Original subtitles

Male announcer: 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.

Undercover Boss 2x17 United Van Lines Original Air Date on March 13, 2011

This week, the President and CEO of United Van Lines,

the nation's largest moving company,

poses as a reality show contestant,

competing for a job.

- I'm Tommy Allen. - Tommy, nice to meet ya.

All right, you ready to rock?

You okay?

Whoa! Bumped on the head.

- Grab as many as you can. - I can't do it.

It's too heavy. Oh! All right, easy.

When I hire guys, I don't expect to see that.

Announcer: And for the first time ever...

- Hi. - Whoa.

The boss's wife joins him undercover.

How is this gonna work?

You'll be coming in as a stranger.

It'll be kind of fun, I think. I hope.

Linda, I'm Sherry Kay. How are you?

-- sync, corrected by elderman --

Announcer: United Van Lines

is the nation's largest moving company.

More than 20,000 employees

operate more than 700 locations throughout the United States.

One man is tasked

with keeping this $1.6 billion corporation on the move.

I'm Rich McClure.

I'm President and CEO of United Van Lines.

United's the nation's largest mover.

In some weeks, when we're busy,

we will move 48 million pounds of household goods

around the country,

195,000 shipments a year.

We serve 440 of the Fortune 500 companies.

Moving is one of the most stressful events in life.

- Watch the wall. - I'm good.

It is all about making sure that we handle things

in a way that takes away as much of that stress as possible.

♪ When the occasion calls for moving ♪

♪ call United Van Lines ♪

The beginning of United Van Lines

over 65 years ago

was just folks banding together and saying,

"I got a load in Los Angeles and you've got one in New York,

"and we've each got a truck in both places.

Let's trade those loads."

And that's how the company grew.

And it's never kind of gotten away from those roots.

♪ Call United Van Lines ♪

Susan, I'm gonna be out for a while here,

and so, that sales meeting, let's--

let's put that till after the first of the year.

I've been here with the company 15 years.

I came from public service.

When I started here at United,

the only experience I've had is being moved myself.

When I got here, I had to ask them

which end of the truck to load.

- So you've had a long day. - It has been a long day.

My wife Sharon, she's my best friend.

We've been married for 32 years.

So where are you on the packing process?

- Yeah, you saw-- - a little bit to be done yet.

You saw what a mess it is up there.

Sharon and I met when I went to work for her

and she was my boss.

So I'll share challenges and problems,

and she'll offer me her perspective.

She's a wise advisor.

You know, it's gonna be difficult,

but it's gonna be fun too.

To the adventure. To the adventure.

Rich and I moved five times

the first seven years we were married,

and we know what that stress is like.

So it's--it's gonna be a--

it's gonna be a different week for him.

Sharon's used to me being away on business trips.

On average, I'm traveling two or three nights every week.

- I'm gonna miss you. - Yeah, I'm gonna miss you too.

When my kids were growing up, I wasn't around,

so it happens more often than I would like.

Bye.

It's important for me to go undercover

because here at the home office,

we're one step removed from the front line,

so it's important for me to understand what's going on.

We're getting ready for a peak season

where we do a lot of moves, and we need to make sure

we're ready to serve our customers as best we can.

While undercover, I'm going to be Tommy Allen.

My coworkers will be told I am part of a competition

where two people compete for a position within the company.

This is the first time I've ever worn contacts.

I'm having trouble getting used to it.

I'm having trouble with distance, vision.

But I'm probably most nervous

about whether I can do the job,

um, because I know that these folks train.

They have great skills, and I don't have those skills.

I'm in Orlando, Florida.

I'm about to enter a customer's home

to learn how to load household goods.

It takes a great team to do that.

I'm here to learn how the driver manages that team

to make sure they do the job perfectly.

[Knocks] Hello?

Hi, I'm looking for Jimmy?

- Hey, I'm Jimmy. Come on in. - Hi, Jimmy.

Tommy Allen. How are you? Nice to meet you, sir.

- I'm here to go to work. - You're here to go to work?

- I am. - Are you sure?

- I am. Yes, sir, I'm sure. - All right.

I got a nice shirt for you. Oh, good.

And this stuff here, we're gonna be loading today.

How much do you have to load today?

Uh, we're gonna load the whole house.

- Wow. - It's gonna be a hard day.

You've got Wallace and you have Neri.

Neri's my brother,

and Wallace is my brother from another mother.

So come on in.

Now, anything in the house,

if something gets damaged, I pay for it.

Not the company. I pay for it.

- So we've got to be careful. - Exactly, exactly.

Anything. So let's start here.

I'm gonna get some pads from outside real quick.

Grab as many as you can.

Usually I like to pick up, like, this many.

- Okay. - And put 'em on my shoulder.

Wow, that's a lot of pads.

Whoa, I can't do it. That's too heavy. Oh!

All right, easy. Okay, only grab three or four.

- All right, I'll try it. - Let's go.

There we go.

Wow, that's heavy.

I know. That's what I was gonna say, boy.

We don't want to give him no heart attack or nothin'.

- Whoa. - I wish we had a piano, though.

You know what I mean?

Oh, man, you're trying to kill the man.

[Laughs]

Those are a lot heavier than they look.

It is. They add up. But we'll use 'em.

We'll burn 'em real quick.

So what we're gonna do is pad the couch up.

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna tape some of it,

and then I'm gonna let you tape some of it.

All right.

All right, here you go, all right?

- Right in the center? - Yeah.

All right.

The key thing is, try not to let it crunch up like that.

- Like that? - Yeah.

- 'Cause it's not gonna hold. - Yeah.

Well, not only not hold, but when we go to grab it,

it's gonna just start rolling.

I'll try to get a clean edge.

- Yeah. - I thought that's just...

[Groans]

- Yeah, see? - That's just like--see?

I still got another little crease under there.

- You can-- - that's just like--

your arm can get so tired just doing that, you know?

'Cause you're trying to use your strength.

Yeah.

When really, I mean,

it shouldn't be that hard.

All you do is just like that.

You know what I mean?

Tommy struggled with popping the tape.

It kept--it kept bunching up or coming around.

He'd reverse it, turn it.

He wouldn't really pay attention to it.

You ready? Can you pick it up and grab it?

- Where am I gonna get a grip? - Go up.

- Okay. - All right.

Now, don't move. You okay?

You okay? All right. You get a grip?

- All right. - All right.

One thing you've gotta remember now,

all it takes is just one slip up.

You drop it, you could blow my back out

or I could do the same thing to you.

Okay, we're turning.

Okay, let's--let's-- let's stop.

Okay.

It's heavier than it looks.

We carried a little loveseat,

and to me, it's really light, you know.

To him, he struggled.

- Okay, I've got my breath. - Are you sure?

And I think I'm in pretty good shape.

Yeah, yeah. You ready?

But I'm not in the kind of shape you're in.

Get ready.

This is really hard work,

and I need young legs, young backs, young arms.

How are you gonna fit this in?

When I hire guys, I don't expect to see that.

He's probably better off sitting behind some type of desk.

It doesn't take long to work up a sweat.

- Like, you know-- - Is something caught?

You all right? Yeah.

Just had to take another run at it.

Take it slow and pull it up.

This is really harder than it looks.

Tommy boy, you got a long way to go.

Give me a break, buddy.

And then grab and go up a little bit.

Straight up?

This is an intense workout.

Hoist these to the shoulder. Wow!

I work out. I try to keep in good shape.

And I tell you what.

Holy smoke.

This was more than I could do.

Boy, you've really got this down.

Yeah, man, I've been doing this for a long time, you know?

One of the biggest things to is, you've got to be patient,

'cause the customers, when they're moving,

they're really, really stressed.

So you've got to--you've got to load all this stuff.

You've got to load it.

With a stressed customer sometimes.

Well, not only that.

Estimating is a big problem too.

You know, we've had jobs where we have--

other agents will go out and say it's like,

like, for instance,

this is supposed to be 15,000 pounds, right?

But, you know, when you get out there

and it's, like, 30,000 pounds,

I only have room for the 15,000,

so now I have to hire an extra two, three guys

and go get another truck,

because I don't want to inconvenience the shipper.

Well, the company's not gonna pay for that,

you know what I mean?

So I have to come out of my own pocket

in order to--to-- - To get that move done.

To get that move done.

The estimate is done by an in-home estimator

who comes and surveys the house.

But at the end of the day, the driver is the one

that has to get a certain amount of pounds

to fit in the space on his truck.

Could you imagine doing a big job like this

and not making one dime?

And if that estimate is off,

then his planning for his loads is off.

That's something we need to take a hard look at.

- Oh! - Oh, great! Thank you.

- So, there's your burgers. - All right, thank you.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Nice to take a break. This is hard work.

It's tough, right?

It is tough. And day in and day out.

The toughest part for me is probably being out on the road.

Being away from my wife and kids.

And the longest you're out sometimes?

I think two weeks, a little over two weeks,

was my longest out.

But I hated it.

You know, you sleep those nights in the truck,

and you hear your wife and your kids call, you know.

My kids will be crying, you know.

Like, "when are you coming home?"

- Yeah. - "You've been gone too long."

You know, and I told my kids, "look, you know,

"it's hard--it's hard for me too.

Don't think that it's easy for me to leave."

Leaving town's the worst.

So, tell me about your kids.

You know, I have a daughter. She's 11.

I have a son. His name's Pearson.

And, uh, he's eight years old, you know?

And actually, I'm expecting one.

- Are you really? - Yeah, yeah.

I got home, and she's like, "guess what."

I said, "what?" She said, "we're having another--"

Congratulations.

Oh, don't worry. It's not mine.

[Both laugh]

When I was younger, I was away from my family a lot,

so I could feel a little bit what Jimmy felt.

Man, it's tough, but it's fun.

I'm learning how tough it is. Here, I got it.

- You got that? - Yeah.

We're gonna have to kind of pick up the pace.

- Yep. - We've got a lot to do, and...

Yep.

We get scored. We get surveyed.

And it looks bad on us if we're here till late at night.

Yeah. I've slowed you down.

No, that's all right. It's all right.

Announcer: Coming up... All right.

Announcer: The boss is less than impressed

with a young manager.

So do you like working with this kind of stuff?

- Not really. - You don't?

Don't like this as much?

It's just boring.

Announcer: And later,

an employee accuses the company of discrimination.

Don't do claims because you think it's gonna

take you somewhere else, 'cause it's not.

This is an old boys' club.

Rich McClure, President and CEO of United Van Lines,

is a boss undercover.

Wow. It's heavier than it looks.

His frontline workers think he's part of a television show

where two people compete for an open position

within the company.

- See that? - Okay.

I have faith in you, Hank.

- Is that good? - No. That looks horrible.

Announcer: His journey continues in Baltimore, Maryland.

I'm here at Suddath United.

They handle special products, high-value products

for large corporations.

I'm looking for Andrew.

- How are you doing, buddy? - Hi, Andrew.

- How are you doing? - I'm Tommy Allen.

Tommy, nice to meet you.

Today, I'm going to be working

with one of our younger warehouse managers

to get a young, fresh perspective

on how we do our jobs.

- All right, you ready to rock? - Sounds good.

All right, basically, what we're doing,

we're gonna put stuff on pallets

and bring 'em down and line 'em up,

kind of in a row like you see here.

What's in these boxes?

Um, this is all, like, commercial furniture.

They're all going to model homes.

We're kind of like the middleman.

Uh, we get a bunch of large shipments in,

and then...

We just kind of store it here in the meantime.

Moe here will be taking care of all the locations and stuff.

All the paperwork. Hi, moe. I'm Tommy.

All right.

So I'll show you how we bring stuff off the truck.

You want to push that up. All right.

You gotta kind of-- hang on.

Mm-hmm. - There we go.

See, although these are small,

they're definitely a two-man job.

- Yeah. A lot of weight in 'em. - Yeah.

You ready? All right.

[Groans]

Where are we going with this puppy?

Yeah, I'm feeling all right,

but I've got to balance this here.

Put it down? - I got ya. Mm-hmm. Yep.

All right. There you go.

- [Groans] - You stay on the ground.

- Okay. - Ready? All right.

You're gonna push me off the truck.

- Uh-huh. [Laughs]

Drop it there. Perfect.

Now we're gonna move it over there?

Yeah. You want to give it a try?

Oh, we'll give it a whirl.

Now you've gotta just kind of-- - Ram it in there.

- All right. - Now you're cooking.

There you go. Keep bringing her this way.

You're gonna kind of want to line it up

right next to this one.

That's perfect, actually. Straight in.

He picked up using the pallet Jack pretty quickly,

so he was pretty good at that, I guess.

I'm taking it pretty slow for now.

I mean, it's a pretty mundane job.

I'm pretty sure you could hire an animal to do it.

We get large shipments from Germany,

and they slowly go out two, three, four times a week

to the different Staples.

- To different stores. - Different stores.

So you're like the warehouse for this customer.

They don't have their own warehouse.

- Right. - You're the warehouse.

- Exactly. - I get it.

So 40-B is what we're looking for.

They're actually all right here.

A little tight quarters here.

Yeah, well, that's the thing.

You kind of have to-- - Okay, so we're kind of--

Here, I'll show you. You know what? Let me--

that's what I was gonna show you.

I'll show you how to make it a little easier.

All right.

You want to be close to this side

to avoid doing what you just did.

Yeah. Oh, there you go.

So you can-- - You know what I mean?

Um... Okay.

So it calls for 13.

- 13 of these? - Mm-hmm.

So we've got just 13 right here.

All right, there you go. Perfect.

How tall are you? I'll get it, I'll get it.

There you go. [Laughs]

I try to smack 'em, yeah. You know what?

- Just do this one. - Yeah.

So did you have somebody that introduced you

to the moving business?

Yeah, one of my buddies was like, "hey,

I got a job for you if you want."

And then it turned into, like, a year later,

and I'm still doing it.

- Really? Really? - Uh...

Yeah, I've just made some important decisions.

Over time, I'm trying to get back on my feet.

The goal is, you know, all right,

I don't want to do this for the rest of my life,

but I want to get going, make some money,

and get out of here.

Yeah.

Andrew is very open. He's very candid.

He shared with me a lot about his personal life.

Do you have any hobbies, Andrew?

Uh, hmm.

Uh, other than what?

Drinking and carousing with friends and things?

Other than hanging out with your friends? Yeah.

Uh, not really.

I take public transit to work,

which really makes it a long day for me.

Does it really? And you do that because of the costs?

Uh, no, I do that 'cause I got in a car accident

and I don't have a car right now.

- Oh, is that right? - So...

What happened?

I was driving like an idiot,

trying to make a move I shouldn't have made.

Really?

In my lifetime, I've probably totaled,

like, four or five cars.

Um...

No, that can't be right.

Wait. That wouldn't make any sense. What's up?

Oh, it's going out this afternoon?

You mind asking Moe?

Okay.

[Laughs]

He doesn't know anything.

Just 'cause he's a General Manager

doesn't mean he knows what I do from day to day.

Come on, Moe.

Andrew's conversation with his boss was very short,

uh, and he told him he couldn't do the job.

I'm gonna go take a smoke break.

Not part of the job, but...

All right. But it's what you're gonna do it.

I'm surprised at Andrew's reaction,

and I didn't understand it.

So you said you want to work here for a while,

make some money, and then get out of here.

What would you want to do next?

Heh. That's a good question.

[Laughs] Yeah?

You think there's opportunity here?

Uh, when I initially came here, I didn't,

'cause all I heard about was how terrible this agency was.

- Really? - The old GM was terrible.

I mean, it still doesn't run like it should.

I really--I don't have a good gauge

on what-- what they're doing here.

Andrew, I think, as a new manager, he's struggling.

Do you like working with this kind of stuff?

- Not really. - This is product.

You don't-- don't like this as much?

- No, it's just boring. - Is it? Is it?

Yeah, it's pretty boring.

- Oh, really? Okay. - Yeah.

He kind of acted like a bull in the China closet

and didn't really appreciate the big picture.

Think you're learning something here?

Um, that I'll use eventually?

Maybe not. Probably not. I don't know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

When I get back, I'll talk to our team

about what additional steps we can take

in order to make sure that he takes his job very seriously.

I hate to do it to you,

but I'm gonna smoke another cigarette

before I get back to it.

All right, another cigarette break.

[Phone ringing]

Hey, Brian, what's up?

Where are you at?

Uh, I'm outside, taking a smoke break.

[Laughs]

I'm in Stafford, Virginia, at Hilldrup United

to work with one of our best packing teams.

Now that I've seen how a driver

loads a houseful of goods onto a truck,

I want to see the very first step in the moving process--

the packing.

Before the drivers ever arrive,

packers are responsible for wrapping

and boxing all of the fragile materials

that will be moved.

Hi, I'm looking for Ronald and Ruth.

- Oh, hi. - Hi. How are ya?

Fine, thank you. How are you? Your name, sir?

- I'm Tommy Allen. - Oh, right. Hi, how are you?

- I'm good. - How are you doing?

I'm Ronald. Ronald, nice to meet you.

I'm Tommy Allen. It's nice to meet you.

Today I'm going to work with a packing crew

that is not only one of the highest rated at United

but it's also a husband and wife team.

I want to learn what our top packing crews

are doing so that we can make sure

that our packers are doing everything

in a consistent, solid manner.

Okay, I'm all suited up. All right, let's go.

Tell me about packing.

I'm gonna love it?

How long have you been doing this?

Uh-huh.

Do you?

[Doorbell dings]

- Hi, guys. - Hello. Good morning.

How are you? I'm doing good.

Come on in. Nice to meet you.

- I'm Ronald. - Nice to meet you, Ronald.

- Tommy. - Hi, I'm Tommy.

Nice to meet you. You guys can come on in.

This is the dining room. Everything can go.

These are my Christmas dishes. Oh, okay.

They're very, very, very important to me.

I've been collecting them.

And this is the family room.

So absolutely everything down here can go.

- Okay. - All right.

- All right. - Okay.

I'll let you guys go and do what you need to do.

Thank you.

So what goes in first?

- That's perfect. - Okay.

You've got mirror cartons? Yeah, we need that too.

Okay.

- Oh! - Are you okay?

I missed your foot by inches.

This is really nice, how you guys put the carpets down.

In the bottom?

- Yeah. - All right.

Crush it up a little bit? Yeah.

- That's fragile. - Exactly.

So who taught you to do this?

How was he as a teacher?

You all are a couple here.

Who's the boss in this couple?

Tell me about your family. You have kids?

Yeah.

Do your kids know how good a packer you are?

Is this paper recycled?

What time do you guys think you're gonna be done

with the whole house today?

Or are you gonna be done with the house today?

Uh...

Okay.

You don't talk too much when you move a customer?

Yeah, exactly.

We don't talk, anything.

You don't talk about it in front of the customer?

I got it.

So maybe I should go help Ronald.

Yeah.

Ronald, you got that whole room done

while we were working on the kitchen.

How does that work?

Ah, look at that! Did you see it spring up?

The day was full of kind of little mishaps.

Oh, we're fumbling boxes.

And I spent the day worrying,

oh, what will I tip over next?

It's pretty bad. I can't see the stairs.

And so I learned what a packing crew goes through.

That's a lot of bubble wrap.

- So I'll do this one. - Okay. Go ahead.

And you're gonna?

You'll do that one? Yeah.

Whoa.

Bumped on the head. [Laughs]

You're done!

[Laughs]

I'm just halfway through.

Okay.

Could we get some water, maybe?

- Yeah. - Okay.

- Water? - There you go.

Thank you. Oh, thanks.

Thank you.

Ruth, explain to me how this works

with you and Ronald as a team.

You're together all the time--

- Yeah. - At home.

You're together all the time at work.

Has that caused any strain or stress?

- No. - No, it's okay.

So who's the boss?

Oh, she's the boss.

So, uh, where did you come from?

- My country? - Uh-huh, your country, yeah.

Do you ever get back there?

Do you not get to take vacations?

Have you been to Italy?

Your dream is to go to Italy? Yeah.

- Do you? - Yeah.

So you want to move up and then own your own truck?

So a driver will come here after you all finish packing,

and so that's what you would want to do?

Ronald started talking about his dream,

and that's so important,

because we need to have folks that will train

and will aspire to move to the next level.

So, would you, like, be a team with him

when he became--

you would? - Yeah.

What I love about Ronald and Ruth

is that they care about each other

and they love to do things together.

They love to work together

and they match up wonderfully.

I did find myself thinking about my own marriage.

I miss Sharon. I miss her partnership.

So that's hit me today more than most trips.

- All right. - Well, okay.

That was pretty-- pretty quick work,

except for when I slowed you down.

- Yep. - Wow.

[Phone line ringing]

Hey, Sharon, how are you?

How are you tonight?

You know what? I miss you a lot.

Uh, well, I had an idea

that I just--I wanted to run by you.

Uh, I've got a job coming up,

um, and it's at an agency where I'm pretty well known.

Actually, I've been there to President's Quality Award.

Yeah.

And so I'm worried that my cover could be blown there.

And I wondered if you would be willing to come out

and do, um, the job for me?

It would really help me a lot.

Wow. That'd be great. I can't wait to see you.

All right. I'll talk to you soon. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

I asked my wife Sharon to come out on the road.

Since I've been to this agency before,

I'm worried someone might recognize me.

I thought Sharon could help provide me

with her insight like she's done for the past 32 years.

[Knocks]

- Hi there. - [Laughs]

I'm so glad you're here. Oh!

Okay, now, to do this job,

I think you're gonna have to change to, like,

business casual clothes.

I can do that quickly.

Then we'll head out and go over there.

All right.

So how is this gonna work?

You'll be coming in as a stranger.

You'll be Sherry Kay.

It'll be kind of fun, I think. I hope.

We're here at Schroeder United,

one of our top-quality agencies.

Here at United Van Lines, we work hard

to make sure we break as few things as possible.

But when something gets broken,

we need to make sure it gets handled for our customer.

The claims department is the front line of that process.

This claims manager has an increased workload,

handling claims for three agencies.

I want to see how that's working

and what her observations are.

Hi, excuse me. I'm looking for Linda.

When Sharon goes in to train,

I will be able to stay back, watch, and listen

as she does the job.

- Linda? - Hi.

I'm Sherry Kay. How are you?

- Come on in. - Good to meet you.

It'll be easier for you

to get the full effect of hell

from this side of the desk.

All right. There you go.

So you've come here today

to see what claims are all about?

Are you thinking it might be something you, uh--

I do. You know, I'm sure it's not an easy situation.

No. It's--it's not.

Um, I've been doing this roughly 28 years,

so I'm pretty much on autopilot.

Not much affects me anymore. - Uh-huh.

Um, my job is to investigate and resolve issues

associated with a move.

You know, that could be electronics, household goods,

anything and everything.

If someone calls up to complain,

that's my call.

Linda is one of those people who's brutally honest.

You have to be able to find the positive

in a really negative job.

And that's why this is such a great opportunity,

because you really do get that unfiltered view

of how people are feeling.

We're gonna make a little call here.

I'm working on a particular file

where I know that they're fudging me.

Okay.

Because nothing the carrier could have done

would have caused this damage.

Gotcha.

[Phone line ringing]

- Yes, yes. - Okay.

Hello, Krista. Linda Piccard calling.

Here's what we're calling you about today.

Uh, your claim on a bookshelf with a broken bottom shelf.

I did have it inspected.

Their information is that it looks

as if it was coming apart prior to the move, so--

No, ma'am.

[Receiver clicks, dial tone]

- Hmm. - It's a difficult job.

You gotta have a lot run off your back.

Uh-huh.

People can be mean sometimes,

using profanity.

People showing up, wanting to cause me harm.

It's a stressful situation.

It's extremely stressful.

Some people handle stress better than others.

Right. Um, you've got to try a call, Sherry.

All right, all right.

Okay, this was a car hauled by one of our drivers.

When a driver picks up a shipment,

he does an inventory at origin.

Uh-huh.

And then the customer would note

any new damage at the point of delivery.

Right.

This customer has written "none."

He just now apparently has called

and said that he has damage to the roof of his vehicle.

Hmm.

So I want to call the driver,

see if he has any knowledge of any of this.

Ready? Yeah, sure.

Any questions?

Uh, well, I probably will once I get into it,

but it'll be too late, so let's do it.

[Phone line ringing]

- Hello? - Hi, Melly?

Hey, Lindy.

Say, Mel, I'm training someone right now.

Her name is Sherry. Okay.

- Hi, Mel, how are you? - Pretty good.

Well, Mel, Sherry and I are calling you

on a particular order,

and Sherry is gonna ask you some questions, Mel.

Uh, this is related to the car that was delivered.

Do you remember the circumstances of that?

Yeah, she looked at the car and signed off on it.

Did she walk around it and appear to really be looking?

Yeah, she walked all around it.

She went over to the passenger side and the backside.

It would have been easy to have seen the top of the car?

'Cause that's where the damage is, supposedly,

is on the top, right?

Oh, absolutely, yeah.

She was as tall as I was.

It would have been obvious.

Everything looked good.

Okay.

Well, thank you. Bye.

You did that very well.

And I don't anticipate this coming back on our driver.

- Okay. - Back to work.

[Phone line ringing]

Mark, I'm calling today about the big screen TV.

I loaded it the way they told me to load it.

As a claims manager, Linda has to be a detective.

She has to get information from multiple sources.

How is a mover gonna do that, packing it in a box?

It's not gonna happen.

I am blown away by the amount of work

that Linda does to get to the right and fair answer,

and she is very good at it.

It doesn't look like it's new damage,

and so those'll be denied items

on that baby dresser.

And I can't authorize the repairs

until that move is paid in full.

What was she claiming?

- A 50-cent can of coke. - Are you serious?

No, I'm totally serious.

- A 50-cent can of coke? - Yep.

As I've done these jobs,

I've found out how difficult it is

to come in undercover.

So they haven't even proved that there is any damage.

But I was amazed at the ease with which Sharon sat down

and established a rapport with Linda

and began to pick up the training very quickly.

A TV issue, that could be a connection issue, or--

Absolutely. Hey, well, that was a good observation, Sherry.

She's catching on. [Laughs]

And your denial letter is just gonna deal with those?

Mm-hmm.

So can I ask you another question?

Well, sure.

So you've done it for 28 years.

Yeah, 28 years.

- 'Cause it's not easy. - No.

What I wanted to tell you is,

do claims because you really want to do claims.

Don't do claims because you think it's gonna

take you somewhere else, 'cause it's not.

This is an old boys' club.

It's very, very difficult for a woman

to move up unless she's familially related.

Okay.

I have done every job in this business,

sans driving the truck myself from California to New York.

But I'm on the down-stroke of my career.

Do I want to keep pressing, pressing, pressing

to be a general manager or am I just happy in the fact

that I do what I do really, really well?

If some 30-year-old woman came in and said,

"Linda, would you mentor me?"

I would absolutely do it.

'Cause those that come after us,

we hope that they go farther than we did.

I worked in government for many years

where it was a very male-dominated industry.

It was not always easy.

You can't waste good talent.

I don't care who it is.

And that's something that probably

needs to be shared a little bit more.

What's your typical day?

I'm generally in by about 7:15 in the morning.

A lot of times, I work through lunch.

Most times, I work through lunch.

So it can be a very long day.

And every year I tell myself, you're gonna take a vacation,

but then the money aspect comes up,

uh, I have two wonderful daughters.

And the younger one gets married next October 1st.

- Oh, how exciting. - Yeah.

So I'm a single gal, making bills by myself,

and it's hard.

It's really hard.

Linda is a single mom.

She's not been able to take much time off.

She is handling claims for three locations.

We're gonna make a call to home office in Fenton.

Oh, okay.

Everyone from the drivers to the loaders to the packers

to people like Linda,

they're the ones that make things happen,

and unless we support them as best we can,

then we're not doing what we should do.

Sharon coming out today to help

made this journey very special.

Here you go. All right.

Early in my career, I was frequently gone

and on the road.

At the rehearsal dinner for my son's wedding,

he talked about his memories of his mom

teaching him to play catch.

That should have been me, and I always regretted that.

This is just another kind of really big example

of how much you mean.

Well, I was happy to do it.

- I love you. - I love you too.

There are more important things than work.

I have a wonderful wife and a supportive family.

You know, I need to work on balance in my life.

Announcer: Coming up, Rich's frontline workers

think they're coming to company headquarters

to evaluate his performance.

I'm feeling a little nervous,

but at the same time, it's not my job,

so I'm not that concerned.

Announcer: But how will they react when he reveals the truth?

I'm Rich McClure, President and CEO of United Van Lines.

♪

My week undercover has finally come to an end.

I had an incredible experience.

The frontline workers I trained with

think they are coming to evaluate my performance

and vote for who they think is best suited for the job.

I'm feeling a little nervous,

but at the same time, it's not my job,

so I'm not that concerned.

I can't wait to tell them why they're really here.

- [Laughs] Right? - Yeah.

- Hello. - Hello. How are you doing?

Do you know who I am?

- No idea. - [Laughs]

Are you Tommy? Tommy Allen?

I'm Rich McClure, President and CEO of United Van Lines.

- Oh! - Great. [Laughs]

I'm kind of pissed I didn't figure it out beforehand.

I do.

I do look different.

I still got a job, right?

- Absolutely. - Oh, okay.

Jimmy, we couldn't have

a better representative of the company than you.

That means a lot to me. It really, really does.

You took time to explain to me

the challenges with estimates,

and how important the estimates are.

So I want you to know,

we're going to ramp up the rollout

of a web-based estimating tool.

That will help when things are added to shipments,

uh, and we'll know that real time.

That's great.

I think that's pretty neat

that we are gonna do something like that.

You know, you told me you get homesick.

Yes, I do.

We're going to set your family up

with video chat capability so when you're on the road,

you cannot just talk to them but you can see 'em.

Awesome. Thank you very much.

That's cool. That's pretty neat.

Jimmy, I know that your own children

are really an important part of your life.

Yes.

And you've got one on the way.

- Yes, I do. - Right?

In just--just two or three months?

Yes, correct.

But I know it's expensive to educate kids,

so we'd like to give you $10,000, uh,

to apply for the education of your children.

- Thank you. - Would you like that?

Yes, I would like that.

That's awesome. It's amazing.

[Laughs] Thank you.

I still want to call you Tommy.

That's okay. Call me Tommy.

You try to put money away

to help the kids out with their education stuff.

The United family wanting to give us something like this,

I think it's amazing.

I'll always be in debt and grateful for--for that.

Andrew, I observed a situation

where your boss called you and asked you to do a task.

Right.

And you said you couldn't do it,

and you asked him to have someone else go do that job.

I mean, it honestly happens a lot more than you would think

in a warehouse.

Does it?

I guess I kind of considered it

delegating the responsibility.

But it's not often you hear someone say no to their boss,

and--and so I was-- I was surprised.

All right. Fair enough.

I know you're young, so part of my counsel to you

would be to just, step by step, be proactive.

Don't think about it in the context of complaining.

You complained to me. I was a trainee.

I was someone you didn't know.

So that was probably not the best thing to do.

- Right, right, right. - You know?

And that told me something about your attitude for a team.

Huh.

Here's what I'd like to do.

You know, for the next year or so,

I'm gonna check in with you.

We want young, bright, conscientious folks

who are committed,

so I'm gonna call you periodically.

Wow.

You know, don't just complain.

Be proactive. Yeah.

Think that'd be good advice?

Yeah. I mean, that all sounds fine to me.

I'm perfectly willing to comply with all that, so...

Good.

Right when he sits down

and I realize what's going on,

I'm like, "oh, what did I say? What did I say?"

But I never did say anything, like, to that nature.

God.

Ronald and Ruth, you are so dedicated

and you do such a great job,

so it's just been so exciting

to watch how you help our customers as a team.

Ronald, I know you have a dream

of being a driver.

Yeah.

So we want to help you do that.

So we would like to provide

all-expenses-paid training

to become a United qualified driver,

so you could take the next step

to be an owner/operator when you're ready.

Oh, wow.

United would like to also provide $5,000

for a down payment for your first truck.

Oh, my God.

No, this is real.

I'm so happy.

So you told me you had a dream trip.

- Oh, yeah. - Right?

- Yeah. - Okay.

So we would like to provide, uh,

an all-expenses dream trip to Italy

for the two of you, so you do something for you.

Would that be okay?

You guys are great.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

- Hello. - [Laughs] Hi.

- Hi. - How are you?

- I'm good. How are you? - Oh, shocked.

- Do you know who I am? - Rich McClure.

Hi, it's nice to see you. [Laughs]

It's nice to see you.

I've been undercover for a week in United.

Oh, my lord.

Well, I have something else, uh,

that I'd really like to tell you.

Sherry, the woman who trained with you?

- Yes. - Yeah.

That's actually my wife Sharon.

Oh! [Laughs]

That's crazy.

You know, I had Sharon come on the road with me

because I was worried.

I've been to Schroeder before.

You were there. Yes, I was there.

And so I was worried my cover would be blown.

I was worried I'd get busted.

[Exhales]

So Linda, I heard your comments about women

in leadership, and I just want you to know,

I'm committed to the advancement of women.

Oh, I'm glad.

It's something that's very important.

We want them to prosper.

Uh, you may not be aware, but I have women

in very key management roles in this company.

So I just want you to know,

that's something I'm very committed to,

and I appreciate your comments.

I'm--I'm--I'm glad to hear it and,

you know, I love United.

I've committed my life. You have.

My career to working for them,

and I certainly wouldn't be here

if I didn't think it was the most stand-up company.

I was so impressed with your dedication

to the agency.

In fact, they want you to take a vacation.

[Laughs]

So we're gonna send you and a guest

on an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas.

Oh, my goodness.

That would be wonderful.

And one more thing.

You have two daughters. I do.

And one is getting married soon.

- Yes. - Um...

I'd like to help you with those wedding expenses,

so we'd like to give you $10,000

to help with the wedding expenses.

[Crying]

Oh.

I'm sorry.

I'm doing it by myself,

which is another reason why I work so much.

Thank you so much.

In the 28 years that I've been doing this,

I can probably count on one hand

the amount of thank yous, so it's nice.

Thank you so much. Oh, thank you.

I never cry, and I'm crying like a baby today.

It's just nice to be appreciated.

I'm ready for this big company celebration.

This is a great event,

and it's the culmination of a really great week.

It is my pleasure to introduce

our President and CEO, Rich McClure.

[Cheers and applause]

I want to thank you for coming.

I've spent the last week working undercover

with our agents for Undercover Boss.

[Cheers and applause]

I have to tell you, I found that our frontline workers' jobs

are even more demanding than I already knew.

Let's take a look at some of my experiences.

Wow, that's a lot of pads.

[Groans]

I can't do it. That's too heavy. Oh!

[Laughter]

- You know what? Let me--

that's what I was gonna show you.

I'll show you how to make it a little easier.

All right.

[Laughter]

Whoa! Bumped on the head.

[Laughter]

[Cheers and applause]

I began this journey

expecting to meet some interesting people,

but I learned even more.

I'm impressed with what my new friends do,

but I'm even more impressed with who they are.

I want to wake up each day

and do a better job for you.

[Applause]

When I started this process,

I was focused on a lot of the job-related things.

Not focused on what I needed to be doing in our marriage.

It was just an incredible gift to me

that she would go through this adventure with me.

[Applause]

She's my best friend.

Our love and the strength of our marriage

has just grown through the years.

We're very fortunate,

'cause that doesn't happen all the time.

And it's mostly due to her.

I am extremely proud of him today.

But I always am.

-- sync, corrected by elderman --

announcer: Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode.