Original subtitles

Tonight, on "Undercover Boss,"

Jeff Young, co-owner of YESCO, the company that created

some of the world's most iconic signs...

So check that out.

Goes undercover in his own company.

Uh-oh. Oh, and you ripped the paper.

Whoa, that is moving around.

This heir to a sign dynasty will face his biggest fear...

We're gonna climb this big sign.

Good grief. Oh, my gosh, look how high that is.

And meet the employees

who keep his company's legacy shining bright.

Oh.

25 years, every day, that name has been on my chest.

What happens when he opens his eyes

and sees the writing on the wall?

So I'm in the restroom, the sticker says,

"For demoralized service, call YESCO." What is that?

They did layoffs last week.

How's salesmen holding up around here?

We have good designers,

but everything's always out to bid, you know.

Things have changed compared to when I originally came here.

- We have a huge disconnect... - I see.

between labor and management...

- Okay. - And then essent...

the company fell apart.

Find out next, on "Undercover Boss."

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah,

YESCO is the largest custom sign manufacturer

in the country.

With more than 1,300 employees and 85 locations

across the United States and Canada,

this multi-million-dollar empire is led by one family.

I'm Jeff Young, co-owner of YESCO Custom Electric Signs.

When about light spectrum and nanometers and all of that,

I lose a lot of people.

Shuji Nakamura was the scientist

who came up with blue LED.

My bucket list item is to meet, shake his hand.

I've actually emailed him a couple times.

He hasn't answered, but all the signs

and all the neon and all the light pixels,

I'm just infatuated with the technology.

I have a new son-in-law and I was pointing in the soffit

in a restaurant, saying, "That's 4,500 Kelvin

and that's 6,500 Kelvin."

You don't mix your Kelvin light, do you?

Heavens, no.

YESCO signs can be seen in sports venues,

in retail establishments, in hospitality hotels,

banking, finance, transportation, auto.

Probably the most famous sign we're known for

is the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign,

and second near that would be the cowboy

downtown on Fremont Street in Las Vegas,

the Wynn sign in 2005, and of course, the Aria...

260 feet tall, beautiful, beautiful sign.

I love signs so much.

Some of these signs we're talking about were built

almost 100 years ago,

and they're icons in the Las Vegas skyline,

and it's just amazing to think that we've been involved

with that history so deeply.

YESCO began with my grandfather Thomas Young

arriving to the U.S. by ship at 15 years of age,

and opening a custom sign shop in 1920.

After embracing the new technology of neon,

YESCO grew to 150 employees and $3 million in revenue.

My father took over in 1969

and doubled the size of the company four times,

so when my brothers and I took over in 1988,

it was technology once again that helped us

dominate the sign market.

We went all-in on LED technology

and decided to franchise our business to the east.

It worked, and we doubled the company twice more

to reach $250 million in revenue

and around 1,000 employees.

Welcome, everybody, to this nice barbecue.

To start, I've asked Steve Jones if he would offer a prayer

and a blessing on the food. Steve?

Our kind heavenly Father, we are grateful

to gather together here today as family

in this beautiful home.

Our families are members of the Mormon Church,

which I think helps hone a different sort of leadership

where you're working together.

You're not working for me. You're working with me.

Everything okay over here?

Our company values are centered around our clients first,

then employees, and then a fair return to YESCO.

So what would you like for dessert?

We have apple pie.

- Very small piece. - Are you nervous?

- Yeah, I was gonna ask. - Well, yeah,

of course I'm nervous. What if someone figures it out?

Just be yourself.

First, have they seen you with the beard?

I stopped traveling and visiting months ago.

So my name is gonna be Alex, and I've invented an LED system

that helps preserve your food,

and they think I'm competing for a million bucks.

You're identified so closely with your religious culture.

Tattoos that would

- throw them off. - Color, hair color.

- Maybe shave your head. - Go bald.

Don't do that. Don't do that.

See, Cathy's just worried.

I think it's exciting.

I can't wait to see what you look like.

I'm looking for a look that's gonna be kind of...

a little bit techno, a little bit nerdy.

We can try, like, doing a pop of some sort of color,

- or something like that. - Okay.

In the last four years, we've sold 88 new franchise locations

and we're pushing to get to 300 locations

by our 100th anniversary just 5 years from now.

So check that out.

The service franchise model is one that's heavily reliant

upon the technology that we've provided.

If that technology is misaligned or not useful,

the whole thing's gonna fail.

In order to really see what I need to see,

I need to go undercover.

This is the perfect time to do it.

How do you feel?

I feel purple on top.

My employees will think that I'm an inventor/entrepreneur

who is opening his own company.

They'll have no idea that this actually "Undercover Boss."

Nice.

Like some milk?

Oh, my gosh.

- Oh, no. - Oh, my.

The purple pants. Oh, shoes.

Oh, the...

I love... I love it.

- What do you think? - You look...

Give me a hug anyway?

- Weird! - Who's that man with my mother?

I gotta go. It's time to head out.

Okay.

My grandfather was successful

'cause he was involved in every project.

There's no way on earth I can keep my eye

on projects like my grandfather used to.

See you in a little bit, huh?

Love you, Annie. Love you, sweetheart.

I committed with my siblings to do whatever it takes

to make this company successful,

to give us and other family members

a chance to work here through the next generations.

- You look great. - Exciting adventure.

- Take care. - Good luck to you.

All right, thanks.

I take that personally.

I'm gonna do everything in my power

to make sure this company never fails.

Today I'm in Chicago, Illinois,

at the YESCO franchise to work with a service technician.

- Morning. - Morning.

- I'm Alex. - Hi, Alex.

Sal, YESCO Sign & Lighting. How are you?

Sal, nice to meet you.

I'm a service and maintenance electrician.

YESCO began the franchise model only three or four years ago,

and Chicago is one of our first franchises to sign up,

so it's been a testing ground for our franchise system.

Our success in Chicago will mean success everywhere else.

Our failure in Chicago could upset the whole program.

Sal, just spell that for me.

Uh, S-A-L.

S-A-L, that's straightforward.

When I first laid eyes on Alex,

6obviously, the first thing I noticed was the purple hair.

Uh, it kind of looks like somebody

who's kind of stuck in the '80s.

What are we doing today?

Later, we're gonna work on some neon,

but right now, we're gonna climb... this big sign.

Good grief. Looks like a building from here.

It's one of our biggest in the area

and we're gonna see if we can do a little electronics repair

on some stuck modules that we have up there.

Oh, my gosh. Okay.

Okay, I'm gonna try to save the hair here.

The purple hair's a little off-putting,

especially when you want to make an investment in somebody.

How do I look?

- Part... part of the team? - Ready to climb.

- Part of the team. - All right.

- There you go. - Thank you.

Oh, my gosh, look how high that is.

Okay, yeah, I'm not gonna look down if that's okay.

I'm not that big on heights.

- Okay. - Breathe in

through your nose, out through your mouth.

I know they've got fall protection.

I just hope I don't have to use the fall protection.

What is it when you cross claustrophobia

with a little bit of heights?

A day at the office for us.

I am clipped on.

Well, there's a view. This thing is gigantic.

So what we're gonna look for are some stuck LED modules

- on the front of the sign. - Okay.

So our job box is over here, and we should find

a pretty healthy supply of the LED module cards.

- Oh, okay. - These are the different...

These are all the lights.

- Three-color lights. - The LEDs.

- We're gonna close the job box. - Okay.

This is just a little interesting right here.

Looking straight down.

It's open catwalk. There's no floor beneath you.

It's just this little walkway.

Well, this is the nice breezy section of the sign.

Okay.

I am hooked in.

It's a sight and a feeling I'm not used to seeing

every day when I walk to my office.

Okay, that feels secure.

Our technical support group in Utah tell us

the coordinate for that bad card.

We're gonna pop the door open...

- Okay. - Take a look inside.

So we're gonna let it down gently,

- and there you go. - Oh, I see it there. Okay.

We just swap 'em out, is that what we do?

Yep, you can turn the card and you can bring it back in.

Oh, look at that, man, it's, like, lit up.

There you go.

We're gonna go ahead and grab another card.

All the cables will only fit one way.

Sal certainly knows what he's doing, but I was relieved

to see that these parts and pieces

have been designed in a way that can come out

and be replaced quite easily.

- And look, it's lit. - Perfect.

How'd I do for my first one?

There you go.

You're a great instructor.

How long you been doing this, Sal?

30 years or so.

Kids? You got kids?

I have a grown daughter and a granddaughter.

A grown daughter? Okay.

But it's a rough way to make a living.

We go weeks without a day off.

We get emergency calls 24 hours a day.

- Wow. - 20 hour shifts in your truck.

Some of us practically live in those trucks.

We should have our mail forwarded.

Well, what about... you mentioned the home office.

We have a huge disconnect from them.

I see.

We don't get software training on the signs,

and the signs use a lot of software to do what they do.

I see.

And that slows us down a lot, and I think

it's really cost ineffective to do it that way.

Sal mentions to me how important it is to have people

who have really great training

to perform the work in the field

to make it much more efficient.

Climb on up.

All right.

Software is a big part of keeping these signs running,

so if we're going to continue to expand

our service franchises, we need to improve our training.

We're gonna go take a look at an old school neon sign,

kind of a Chicago icon, House of Blues.

Downtown Chicago at the House of Blues,

iconic sign right next to the river.

I couldn't be more excited to fix this sign.

What we have right now is we have an out section.

It's gonna be the inner ring of the O.

We're gonna have to go up there. We're gonna have to replace

a piece of neon that we already have.

This is low voltage too, right?

No, this is extremely high voltage.

Oh.

More than likely it's a 15,000 volt transformer...

Oh, baby.

Which can throw an electrical arc

and actually catch you and pull you in

from about 2 inches away from any live conductor.

- Oh, okay. - So you're gonna want to be

very careful where you put your hands.

You just said it's 15,000 volts.

Yeah.

15,000 volts can jump upwards of 2 inches,

and I'm thinking I don't want to get hit today.

The Hyatt earlier today was perfectly safe.

This can hurt you. This will ruin your day.

There's not electricity...

is there electricity in this thing right here?

- No, no, no, this is... - Okay.

This doesn't carry any voltage on its own.

We're gonna kind of try to hold it as gently as possible.

I get electrocuted pretty regularly.

Neon is high voltage electricity, really dangerous

to be around and neon glass is extremely fragile.

I'm gonna take that from you, thank you.

We're gonna be in a bucket this time.

We're not gonna be on a nice, secure catwalk.

It's gonna be a whole different animal.

Okay.

So you want to keep an eye on that glass

as much as possible.

You're saying that you can or can't touch the blue thing?

We don't really want to touch any of it.

Put your body into the rails,

whatever you gotta do to get your sea legs.

Whoa, that is moving around.

This has got some motion to it...

Oh, my gosh.

And I have some concern about that.

Man, this wild wire's way too close.

Wow, we are up here.

Yeah, my legs just got a little wobbly, wobbly on...

I'm still a little unclear.

What can you touch? What can't you touch?

If you listen real carefully, you can hear the neon buzzing.

Well, that's unnerving.

It's 15,000 volts I'm contending with.

Don't go anywhere near it.

It started to make me a little anxious.

Yell down to go ahead and shut down the sign.

Okay. It's time to disconnect.

So we're good.

And you kind of line it up in place.

So we have this little spool of copper wire.

What we're gonna do is make an X...

X.

Or a neon bowtie.

Okay.

I'm gonna hold the neon for you.

Okay. Yeah, I do not know how you do this alone.

Eh.

Okay, got that.

Just clean it up. There you go.

Is that it?

That's pretty much how we do it.

Okay, so now,

- we're gonna fade back a bit. - Move back a little bit?

- We want to see what happens. - Moment of truth then?

We gotta cross our fingers?

Well, we don't know what condition the other wiring is.

It's time to turn the sign back on!

Okay.

There we go.

Oh, hey.

For me, this is a big moment.

- There you go. - It's instant gratification.

Wow, that is so neat.

There's something about that neon, huh?

I am very impressed with Sal.

The level of confidence and commitment he has in the field,

it's a great relief to me.

Go home, you can tell folks back home,

"Hey, I've maintained that sign. I made it come on."

Wow, that is so neat.

You mentioned earlier about all these long hours.

Where... why is it that you are spending all the long hours?

- Oh, all our guys do. - They all do?

That's just... oh, no, not just me.

Is there something special about you in particular

that means that you're...

I'm the only certified electrician.

A lot of our guys, they're shop-trained and shop-taught.

We don't get any technical training, we don't get

any technical information from the home office.

We have to learn how to maintain these devices for the customers

the slowest, hardest way possible...

over a phone in the middle of the night to tech support

to, you know, Utah,

to somebody who's not standing there next to you.

You say there's maybe a better way to do that?

There's definitely a better way.

I think if you had a training program,

it would make, you know, them faster, more efficient,

and safer at what we do.

You said, "Huge disconnect" on this whole point then.

- Yeah. - Yeah, okay.

But again, we keep hanging in there,

you know, we keep doing the seven-day weeks,

because guys like me worry about,

are we gonna pay our bills?

When the economy tanked, our pension plans got wiped out.

Okay.

- So... - Okay.

You know, at 50 years old, you don't get to start over.

There's just... keep working.

How does that affect you in terms of your overall health?

I have cardiovascular disease.

It's genetic. It runs in my family.

The heart attacks that I've had are really minor

because there's nothing wrong with my heart.

- Did you say heart attacks? - Yeah.

You didn't mention you've had some heart attacks?

I had three, but I like my employers.

I like my supervisors.

Okay.

I'm proud of the projects that we do,

and we can go around town and we can show people...

relatives, friends, we say, "Hey, that's ours. We do that."

I've come to realize how important the training is,

how important the education is.

The other franchises that we might sign up in the future,

there's a lot of lessons to be learned here.

Hopefully, you know, you're a big success someday,

and I can say, "You know what"...

Invaluable input.

"I met that guy when he was at the beginning."

If we're gonna grow to 300 locations

by our 100th anniversary, we gotta make sure

everything is exactly the way it needs to be,

and today has shown me that there's a lot of work to do.

- Thank you. - You get my vote.

Okay, thanks a lot.

It's 4:00 in the morning, I'm in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is the place where some of the most iconic signs

in Vegas were created.

Outside of Utah, this is the heart of our business,

and taking care of our biggest customers here

means everything to me.

Hey, looking for Michael.

Today, I'm going undercover

in the sign lettering department,

which handles change letters that are on marquees,

and they have just got to get up on time

and they've gotta get up accurately.

Hello? Looking for Michael.

Hello. Hi.

Good morning, my name's Alex.

Hi, nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Basically, we're gonna be pulling letters

for the marquee signs.

How long you been doing this job?

About nine years, so...

That's a lot of letters.

You're gonna need gloves.

Oh, thanks, okay, I take the gloves.

After working with Sal and hearing

there's a disconnect there, I'm anxious to see

if that same feeling exists here.

So where you from?

Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Kalamazoo, Michigan. So how'd you make your way

all the way out here to Las Vegas, Nevada?

Uh, middle of the recession.

Oh, yeah, the recession brought you out?

Needed study or try to find something for my son.

Oh, for your son?

'Cause it was gonna be his first job,

and that was gonna be hard to do in Michigan at the time.

Okay.

He's working with me right outside.

- Oh, he's here? Okay. - He's here.

Excellent.

So let me give you a brief tour.

I would love that, thank you.

Okay, you got your plastic, 17 black here.

17 meaning?

17 inch.

3-foot letters are gonna be here.

I'm gonna have to remember all this, won't I?

30-inch letters are here.

Numbers, the red ones will be on top.

Black will be on the middle shelf.

I see letters everywhere.

10-inch black will be here.

36-inch here, the 24-inch there,

and I think to myself, "How am I gonna keep this all straight

and remember where all these letters are?"

When we say marquee signs, this is the...

"2 million shuffle your luck. Play... win... instantly!

Win up to $10,000! Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays."

Okay, so all these letters have to be...

They're all in this building somewhere?

They're all in here somewhere.

Okay.

Okay, so start pulling "Saturdays."

"Saturdays." Okay, "Saturdays."

T-U-S-P-Q... ah.

H-A-K-A-E-F-G-I.

Tell you what... Oh.

Q-R-S-T. S has gotta be up here.

Q-R-Y. In a... okay.

You said red, right?

There's black ones over here too.

Okay, there's a red S.

Is that the same height? Yeah, okay.

T...oh, dear, gotta go back around.

Ts are right next to Ss. Come on.

Alex is moving slow.

Wrong color.

What'd I pull?

- Wrong color. - Oh, man.

I've seen Alex mess up his inches and feet.

I forgot the N. That's a problem.

He pulled the wrong ones or the wrong color.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Michael, oh, oh.

Hope no one saw that.

I think having Alex here will slow us down.

Do you have a restroom, Michael?

Yeah.

And I'll probably end up spending overtime

to catch everything up.

"YESCO... for demoralized service call"...that's nice.

There's something written on the restroom wall,

and it has to do with the morale of the employees.

"Demoralized."

I would strongly prefer to have something else

written on the bathroom wall about the company

and how people feel about it.

When morale is low, the quality is poor,

the inventory is unmanaged. That is my worst nightmare.

"YESCO... for demoralized service call"...that's nice.

So I'm in the restroom, the sticker says,

"For demoralized service call YESCO."

What does that mean?

They did some layoffs not that long ago.

Oh, yeah, 'cause it's been slow?

They did layoffs last week.

How many?

I think they're up to 11 or 18 now.

Oh, wow, okay.

The ebbs and flows of sales in signs in Las Vegas

tends to come and go quite a bit, and therefore,

our workforce here has to expand and contract some.

You know these people pretty well then.

I knew all of 'em.

You never feel good.

My heart really goes out to him and the employees who are

affected by the decisions we make at the corporate office.

When you came out,

you didn't sound like you were that flush on cash.

How did you afford to move? How did that happen?

When we made it to Vegas,

basically we had $400 in our pocket.

So this was just on faith?

Just on faith.

Well, where did you live when you first...

- you're here that first day... - Homeless.

You... what do you mean homeless?

Homeless, no place, street.

- Are you kidding me? - Nope.

You came to Vegas and you're homeless?

What did you eat when you were living on the street?

I got $1 chicken sandwich every day.

My wife, Zach, and my daughter were in a homeless shelter.

Getting some food there.

Yeah, they were getting food from there.

Wow.

Makes me appreciate the job I have,

a lot more than probably some of the other people.

Wow. That's hard times.

I don't... I... that's amazing you made it through.

Wow.

How long do you plan on sticking here at the sign company?

Okay.

Three of you full-time doing this every day, right?

Basically, yeah.

Eight-hour shifts, you and your son?

Uh, Zach works a four-hour shift.

Oh, yeah? Why's that?

Heart condition.

He has a heart condition?

Yeah. Basically,

he's got a aortic valve

that doesn't open and close right when he was born.

Is a valve replacement a possibility for him?

That's what he's gonna do in the future.

For sure. How much does the valve surgery run, you know?

Yeah.

I haven't even met your son. Do you mind?

Zach, there's someone I want you to meet.

Hey.

- Hey there. - Hi, I'm Alex.

Hi there. Nice to meet you.

So nice to meet you. I've been getting to know

your dad a little bit.

He's been talking to me about you.

How do you like working here?

A lot. It's been a lot of fun

working with Dad and having... it's having a great time here.

As I think about Michael and Zach

and how close it hits to home as a father,

I get a little choked up to think about

how much dedication he has.

You can't buy that level of loyalty,

and that's something that we deeply desire

in all of our employees.

Is your day going well?

I'm busy, far too busy.

Oh.

I'm still in Las Vegas.

After having worked with Michael,

hearing about the layoffs and all the morale going on,

I'd like to investigate further.

So I'm gonna go into the Interiors department

to work with our paint foreman.

The Interiors department builds signs

for inside of hotels and casinos.

In this facility we go through

at least 2,000 gallons of paint a year,

which is a big line item for us.

Is there an Eric around here?

- Ha! - I'm Eric, I'm in charge

- of paint here at YESCO. - Hi, Eric.

- My name's Alex. - Ready to work today?

Nice to meet you. Let's get to work.

We're gonna be painting these pot fillers.

The casinos came up with an area

that's a dead space between the slot machines.

These mount in between there and they can put advertisements

for the games or for whatever they want in the casino.

They're really hot right now...

- Okay. - A big seller,

so we're gonna try to make one to look like this.

Is there a problem I've never painted before at all?

Well, hopefully, I can teach you good enough

where you could make it acceptable,

- that's the challenge here. - Oh, okay.

- I'm in your hands. - Okay.

My first impression of Alex,

I'm flashing back to "Willy Wonka."

You know, he looks like an Oompa Loompa

with the purple hair on the "Willy Wonka" show.

Wow, check this room out.

This is the room here where we mix all our colors.

We could pretty much mix any color in the world.

- Okay. - Colors to match your hair

- perfectly. - Purple number one,

purple number two, purple number three.

- Yeah, yeah. - All right.

My grandfather was a painter,

but yet I have never donned a paint suit

and I've never used a paint gun.

I am 95% certain that they'll sand that down

and repaint that pod tomorrow, and that's gonna be costly,

and that's what I'm freaking out about right now.

- Fantastic, I did okay then. - Yes, you did awesome.

So now, we're gonna sand and remove all of those things

- you're seeing right now... - Okay.

And then we'll get you on to the next step.

Fantastic.

You want to hold it as flat as you can.

Okay.

Any questions?

No, that looks pretty straightforward, yeah.

You think I've got what it takes, Eric?

We'll see.

Do I need to keep it from going over?

Yeah.

Don't be afraid to push hard, get a little elbow grease in it.

Uh-ohh.

Oh, and you ripped the paper.

Sorry, Eric.

I'm wondering who's controlling who,

if the sander's controlling him or he's controlling the sander.

Stick a new piece on.

Whoa! That's all good.

Almost gotta get you a step stool there.

Yeah, really.

Vertically challenged.

Thank you.

Pass or fail, Eric?

Let's look at it.

There you go. Good job.

Sometimes people struggle with that.

See, you're a great teacher, that's why.

Tell me about your family.

Um, I have a son.

- Okay. - He works here.

Oh, he does?

Yeah, I got him a job here. His name's Josh.

- Josh, okay. - Yeah, great kid, great kid.

So... and I have a daughter, 18,

she's gonna go to college in Utah.

Here again, I have an employee whose son works for the company.

This really is what I'm about.

In a family business, providing opportunity for families

for many years to come.

How long you worked here at the sign company?

Um, I've been here 25 years.

I started on the bottom, you know, moved up.

About seven, eight years,

I was kind of going through some personal stuff

and maybe wasn't giving my best effort,

and then I questioned a lot of things,

you know, like raises I wasn't getting,

and I kind of realized, you know,

the company didn't need to change, I needed to change.

Interesting.

So I changed my attitude,

and then within three, four months

after the attitude change, they started this new...

what they call Interiors, where we are now.

So I had to basically build this department from scratch.

Oh, okay.

And I've been the boss over here for nearly now 15 years.

How do you feel about, uh, your bosses

and your work environment?

Um, things have changed compared to how

when I originally came here.

There was a lot more, like, tight-knit.

You know, we did more, like, barbecues

and family, you know, picnics and big Christmas parties and...

I see.

I'm horrified to hear Eric talk about the culture shift

through the tough economy.

The pressure and stress and anxiety

caused by the recession has had an impact

in the experience our employees have at work.

And how have sales been holding up around here?

We have good designers, but everything's always

out to bid, you know, and we are considered,

product-wise, the best,

but some people don't care about a great product.

You know, that's what people take for granted.

Your sign says a lot about you.

You seem very passionate about all this.

Yes. Signs, you know, been around

since, you know, probably the Egyptians.

Okay.

You know, some guy comes into Egypt from the desert,

you know, like, "Hey, I want to get something for my camel."

Like, "Oh, where do I go?"

You have a sign in front of it.

Camel feed.

All right, well, let's get out of these hot suits,

and then we'll get over to my office

and I'll show you some of the paperwork with the EPA

and all the regulations I have to do with the bank.

Eric embodies the culture and spirit

of what we're trying to do to deliver

the best quality to our clients.

It's a great thing to imagine that a frontline supervisor

like him is so connected with customers' needs.

Come on in to my office.

So assuming I start my company,

what advice you'd give for me in starting my own business?

Do you have the mental strengthness

to persevere, 'cause you're gonna have a lot of hurdles.

There's always gonna be that setback.

Like, to me, I actually had an older son that my son now.

At six years old, he was involved in a ATV accident.

- Oh, you're kidding me. - Yeah, he was...

- and he died. - This is Josh's older brother?

Yes. Josh was four, he was six.

You have three children. You've lost one.

Yeah, yes.

Oh, my God.

I don't talk about it that much,

but it made me a very strong person on the inside,

because I couldn't feel sorry for myself.

I had to be strong for my family.

I see.

And I kind of use that going forward in life now.

My family, we have a way of honoring him.

His birthday is 1/18, so everything we do is 118.

So, like, my son races motocross,

his number plate's 118, so every aspect of our lives,

- we try to involve that number. - Wow.

And it helps me get through all the hurdles

and the bad part, 'cause if I can go through that tragedy,

I can go through anything. Just gotta realize, hey,

sun's coming up tomorrow, bills still have to be paid,

no matter what.

I can hardly fathom

a parent going through something like that.

I look at him and realize what an amazingly strong man he is

to have overcome such a big loss in his past.

And another thing that I would suggest is, you know,

keep it simple.

One thing I've noticed is, like, the larger you get,

the more red tape, a lot more paperwork.

I see.

When I first came here, it was more simple,

like, you know, yellow scratch pad,

write it, do it, build it.

Now we have a lot more, and it seems like

you can get a big gap

in between the ground floor and the top.

Never lose touch with the people that are making you the money.

It's like when our owner comes down from Salt Lake.

- He's a little guy... - Huh.

But he's got a handshake on him that you feel like

you're shaking the hand of the Hulk.

Interesting.

Because he puts his passion for the company

- in his handshake, you know... - Interesting.

And when you're in his presence, it's moving.

Like me, 25 years, every day, that name has been on my chest,

and I choose to... I'm not required to...

'cause I have pride in the company, who I am,

but that's what you want, you know,

build that family bond, because they don't...

they're not gonna want to let you down,

and that just strengthens you, you know?

I see. That's great advice for me.

I think it's gonna be a great help to me as I move on.

Awesome, let's do... it was good.

Eric embodies the culture and spirit

of what we're trying to do to deliver the best quality

to our clients, and I believe from just hearing him

that his people are very committed to him

and do an excellent job in their department.

The undercover experience has given me new eyes.

We promised my dad we would do everything in our power

to provide jobs for the families of YESCO.

When I hear people talk about this company

just packing employees and laying 'em off,

don't care and are just only for the bottom line,

there's just no way my grandfather

would ever have anticipated this.

He had driving desire for something better,

and it just magnifies the level of responsibility

that I have to provide for all of our employees.

I've seen the eyes of the people affected.

I want to have an environment where people feel appreciated.

If they feel cared about, they'll do anything.

Significant changes need to be made.

I want to give 'em hope.

I want to recognize all the immense value

that they each bring to work every day.

We've got to make this succeed, no matter what.

The employees think they're going to decide

if Alex deserves $1 million to launch his own product.

Oh, my...

How will they react

when the boss reveals his true identity?

I'm Jeff Young, Co-owner of YESCO.

All right.

Ah, at least the purple's gone.

Whoa!

I was kind of anxious to get back to the old me.

Does that look anything like me?

Oh, wow. So no more fauxhawk?

No more fauxhawk.

I am done undercover, and I learned so much.

I'm absolutely touched by the sacrifice, service,

and loyalty of my employees,

and I can't wait to fix some of these problems.

Whoa!

Ah, at least the purple's gone.

Michael, do you know who I am?

You'd be Alex.

I'm Jeff Young, co-owner of YESCO.

All right.

Hi, Jeff. Nice to meet you.

Oh, wow.

You're on "Undercover Boss."

Oh, my...

Never in a million years.

Uh...

Sal...

I am so proud that you represent YESCO.

I hope I do it well.

- That rainy morning... - Yeah.

You had me climb up that ladder,

up to heights frankly I've not been to before.

Yeah, I'm not gonna look down if that's okay.

What is it when you cross claustrophobia

with a little bit of heights?

A day at the office for us.

I watched your strength and determination

in getting your job done.

I'm very impressed with who you are

and how you present yourself in the field.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Um, let's see what you do with it, though.

Seriously, show me what you're gonna do with it.

That's what I want to see.

You guys are a closed door to the guys in the field.

They're out there 18 hours, 20 hours a day,

15 a day with you in the rain.

You gotta stop that disconnect. You've got to train your guys.

You've got to be in touch with your guys.

If you want their loyalty, you want their devotion,

their dedication, you gotta show up, you gotta be there.

Well, the reason I went undercover

was to hear what the real story is,

and you've shared with me how there's all of this inefficiency

and this lack of training,

and because of what I learned from you in the field,

I'm gonna bring you to Utah for two days

for specialized training.

- Um... - I'm not done yet.

You know what training we need,

so I would like to work with you to develop and implement

the training that's so desperately needed,

and every tech from coast to coast

will have an opportunity.

It would be a pleasure and an honor.

So, Sal, a little coming back the other direction.

We talked about your overtime, we talked about your hours,

and we talked about your health.

All that overtime is bound to take

a toll on you personally.

Sure does.

I'm gonna make some immediate changes

so that the franchise operators are aware of and sensitive

to what you're going through in the field.

Well, I appreciate that very much.

Sal, you took a pretty big hit during the recession

in terms of your pension, your retirement funds.

Yeah.

Obviously, it's pretty depressing,

and it puts a lot of weight on you,

but it happened to so many other people,

that I personally can't... "Oh, poor me, poor me."

Well, as a gift, I would like to give to you $60,000

to replenish your retirement funds.

Ah, that's a lot of money.

Thank you. I thank you for, you know,

for inviting me to be a part of this.

It's great meeting you.

It's nice meeting you.

Thanks for coming out west to Salt Lake City.

My hope is that this experience changes my life forever

by letting me kind of feel like I was

part of something important, that I affected change.

We'll be in touch with you on that training.

- All righty. - And good luck to you.

- We'll be in touch. - Take care. We'll see you soon.

All right. Thank you.

Having been told by Jeff that

I'm going to receive $60,000 to rebuild my pension plan

fills me with a great sense of relief,

and I am very grateful for that.

Eric.

Oh, wow.

You took me under your wing. You suited me up in the suit.

You taught me all the tricks of painting.

And I have to tell you, I am so impressed

and so grateful for everything you bring to this company.

Awesome. It makes me feel so good.

Ain't nothing better than to feel appreciated

by the people you work for.

It means a lot, more than anything.

Working undercover with you has given me new eyes,

and because of this experience,

I want to put your ideas in place.

Awesome, awesome. I feel privileged.

I watched you flounder just a little bit

about cutting out red tape.

- Yeah. - I want to let you know

I was listening very, very carefully.

I want to make a personal assurance to you,

you and I are gonna sit down in the next week or so,

and I want to get all your ideas

- down on paper... - Okay.

Because I want to put 'em in place.

Are you willing to do that with me?

Oh, yes. Most definitely.

I heard you talk about how the culture at YESCO

seems to be more corporate than family...

- Yes. - And how that's impacted...

Yeah, it does.

Morale, and I want you to know I've heard you.

I'm giving you and the other foremen a fund...$25,000.

You'll be able to decide whatever you need to do

to show your workers your appreciation for them.

Oh, wow, unbelievable.

Eric, I had absolutely no idea you had a tragedy.

No parent should ever have to watch a child die,

and my heart goes out to you.

It was tough.

He's a very gentle soul.

I still remember to this day, you know, being in the room,

you know, he was being born with my father-in-law.

You know, the doctor says, "It's a boy," we both fist-pump

at the same time, "Yes!" You know.

January 18, right?

Yes.

Eric, on January 18 of every year,

we will put your son on 26 digital billboards

throughout the western U.S.

Thank you.

Thank you so... to you and your family,

thank you. It means a lot.

You guys are truly great people.

For me personally, when I think about what you've done

with your other kids, I admire you so much

for the father you've been to your children.

You have invested a ton of time and effort in your kids.

I know Alyssa's headed out to school.

Yeah, she wants to go to Dixie in St. George.

I'm gonna give you $40,000...

To pay for her education...

Oh, my God. I wish...

She's gonna lose it.

In the name of your son, Rayland.

Oh, my...

'Cause I've been... oh, you don't know

how hard I've been sweatin' that.

Oh, wow.

That's a life-changer for my whole family.

I can't even believe it. Ohh.

I can't thank you enough.

I want that handshake.

We'll get it.

- Thank you so much. - Thank you.

- Oh, wow. - Okay.

This company has changed my life for the positive.

Now it's paying off for my family

in a way that I thought it never would.

- Hello? - 'Lyssa,

they're gonna give me $40,000 for your education.

Oh, my God! Are you serious, Daddy?

I'm dead serious.

I'm gonna cry right now!

I'm so happy for my daughter.

It's gonna change her life, you know?

You heard the expression, my daughter, she's cry...

Oh, beautiful people, beautiful people.

Michael, I think about you working with Zach every day,

and it makes me so grateful for the chance I have

to work with my father every day.

It's been a blessing to really just see him

take on more responsibility,

as he's doing stuff he didn't think he could do.

Zach works a four-hour shift.

Oh, yeah? Why's that?

- Heart condition. - He has a heart condition?

- Hi there. Nice to meet you. - So nice to meet you.

How do you like working here?

It's been a lot of fun working with Dad and having...

it's having a great time.

Your story of your commitment to your family

and the level of sacrifice...

Is a story that needs to be told to a lot of people.

As a father of five, I tell you, it is a huge example for me

of what sort of father I need to be for them,

and I need to thank you for that,

but do you ever feel like you just

have never really had a break?

I had a break. It was YESCO.

That means so much, I can't even tell you.

I want to give you a break today.

Michael, we'd like to give you $100,000.

That's a lot of money.

Only if it doesn't hurt the company.

If people are gonna be laid off, I'd rather see them working.

Wow.

This gift to you in no way hurts the company at all.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

I'm just working.

Give our love and best wishes to your family.

I will.

I don't show a lot of emotions,

but I'm touched by what he's done.

- Hey there. - Hello.

So what happened?

Well, it was "Undercover Boss."

Oh, no kidding.

They've been kind enough, the Youngs, to give us $100,000.

Whoa.

I feel incredibly grateful and humbled that they are

allowing me this chance at...

just... everything.

Oh, wow, that's cool.

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