Original subtitles

Okay.

Okay, everybody act. Be normal, act

natural, we're being filmed.

This is what happened.

This is the happy meal.

This is where the happy meals are made.

The happy meal.

Okay.

Look at all these happy people.

Okay, look at the smile on her face.

I don't want to see people standing around, put

people to work, okay?

I am trying to work.

Yeah, right on the left, where that car

is coming out, where that

white truck just came out.

Where do you want to work?

Cashier.

Cashier?

You mean with the money?

This is McDonald's, so because you want

to deal with hamburgers.

No?

If you want to know where all the money

is, it's right here.

And you have it, you're seeing it.

What to say, how to act.

The customers are in your restaurant with

a certain expectation.

Of the quality of food, the quality of

service, the quality of the experience.

Okay.

What defines your restaurant compared to

the other restaurant?

And it's going to be the

classic customer service.

Come on in.

Thank you.

Okay.

Oh, that's okay.

That's okay.

Thanks for coming.

There are three more coming in.

What's your favorite

thing to eat at McDonald's?

Hamburger.

Hamburger.

Happy meal, yes?

Is that you?

Yeah, we always love you.

You want to go pick it?

Yeah, come on.

I'll help you.

Here, take this.

You have to give this to him.

Okay.

You'll take the food.

I'll take the drinks.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

Let me be careful.

I don't want to drop these straws, okay?

Well, it looks like you

know what you're doing.

And I don't.

Okay, Mom.

Yeah, you take the straws.

They're there.

That's better.

Yeah, I noticed.

Thanks for coming in.

You take care.

Okay, you too!

All right, Mic check.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah.

I met Ron in 1978, I believe it was.

We met at McGraw Hill.

I remember when I met Ron

Smith in one of our local stores.

He was getting a piece of art frame.

Ron Smith is one of the most genuine

people that I've ever met because he

always leads with his heart.

Well, I think my first impression of Ron

was that here is a dapper fellow.

He's always dressed to the nines, you

know, very

sophisticated, very elegant looking.

But also, you know, he doesn't have this

big sign up that says, "Don't

talk to me. Don't approach me."

He's very approachable, I think.

As a colleague, Ron is dynamic.

He's driven.

He works collaboratively.

I mean, he can have an idea and he can be

pretty determined about what he thinks.

But if you have a better idea, I've known

him to be the type of person that is

always willing to listen.

And when you start talking to Ron Smith,

what you find out about him is that he's

very interested in you.

You know, he wants to know what your

story is, you know, and then

he'll share part of his story.

Times where he's kind of hit a fork in

the road and he could have gone this way,

he could have gone this way,

and he loves talking

about, "Why did I go this way?"

So it's really a give and take with Ron.

My name is Brooks Smith.

I'm the son of Ron Smith.

The way that my father was a mentor to me

would mainly be his dedication.

Like, you know, if you ever ask him

anything, like, he would put his full

time into trying to make sure that he

gives you a proper answer

or an answer that will solve whatever

question that you have.

And, you know, he leads by example

usually, and that's always something

that's really respectable.

And he was looking in my art, we started

a conversation, and it seemed as though

we were just interested in

what each other was doing.

And I was checking on some art that I had

gotten. He kept asking me more questions,

not just for conversation,

but because he was really interested.

And he said, "You know what? We ought to

do lunch one of these days."

I said, "Sure." And that was the

beginning of meeting Ron Smith, the hero.

Stop talking so we could start. This is

how you have to handle them,

okay? Just tell it like it is.

What's the climate like during that time?

What's going on in the world?

Oh, it was just war, you know? And I

remember being in Putnam

Catholic Academy and watching TV,

and there's showing pictures of everybody

in Tan Son Nhut. That's where Ronnie was.

And every person I saw, that's my

brother, that's my brother,

you know, I swear that I saw him.

But there was a

horrifying story that I found out.

He was a flight mechanic, and a person

asked to switch with him as far as the

timing on when to go out.

And Ronnie did. And that person never

came back. It was devastating for Ronnie.

It really was, because I

could have lost my brother.

My mom was a nervous wreck, you know,

when he went to Vietnam.

You're talking about a mother that wrote

a letter every single day to Ronnie.

Every single day she wrote a letter. And

then we sent tapes, the

VHS tapes we would make,

and family members and the siblings, we'd

all talk to Ronnie and,

you know, joke and whatnot.

And we would mail that off to him.

It was really every day that I received a

letter from my mother. She

was very upset, not with me,

but the fact that I was in the war, that

in spite of it all, she supported me.

And I think the way she supported my

decision was in the letter every day.

I was so scared. I just didn't want

anything to happen to my brother.

You know, of course his life was in

danger because that's

what's on the news constantly.

Every ten minutes it was showing pictures

of people getting shot up,

and people with their legs taken off and

blown off. And, oh, it was just horrible.

And I was in school, so I guess I was

having a hard time at that time.

I think she understood that I

did what I felt I had to do.

It was my patriotic duty to do that, not

just for myself, but for my family, for

my heritage, the generations before.

I know he wanted to be

there, and he did a good job.

He came back in one piece,

that's right. That was important.

I love you, Ronnie.

When the average

ownership is single digits,

when my expectation coming into this

business was, I would

be happy owning three,

and you wind up with this, well, the only

thing you can do is keep doing your best.

What would you say the

key to success are Ron?

It's believing in yourself and believing

that hard work, positive hard work,

contributes to positive results.

The key is honesty.

The key is doing what's right versus what

is wrong, and believing in yourself.

The key also is helping other people, not

just the customer, but helping other

people that you're influencing.

Hello, how are you?

Okay.

We're taking pictures,

so smile. There you go.

I just want you to know that nothing on

that piece of paper says McDonald's,

and the person who threw that was the

competition, because they

saw this was being filmed.

No, no, no, no. I've got it.

Here, lift it up. Thank you.

[Funky Music]

I guess it's like the 30s, right?

I know that they had a good life because

the pictures that I did see, like, Mom

was dressed up really beautiful,

you know, the beautiful dresses and the

hair done so nicely.

It was really nice.

Dorothy Bowen is the one that introduced

my dad and mom, and they would hang out,

they would go to different parties and

one of the Cotton Club,

and that's how they met.

My mom was from Trinidad.

She had a very tough childhood.

And she was a very caring individual and

very thoughtful, and she would do

anything for anyone.

And what's important to her was her

family, her children.

That was top priority.

Describe to me your father's personality.

Oh, my goodness. I have to

smile because I miss him so much.

He was a jokester,

and he was a lot of fun.

He was very serious about his family. His

children was his whole life.

Dad worked for the airlines as a baggage

man. He worked for the Board of

Education, doing plans for the schools.

He was a very hard worker.

He worked three or four jobs.

Because we were in private school, in

that time it was very expensive.

And not only was he a role model to

Ronnie, but he was also his friend.

He would have been the best man at my

wedding, not because he was my father,

but because he was that close a friend.

He was and probably still is my example.

I remember when Ronnie was older, they

used to hang out together,

you know, go bar hopping.

Frank, Ron's father, was very, I would

say, very influential to Ron.

In a different way, from a male

perspective, the father

was really a lot of fun.

Yes, I believe Ron's dad was as close to

the type of dad that I wanted growing up

as I had ever known.

Ronnie was, he was just a busy guy.

That's all I can say.

Into a lot of different things.

I remember him as an altar boy at St.

St. Rita's in Long Island City.

I was just so proud of him. Look at him.

He's up there in front

of everyone, you know.

Ronnie had his own enlarger, and he would

go into our little bathroom and make it

dark and develop the pictures.

Back in those days, there was only one

bathroom, and it was my dark room.

Okay, and you better not come in there

while I'm developing, I'd rather you

spoil the whole thing.

He was just so into all that. So I

thought he was going to be a big time

photographer or

something back in the day.

He was well-liked in school, and his

jobs, you know, they depended on him.

Ronnie had a business called The Floor

People, and that was doing floors, you

know, hardwood floors and everything.

The Flooring Company was a project that

he had taken on with

a good friend of his.

I had the opportunity to start my own

company, and it was my first adventure

into self-employment.

But it gave me that

first entrepreneurial taste.

He knew how to deal with people, and

that's important when you

have a business, you know.

I met Ron in 1978, I believe

it was. We met at McGraw Hill.

The way I remember is we had company cars

issued to us, and I

believe I had a 78 Meteor.

Maybe he had a 77 Granada, so basically

we were salesmen for the construction

news department at the McGraw Hill's

headquarters in Los Angeles,

where I reside. Ron moved there from New

York, and he was picked up in New York by

the company and transferred to Los

Angeles, at which point we met.

He brought me to this office and

introduced me to Fred, okay, African

American, and I didn't know why they did

it, but now they look

back, I can figure out why.

This is Fred, Ron. Ron is new.

And because I was a native, and we were

the only two blacks in the office, to be

perfectly honest, the boss felt it would

be a good idea to pair us up.

During the time, during this period,

America, I'll speak for America, was

looking to bring people of color,

minorities, into their businesses because

that was the news of the day.

He came from a big business environment,

from the big city, from New York City, so

technically it was very

little that I could offer him,

but Ron got an assignment at the Long

Beach office, and they had their own

office, so Ron got his own office. He

really was successful.

I didn't understand at the time how well

I was sought after, but I was based on

how I spoke, how I presented myself.

The first eight years of schooling, I was

the only African American,

the only black in my class.

Okay, in high school, I was maybe one of

two, maybe one of three in the four

years, and never really understood that

because it was never really brought up

when I was being raised back at home.

But that had a lot to do with how and why

I was accepted, number one by management,

by the companies, and then by my peers.

So Ron is doing his thing. He's married

now, he's got an wonderful wife, and

they're trying to get their feet up under

them while they create these careers.

We were quite successful in what we did,

how we did it, and because we were very

resourceful and very business minded, of

course the end goal was to get into

business for

ourselves, which is what we did.

We had spoken to someone who was a

minority franchisee for McDonald's, and

based on that conversation, we applied.

And I don't think the ink was dry on the

application when the meeting was set up

and we made the offer.

Have you taken a break already? Go ahead,

yes, do what you need to do.

Once Ron's business turned toward

restaurants, then things really began to

change for him. He began to move from

city to city a little bit more.

I mean, from one I can remember, I was

about two and a half, three years old

when we moved to Lake

Havasu. It was a really small town.

I think one of the first memories I have

is we were in the newspaper, because not

only were we one of the only black

families in there, I think there's only

two black families there, but we were one

of the only black

families in the business there.

So they put us in the paper and I don't

really remember how I felt about it, but

it was just a different feeling. I was

like, why are we so special?

Especially during the beginning stages of

the franchise, my brother and I spent all

the time together, because my parents,

they had to focus on opening up the

business, construction, writing the

business, training the employees.

What I do remember is that they did

everything themselves. Whatever it was,

whether it was their accounting, all

their books, just training, they were

just the one-stop shop and they did it

all themselves. I remember

they worked all the time.

If I remember correctly, there wasn't too

much opportunity to grow in Lake Havasu,

so that's why we decided to relocate out

to Las Vegas, because up and coming city.

It was a big risk. I remember just the

feeling and the environment at the time

was, "This is Maker to Break It. If this

doesn't work, we're

going to need a new plan."

But we put everything into

this new store out here in Vegas.

They came and opened their store on

Horizon College and Horizon,

and we had the one on Anna & 95.

We would talk about things as we were the

only two black owner operators here in

Las Vegas, and we would make our plans,

and how we would be successful here in

this co-op as the only two black

operators here in Las Vegas.

And it worked, man. It really worked.

I... Especially after my husband passed, the

first year was very bumpy, and Ron was

right there by my side.

I've got to share this story with you.

When I did the business plan, so the

corporation was coming in and there was a

big table like this, so I got my little

business plan in my hand.

And so Ron goes, "Eva, when you walk in

the room, I want you to sit over there."

I said, "Ron, does it matter where I

sit?" He goes, "Yes, it does."

He said, "And this is what I want you to

do. You look at me if you can't answer

the question." And I got it.

That business review went so well. He

said, "And when you're finished with the

business review, the one that said you

can't do it, I want you to look her in

the face and say, "Any questions?"

But he showed me how to be successful

from day one with the business interview.

And her response was,

"No, thank you very much."

So that's the person

that I'm talking about.

Is everything okay here? Okay, service

and everything? Fine. Agree? You like

McDonald's? Thumbs up? Good. Good.

And they play place. The two little

children there, get them something from

me, okay, whether it's ice cream, see

what they want. Okay.

The two little ones.

So the business speaks for itself.

Whether, you know, McGraw Hill,

McDonald's, whatever it is, I think the

public felt that if a company, this

company, thought enough to bring me in to

represent them, there's got to be

something maybe different

or acceptable or whatever.

One of the things I've learned from that

was, well, how to incorporate your

business, your work into your life. And

if you like the work that you do, it's

not really work, it's your life.

You know, started with one, or dedicated

to 17th today, this morning. You know,

that includes over 800 employees, you

know, working for the organization. You know,

it sounds like a lot. It sounds like, you

know, it's very busy. But then again, it

goes back to managing

managers, managing people.

You know, the thing is that it's not

about as you're stepping up that ladder.

It's no longer about the manual tasks

that are involved in the business. It's

about, you know, managing people and

making sure that you have the right

people for the right jobs at whatever

capacity, whatever load,

you know, that's leading.

I need that drive if I want to be

successful. And I think that's the one

thing that my brother and I took out of

this is that if you want to be

successful, it's not going to be easy.

And you have to put in the blood, sweat

and tears. And it's

not over until it's over.

I see Ron the same now as I did, you

know, 40 years ago, but I realize that he

has changed quite a bit. His

responsibilities are so different now.

And me, as I say, I still see Ron just

like the brother, the big brother that he

was when we first met. Though I realize

now he's got a lot of people that he's

trying to help. This is what I know about

Ron. This is what I think he told me his

mother taught him, you know,

when he was just a small boy.

One of our programs is the ToeTag

Monologues. We do life skills programs.

And at the time we were in the juvenile

detention center. In order to get in, you

had to ring a bell and then one of the

guards had to bring you back to the unit

that we were working in.

I invited Ron out to see one of these

workshops and there was some

miscommunication or something. Ron was

actually out there an hour or an hour and

a half waiting to get in. By the time he

got in, I apologize so much, but he was

just so humble. He's like,

I'm just honored to be here.

He came in, he watched the kids present,

read their essays. And during the time,

Ron had a chance to talk about a little

bit of what he did. And the kids kept

saying, "Hey, mister, we wish we can get

a job. And would you hire us?"

And he looked them in the eyes with all

sincerity. And he says, "When you get out

of here, if you come see

me, I'll give you a job."

Ron understood that kids just needed

somebody to see past what it is they're

wearing, look past the color of their

skin, look past their situation, look

into their heart and see possibility. And

that's what he did for the kids. Some of

the kids were crying, but all the kids

had hope in their hearts

because Ron gave it to them.

It didn't take me long after taking up

the helm here at Ronald McDonald House to

know who I could go to in times of need.

Let's say we were a few scholarships

short of being able to maybe provide a

scholarship to all of the applicants.

Well, Ron would be around the table and

we'd be talking about, "Wouldn't it have

been nice if we just had 11 more

scholarships?" And then, you know, I

remember Ron saying, "You've got it. You

know, I'm going to provide the $11,000 so

that we can fund all of our 50 alumni

scholarships in a given year."

This is the part where the relationship

between Ron and I changed. My husband, on

his deathbed, asked him, "Please take

care of my wife." And he said to him,

"Yes, I will." That

is 20 years ago in May.

And Ron, I mean, and this tells you what

type of person Ron is. 20 years, he has

not missed a beat. He has been by my

side, and I have so much respect for him

because he never in the 20 years wavered

from the promise he made to my husband.

[Big Band Jazz Music]

The likelihood of growing beyond 17 is

greater only because someone can come to

me looking to sell, and they can request

a higher price because they know I can afford to sell.

I can afford, all right? And I would meet

their price. Your level of confidence

goes up from one in the beginning when

you get your first. It becomes more

confident when you are

offered a second and a third.

So each time you are offered that

additional restaurant, your confidence

builds. I've done my best to be a part of

the change in Las Vegas from a owner's

point of view, from a resident point of

view, from a business point of view.

But I hope and pray that I have

participated in the positive growth that

has taken place, the success that has

taken place, not to be responsible for

it, but to be included as part of what

has made, is making, and will continue to

make Las Vegas successful.

But you've made bets in your life,

and the biggest one on yourself.

Well yeah but it's not the same thing, because

You know, Beacause I'm going to win.

Okay. I'm cheating.

If I bet on myself, I'm going to win.

Get it?

If I would ask you Mr. Ed

Sir?

So, What do you think of the owner?

[music]

When you first met,.

Do you remember the day you met, Ron?

Okay, the day, the day. What happened? My

boss, a guy by the name of Mayo, M-A-Y-O,

Mr. Mayo, came in and introduced me to

the new guy in the office.

But it was, as I recall, it was me and

Ron. We were the two that locked, kind of

locked together first

and became fast friends.

We did. We got a new sales trainee. His

name was Jeff. I volunteered the

information that, you know, my friend Ron

also was a martial

artist because Ron was.

I believe he was a black belt at the

time, but he was quiet about it. He

wasn't one to brag, so.

And you guys even

spar, or is that unfair?

So they actually gave the office a

demonstration. We cleared an area, and it

was just some simple moves of the hands

and, you know, all that kind of stuff.

Well, after they had actually gotten to

the competition, the competitive aspect

of the demonstration, you could tell

whom's tugging, which

way they're tugging.

Finally, Jeff throws Ron. Ron gets up.

Ron throws Jeff. And as the finale, Ron

actually flips Jeff over his shoulder,

and Jeff hits the ground.

And I don't think he was faking, but he

was unconscious for a period of like

about three or four minutes.

You know, Jeff, Jeff, are you okay? Jeff,

Jeff, are you all right?

He comes around eventually, and everyone

acknowledges that Ron

is truly a black belt.

From that point on, I kind of gave Ron a

wide berth because I never wanted to

anger him and have him

have to demonstrate to me.