customer Service.
- That's it.
That's it.
- Ladies.
- No, hang up.
That's it.
- Ladies.
Oh, my God.
(Announcer) Brad causes chaos at the register.
Oh, my goodness.
What did you just do? I want to tell him, "Move out my way.
" (Announcer) And later (Rick) Is morale good in this store? You know, this company, I feel like, don't care about, you know, their employees.
(Announcer) The boss is faced with the hard truth.
There ain't a whole lot of future in a type of company like this.
(Rick) Today I'm in Totowa, New Jersey, and I'm gonna be working as a Customer Service representative.
After the last two jobs, I'm a little concerned with how we're treating our employees and the effect that it has on our business.
- Hi, is Nikia here? - Yes.
I'm hoping today's experience will be a lot better, because the customer doesn't want to worry about our problems.
- Hi, is Nikia here? - Hi.
- My name is Brad.
How are you? - Hi, Brad.
I was told to see you.
I'm gonna teach you everything you need to know about Customer Service.
And we're busy today, so we're gonna have to just jump into it.
So when we just do a regular sale, the first thing you have to remember is to press one.
That's our sale.
Okay.
And you just start scanning after that.
I can't even see this.
Uh, okay.
[Chuckles.]
I was thinking, "Yeah, right.
This has got to be a joke.
" All right.
He was a grandpa.
He should be at home or retired or something.
Like, you're old.
When you're ready to call them, what do you say? When they're standing there, we just say "Next.
" Right.
When over there, "Next purchase.
" - Okay.
- Next purchase.
I don't greet them, either.
If they say hi to me, I just I speak back, 'cause it's out of courtesy.
- Mm.
- I know.
Why? What we was told in a meeting is that, you know, don't take too long, so I was like, "So do you want us to be polite to customers or what?" Hmm.
- We were told to hurry it up.
- Wow.
This is a shock to me.
Of course we want to get the customer in and out of the store as fast as possible $7.
17.
But not sacrificing Customer Service.
Do you guys have a training program? - I don't believe so.
I didn't have one.
- Wow.
(Rick) Nikia has never been trained properly on Customer Service, and that falls back on me.
Whenever you get these, you have to call for a manager.
Clara to Customer Service, please.
- For just any kind of coupon? - Any kind of coupon.
- That seems, like, crazy.
- It is.
I don't even know where to begin.
What do we do? We just stand here and wait for them to show up.
Okay, this is crazy.
I mean, it's ridiculous.
For, like, one $5 item, the customer has to wait, like, 40 minutes.
Next purchase.
Wow.
It's just crazy what's going on in that store.
All right.
What type of card do you have? - Credit.
- Credit? - Okay, Brad, over to the machine.
- Oh, my God.
- You don't have your own machine? - No.
The register system is so outdated.
It's ridiculous that every register can't ring up their own credit card sales.
This is ridiculous.
Look, we're almost done, I think.
Now you have to enter the approval code.
Wow, this is crazy.
And you can get people out quickly on this thing? No.
The way it should go is that your item is rung up, and you're out the door.
You're happy, and you saved a lot of money.
And the way it goes on our end is that everything stops.
Yeah.
Our register system sucks, and this has to change immediately.
See how my line is building? So we need to move faster.
I need to get these people out of here.
- They want to go home.
- Okay.
Next, please.
- That's a very nice shirt.
- Okay, so, Brad - Is that for - Brad, Brad.
- anybody special in the family? - Excuse me, Brad.
Brad.
Excuse me, Brad.
Wow, $3.
That's a good price.
My relationship with Brad I would compare it to raising a child.
Ladies to Customer Service, please.
- That's it.
That's it.
- Ladies.
- No, hang up.
That's it.
- Ladies.
Oh, my God.
I have a four-year-old, and she listens better than that.
Yeah.
What is that? But I really just want to tell him to just move out my way Oh, my goodness, what did you just do? and don't come back.
I can just do it myself.
I don't really need you.
I don't want to train you.
You're not right for this position.
You never will be, so you probably shouldn't own your own business either.
- Did I do a good job? I'm sorry.
- No, no.
Okay, Brad, I never had a headache training someone before.
- Right.
- It's hot in here.
- I need some water.
- Okay.
Oh, my gosh.
That was very difficult, right? Yes.
There was too many things to do.
- You have to learn how to multitask.
- Right.
That's part of the job description as well.
Okay.
How do you think the employees Are you happy? I mean No, we're not happy here.
I'm not happy here.
The working conditions are terrible.
The systems, you know, they're not updated.
They're slow.
Everything is part-time here.
Right.
But think I got a position at Walmart, so let's hope, 'cause they do pay more, and it's a lot more hours.
Right.
It's a disgrace that our employees are looking elsewhere, cannot find the right job opportunities within our company, and don't feel appreciated.
This company is really on life support right now, and I have to do something about that to change the morale.
There's a lot going on in here.
Yeah, it's ridiculous.
So how do you put up with that? - You know.
- My kids.
Right.
That's the only reason.
I am a single mother.
Mm, and how many kids do you have? - I have two daughters.
- Right.
They're, like, four and six, and it's difficult, 'cause I do have one daughter - she has Down syndrome.
- Oh, okay.
So it's, like, doctors' appointments - every other week.
- Mm.
There's a lot.
You know, my youngest daughter, who's now 23 you know, I'm an older guy, but has special needs.
She can't speak, you know.
She uses a you know, a computerized device.
Your daughter, you know, can communicate with you guys, right? Yeah, she's so social.
- Everybody knows her.
- Really? You know, I just want something better for my kids.
Right.
I live in Passaic in the projects, and that's not a good environment.
- Yeah, it's tough.
- Yeah, it is.
(Rick) Nikia doesn't really want a lot.
What she wants is the basics of life, that her daughters are happy, that they're safe, the same things that are important to me.
Ready? More customers? Yeah, let's get back to work.
- More focus, though, okay? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I realize that we've done more for the customers, but we have not taken care of the people that are working for us, and we need to turn this around in so many ways immediately.
Today I'm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I'll be working with the maintenance supervisor.
This is my hometown, and this is where it all began.
We bought this property.
We rehabbed it.
We created this neighborhood.
Hi, is Kurtis here? Yeah, he's over there.
(Rick) I haven't visited this location in quite a while, and I can't think of a better way to end this journey than to go back to where it all began.
- I'm Brad.
- Hey, Brad.
How you doing? I assume you're Kurtis.
- Yeah, how you doing? - Good.
- I'm the maintenance supervisor - Right.
So I take care of a lot of different things inside this building.
One of my major responsibilities is taking care of the bathroom.
Right.
Now, this is our bathroom.
Ooh, the smell in that bathroom it was enough to make you faint.
People pee behind the toilets.
- People pee on the walls, the handles.
- Wow.
So I'm gonna give you your gloves.
I clean bathrooms like I'm gonna use that bathroom.
Right.
- Smell like an extension of the store.
- Okay.
So first things first, spray it down.
Wipe the sinks, the counters, all around where the urinal at, and pick up the seat and under the seat.
- All right? - I'll get it done for you.
All right.
Oh, man.
Whoa.
Mm, I don't even know what I'm picking up here.
[Groans.]
Man.
I'm already soaking wet.
(Kurtis) Brad is complaining about the job.
You need to just man up and get it over with.
- Back of the toilet and under the urinal.
- Under? Oh, my God.
Oh, man, this is ridiculous.
Let's go.
Let's get ready to get out of here.
(Kurtis) It took Brad entirely too long.
Hopefully Brad do find his niche in life, but cleaning and maintaining the building is probably not one of them.
Now I'm gonna take you into the warehouse.
Okay.
Excuse me, little man.
Hi, Kurtis.
How you doing today? - Hey, Miss Denise.
How you doing? - All right.
All right.
I need you to cut up the boxes and get them ready, so we can put 'em in compact.
So this is your job, not the receiving job, or both? A lot of the stuff that I do is not under my title.
I treat this job like the job that I always wanted, because when I do get the job I always wanted, I want to be ready for it.
What would you really like to do? I wanted to possibly be a warehouse supervisor myself.
What happened? Well, they ended up bringing another young man in, so they put me back onto maintenance.
Is morale good in this store? You know, this company, I feel like, don't care about, you know, their employees, you know what I'm saying? There ain't a whole lot of future in the type of company like this.
It would be nice if the company had some type of incentive or some type of recognition for people that does, you know, a good job, but there's no incentive besides, you know, just have to feed your family.
Uh-huh.
(Rick) Kurtis is not disposable to Forman Mills, and I feel really bad that he thinks that way and is treated that way by me and the company.
It's a recurring theme, and I'm really gonna have to look into this.
But I will treat this job like it's the job that I always wanted, because I got to put myself in position to achieve better.
At one time, I worked at different places, and I didn't keep 'em long, because, you know, I was drinking all the time.
- I became homeless at one time.
- Wow.
And I was doing things I had no business doing.
So how did you change? Well, you know, I got to a point in my life where I got tired of being sick and tired.
- Did you go for help? - Yeah, I went for help.
Alcoholics Anonymous or any of these Yeah, you know, different programs and different stuff like that and got with good people.
- Right.
- You know what I mean? But the thing that I think that works more in my life is, the more I give - Right.
- the better I am.
That's why I go to the homeless shelters.
You know, I mentor guys out in the homeless shelters.
- That's my high now, you know what I mean? - Right, right.
(Rick) That really hit a nerve, because you really have to be out there, you have to really give in order to receive, and I don't think I've been doing that as a CEO.
It's almost lunchtime.
There's a shelter that I go in and I donate some stuff to.
- Okay.
- So if you'd like to do that with me - I would love to go there.
- All right, my man.
- Is it close by? - Yeah, it's just around the corner.
- Okay.
- All right? I remember when I was here.
- You know, it was a tough time for me.
- Yeah.
So, you know, I try to give back as much as I can, you know.
This stuff here I get you know, I actually pay for this type of stuff Right.
you know what I mean, with my little Forman Mills check.
That's great that you do that.
(Rick) When Forman Mills started, we were all about the community.
Hey, how y'all doing today? (Rick) And now I realize that we've been concentrating on growing and profiting and making our stores bigger.
This will be for all you guys.
We really need to get back to our grassroots, give back to the community.
It's a gift card for Forman Mills.
- Thank you.
- All right? And Kurtis really made me realize that today.
I can see why you want to do that.
You know, it ain't even that I want to do it.
- It's that I got to do it.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(Announcer) Coming up, the employees think they're going to decide whether or not Brad deserves an investment to start his own business.
How will they react when the boss reveals his true identity? I'm Rick Forman, CEO and founder of Forman Mills.
Oh, my God.
[Laughs.]
Through this experience, I realized that employees are really working hard, and I really need to take some of the stress and burden off of the people so that they can focus and they can be happier.
I'm really looking forward to that.
- So how was Brad? - [Laughs.]
He didn't listen very well.
(Nikia) He was just playing too much.
You can't play that much on a job.
I'm Rick Forman, CEO and founder of Forman Mills, and I was Brad.
Get the crap out of here.
Oh, my God.
Oh, wow.
And you're on Undercover Boss.
[Laughing.]
Snap.
Are you kidding me? Did I really train the owner? Liz, now, is there any chance I can have one more chance on the forklift? - No.
- Please.
No, no, no.
Whoa.
[Clattering.]
Oh! I almost took the whole place apart, right? Yes.
Liz, your personality is infectious.
I wish we had more people like you.
[Laughs.]
Thank you.
It hurt me to hear that you have to rely on overtime just to support your family.
Yes.
You told me about your car.
I'm gonna pay off your car, no worries, to make your life easier.
Oh, my God, thank you so much.
Oh, my God.
Well, you know, I have three daughters of my own, and, you know, I want all of them to get a good higher education.
Right.
To ensure that your children can finish school, I'm going to, right now, give your three children $5,000 to put into a college fund, for each one of your kids, for a total of $15,000.
[Crying.]
That's that's perfect.
Perfect.
My kids is number one number one in my life.
- Number one.
- Yeah.
This this is very life-changing for me.
I just feel great.
Now I can just go home with half of the worries that I was worrying about before.
- I wish you the best, all right? - Thank you, thank you.
For something like this to happen to me, it's amazing.
Mshinda, I want to thank you for being a good instructor even though I probably wasn't a great student.
No.
I said that you were a clown.
- A clown.
- Yes.
[Both laugh.]
I was, however, very disappointed to see the price check system we have is outdated.
It's always like that? You inspired me to put a new price check system in place, and that will be for all the stores.
That's great.
That's great.
You're a great representative of the company.
What I'd like to do, I'd like to promote you to a merchandise coordinator and bring your salary up $25,000 more.
Wow.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh.
I'm just I don't I'm so overwhelmed right now, I can't even think.
When was the last time you were able to just relax with your kids and It's been a long time.
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
I want you and your kids to, you know, get to know each other again, relax.
Yeah.
And, yeah, my son is about to go off to college, so, yeah.
I'll tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna take care of the next four years, totally paid off.
I don't care, whatever it is, I'm gonna pay whatever cost there is involved.
That's crazy.
One more thing, I'd like to send you, your kids, to Disney World.
I never thought stuff like this would happen to people like me.
I'm so thankful.
I appreciate everything.
I'm so happy right now.
My baby gets to go to school.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
You were great.
Mr.
Forman is paying for my son's education? I can't believe it.
- What was my name? - Brad, Brad.
- Brad.
- It was like my mom.
All the time, I'm like, "This Brad character is, like, a clown.
" I'm like, "I can't wait till they hurry up and get to me, so I can tell them he's not good.
" It's hard to get me, but you got me.
Nikia, it was great working with you.
I mean, it was a little difficult.
Ladies to Customer Service, please.
- Ladies.
- Oh, my God.
- I thought you were gonna kill me.
- Sorry.
[Both laugh.]
You were fantastic.
I mean, you know the policy and procedure of the register area.
- It seemed outdated.
- Yes.
So one thing you inspired me with is that I am going to bring in a new merchandising and point-of-purchase system for the entire company, and that's gonna be a $3-million investment.
Aw, that makes me so happy.
I feel special right now.
- Yeah? - Yeah, I do.
'Cause I made a difference.
Always wanted to make a difference, and I made one.
I was impressed with you, but there were some things there that I was upset with.
You know, you basically said that you don't really greet the customers.
- You know? - Yeah.
And you weren't trained to really be nicer to the customer or - No.
- No.
That's my fault.
- We need people that care - Right.
and that want to be there, that want to help the customers.
They just got to be trained on how it's supposed to be done.
You got to encourage them.
What I would like to do, 'cause I believe in you I'm gonna make you a front-end manager, give you full-time hours, and give you a $17,000 raise now.
I want you to be happy.
I want you to focus on your family and your job if you would like to stay with Forman Mills.
[Chuckles.]
Yeah, I'll stay at Forman Mills.
That sounds great.
- You talked about your kids.
- Right.
And you mentioned that, you know, one has special needs, right? Yes.
My daughter has special needs too, so I know what that's like, you know? The pain of that, you know, sometimes.
So what I'd like to do is, I'm gonna give you $15,000 for each one of your kids, and I want that to go to help your children, for each one of them.
Oh, my God, thank you.
To help me get my kids out of the projects, it means the world.
It means I can give them things that they never had before.
They'll have a better environment now.
We're gonna leave the past behind and just start our new lives together.
Kurtis, you just had such a great attitude.
I clean bathrooms like I'm gonna use that bathroom.
- Right.
- Smell like an extension of the store.
You're like the Mayor of Forman Mills, you know? I mean, I just love how you went the extra mile, though, for the customer and for the people.
Yeah, well, I try to.
Since I stopped drinking and stuff like that, that's my high right now.
- When I help people - Right.
it helps me.
You brought me to the homeless shelter during this journey, and, like, when I walked in there, man, just to see it you know, that those kids are surviving Because you're so inspirational, I would like to put you in charge of our new outreach program to the community.
I'm gonna start the fund off with $30,000, and you're gonna help me head that up.
You're gonna get your own business card, and I'm gonna double your salary immediately on a full-time basis.
[Laughing, crying.]
Oh, man.
Stuff like that don't happen, man.
This is stuff like this just don't happen.
So I have one more thing for you.
I can't get over the fact that you were homeless at one time in your life, and I don't want you ever I don't want any of anybody that works for me to be homeless ever again, and I know that's not gonna happen, but I'm gonna give you a house.
I'm gonna buy you a house for up to $250,000, for wherever you want it.
[Mouthing words.]
Oh! - Will that help? - Would it help? Look, I don't know [Laughs.]
but look, come here.
(Kurtis) Five years ago, man, I was just out and just roaming the streets.
This is beyond my wildest dreams.
I You know, my life just changed.
- Hey.
- [Laughing.]
Oh, my God! What, baby? What? What? Baby, I was on Undercover Boss.
[Laughing.]
[Laughing.]
I was on Undercover Boss.
Wait a minute.
Wait.
Okay, stop.
Wait.
Okay.
He gonna give me $250,000 towards a home.
[Laughter.]
I told you.
I told you you were I told you you were worth it.
I told you.
[Laughing.]
Oh, baby, I'm so happy for you.
(Man) Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.
Rick Forman! [Cheers and applause.]
I've learned some valuable lessons this week.
We have so many good people out there, and and I realize there's very little incentives at the company right now.
So we're gonna do a profit sharing program immediately that is gonna be for the employees.
'Cause I realize we're not going to go anyplace unless you guys have a stake in the outcome.
[Cheers and applause.]
But we're not doing enough in the communities, and we need to get back to where we started.
A lot of lives can be changed.
But I want to devote that we're gonna put aside $1 million a year every year, and we're gonna be doing community outreach.
[Cheers and applause.]
It's about the people, and I think that was my biggest lesson.
Thank you.
Today is the first day of the rest of our business.