"Male announcer:" "The economy is going through tough times." "Many hard-working Americans blame wealthy CEOs," "Out of touch with what's going on" "In their own companies." "But some bosses are willing to take extreme action" "To make their businesses better." "Each week, we follow the boss" "Of a major corporation" "As they go undercover into their own company." "This is John." "He's gonna be working with you today." "This week, the CEO of America's largest" "Family-owned theme park company" "Poses as a new recruit." "Oh, you're a rookie?" "Yes." "I am a rookie." "Whoa." "Okay, hold on." "The boss will trade in his executive office" "And expense account for a beard," "Some boots, and a quacker." "No quacker, no ride." "It was rough." "We still got quite a bit of work to do." "The biggest thing is that you never know" "What's gonna happen when you come in." "You know you wanna help," "But you can't always help everybody." "And he'll discover the unsung heroes" "That make his company run." "And I am so thankful that I went through" "This experience." "Find out what happens" "In the most emotional reveal of the season." "Next on Undercover Boss." "Undercover Boss 1x07 Herschend Family Entertainment Original Air Date on March 28, 2010" "Herschend Family Entertainment" "Is the largest family-owned theme park company in America," "Boasting some of the most exciting attractions" "From amusement parks, aquariums," "And sightseeing tours across the country." "At the apex of this $300 million company is one man." "I'm Joel Manby, and I'm CEO" "Of Herschend Family Entertainment." "We manage 22 properties in nine states." "I've been CEO for eight years now." "I grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan," "And we had a very humble upbringing." "We never had much money." "We lived in a very, very small house." "I shared a bedroom with my brothers," "And my parents lived in the kitchen." "What I remember is how hard my dad tried" "To make a living, and I think it's one reason" "I'm kinda driven to try to make sure" "I provide for my family." "Cheater!" "I have a wonderful family" "Of six of us in total." "I have four daughters, including little Annie" "From an orphanage in China." "I put a huge priority on being with my kids," "But it hasn't always been that way." "I've made huge mistakes as a dad and a leader." "In the auto industry" "I started right after undergraduate school." "Eventually became the CEO of SAAB North America" "At a very young age." "I was working so hard" "And was so disconnected from my family" "That I literally had a breakdown or just a meltdown." "I actually started drinking too much." "It progressively got worse." "And his time for us got more and more limited." "Markie, my wife, finally held up the white flag and said," ""this is not what I signed up for."" "It was a very difficult decision to leave the auto industry," "But I actually feel like" "I was called to come to this company." "My own religious belief and Christian values and ethics," "They've helped me get through a really, really rough period" "Of my life, and Herschend Entertainment" "Is owned by a Christian family," "So they try to bring faith principles" "Into the workplace." "I relish that." "This recession has been incredibly difficult." "Attendance is down across the board at all properties," "And we've had to make some really difficult decisions." "We froze wages." "We just want to make sure our folks are still taken care of" "And feeling good about us and the company" "And what we do." "And I want to get that unfiltered look." "That's why I want to go undercover." "Bye, daddy." "Bye." "See you, guys." "Have fun." "See ya." "Bye, dad." "When I go undercover," "My name's gonna be John Briggs." "And I'm gonna be a new recruit to our company" "Who was just laid off from the auto industry." "I'm gonna grow a beard, and I'm gonna cut my hair" "And so forth, so..." "I'll be telling my coworkers that I'm being followed" "By a TV crew documenting what it's like to try out" "Entry-level jobs at Herschend." "You'll be in room 106." "I will miss my family a lot," "But I think it's important" "To improve and change for the company." "I'm here at Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta, Georgia," "Georgia's number one attraction." "And I specifically want to see the Ride the Duck operation." "It's very important 'cause it's about 5% of our revenue." "The duck captain is not part of the experience." "He is the experience." "He's the one person" "Interacting with the guests that makes it or breaks it." "So it's really important to me" "To see how they perform." "Hey." "How are you?" "Pretty good." "Good to meet you." "I'm John Briggs." "This is your uniform." "Restroom is right there to your right." "I'll be right here waiting on you when you get back." "All righty." "Thank you." "Now this is the duck." "This is an amphibious machine" "Used in world war ii." "Captain Howard!" "Yes, sir, boss." "Now this is captain Howard, better known as Tiny." "Captain Howard, this is John." "How are you doing?" "I'm John." "He's gonna be on our staff here." "Is he funny?" "That's the question." "Yeah, that's the question." "We'll see." "I think I need to learn from you." "Okay, well, come on." "I'm gonna show you a couple things." "This is the cockpit, as we like to call it." "This is your place of business." "You've got three main responsibilities:" "You're gonna drive this duck, you're gonna talk to people," "And you're gonna play some music for 'em." "It's all about jokes and having fun." "Unlike the normal tours that you would go on," "This is more of a show." "Okay." "I want to see you really-- how you interact with the kids." "Follow my lead, and you'll see how I do it." "Like I said, for me, it's the fun" "Of the show that's gonna make them happy." "So, but I'm gonna show you how this goes down." "Should we do it?" "Yeah." "Are you ready?" "3:00 duck!" "Hey." "How you doing?" "Let me take your ticket." "What's your name?" "Clara." "Clara." "May I have your ticket, please?" "What's your name?" "Colette." "Colette." "Oh, I love that name." "All ready to go." "Make sure you guys get a quacker" "As you get on the duck, all right?" "Everybody gets a quacker." "no quacker, no ride." "this is where you're gonna get" "A chance to see what I do." "Okay." "You gotta watch what I'm doing here." "This is some serious stuff here, okay?" "All right." "All right, folks!" "Little fella coming through" "Right here in the middle of the duck." "All right." "Excuse me, guys." "Pardon me." "All right." "All right." "Okay." "Let's see if I can get this thing started here." "All right." "I want you guys to look right over to your left here" "And also introduce the mountain to everybody." "Oh, yeah." "Does everybody know about the mountain?" "Well, it is 100-- what'd you tell me?" "100 feet wide-- it's 100 feet high." "190 feet wide." "It's 60 feet deep." "I know you're training now." "Let me just explain real quick." "The mountain itself actually spreads over five miles, guys," "Five miles around." "Wow." "And from top to bottom, 832 feet, from bottom to top." "All right." "The mountain itself is actually" "In the Guinness Book of world's records." "It's the largest piece of exposed granite" "In the whole entire world." "Wow." "Right there." "That's what we're looking at, all right, guys?" "Are y'all ready to go into the water?" "Yeah!" "All right." "Guys, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do." "As I get around this corner," "I'm gonna get this duck going about 90 miles an hour." "We're gonna hit that water, we're just gonna slide" "Across the other side." "How's that sound to y'all?" "Don't worry about a thing, folks." "You'll all be fine." "It's simple." "I am a flotation device." "all right." "Please put your hands in the air, guys." "Yeah!" "All right, guys, everybody say, "go, captain, go!"" "Go, captain, go!" "Yeeee-haw!" "That was fun, wasn't it?" "Howard was just a blast." "He has such a rare talent." "I mean, he is really into what he does." "I need a volunteer." "Who's gonna be my first volunteer?" "All right, have a seat there, big guy." "We're gonna turn this thing around" "And start heading back to the other way." "Are you ready?" "Yeah." "Here we go." "You're driving." "You're in control." "Go, captain, go." "He kind of becomes a kid." "All right, let's give a hand to captain Howard" "For getting us out safe." "How he kind of acts and the faces" "And how he looks at 'em." "All right, captain Howard." "This was just a lot of fun." "The kids were really having fun." "We have other ride the duck locations." "It just made me wonder if he's ever seen other tours" "Or if other captains from other markets" "Have ever come here because I think" "They can really learn something from each other." "Coming up, Joel comes face-to-face" "With an employee who's gunning for his job." "I would like to be CEO" "Of Herschend properties." "Who's in that job now?" "Joel Manby is our CEO." "And later, Joel gets his feet wet and his boss." "Whoa." "Sorry, man." "Joel Manby, CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment," "Is undercover in his own company." "His coworkers think he's being filmed for a documentary" "About someone trying out entry-level jobs." "His journey continues in Branson, Missouri." "I'll be working two jobs here at Silver Dollar City." "Silver Dollar City is a very unique theme park." "It is one of our flagship parks," "And it's been in existence for 50 years." "It is based back in the 1880s." "I really wanted to come to Silver Dollar City" "Because we have the reputation" "As the friendliest theme park in the world." "I want to know how they pull that off," "So I'm gonna work the front gate." "That is the first impression" "That the guest gets of this whole experience." "Hi." "Hi, I'm deanna." "Hi, deanna." "John." "Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you." "We're gonna go introduce you to Albert." "You're gonna be working with him today." "All right." "Great." "Good morning, Albert." "Hey." "Hey." "Good morning." "This is John Briggs." "John." "Nice to meet you." "My name is Albert." "Nice to meet you." "He's gonna working with you today, okay?" "Good deal." "All right." "Have a great day, guys." "All right, great." "Good to meet you." "You got a couple of things for your outfit" "That we still need to get ya." "Let's see here." "Perfect." "Are we choking you yet?" "No." "We're good." "Here we go, John." "That work?" "The only rule is you can't look better than me." "Come on over here, John." "We'll get you on a turnstile." "Okay, let's do it." "This is all about their first impressions." "So it's really a fun experience." "So it's pretty simple." "All you got to do is call someone over for a ticket." "Right over here, guys." "Scan their ticket, and the turnstile unlocks." "All right." "And hand back their ticket." "Wanna give it a shot, John?" "I guess so." "There you go." "I can help you over here, sir." "Ma'am, I can take your ticket over here." "She's already through." "I can help you over here, ma'am." "Anybody?" "We want to always interact" "With our guests." "All right." "You want to make 'em feel welcome." "This is the first thing they see in the morning." "So if they don't feel welcome when they come in," "They're not gonna feel welcome in the park." "We can never help our guests too much." "Tickets right here, folks." "Thank you." "Come on through." "Have a great day." "How are you today, ma'am?" "I'm fine." "It's a gorgeous day, isn't it?" "Right over here, folks." "I can get your tickets." "There you go." "You come on through." "Have a great day, all right?" "A season pass holder." "All right." "And just make sure to check her I.D." "You're from Maine?" "All right, good to have you here." "Gonna match the name with the name." "Come on in, sir." "Okay, John, let's go ahead, and you can come over here," "And we can keep things flowing smoothly." "I like that." "That's fun." "Yeah, it's a lot of fun." "You get to interact with the guests." "And it's one of the biggest parts of my day 'cause I love interacting with people." "Okay, John, well, we're in the back of the stroller booth here." "And we need to just keep stocking." "Okay." "Grab a double stroller there," "Couple of 'em." "One of our main goals is to keep this area out here stocked." "So that when they sell strollers," "The guests can come over here and grab 'em." "If we get a flood of people," "Then we'll be hurting if we don't get this stocked." "There's a couple of ways you can knock down a stack of strollers." "Holy cow." "You can't hurt the strollers," "So don't be afraid of the strollers." "Just watch out for yourself." "And we're just gonna go ahead and stockpile" "Over here for right now." "Okay." "Will we go through all these in one day?" "Well, we sure hope to today." "Saturday's usually a pretty busy day." "And let's go ahead and knock some more down back here." "Just a very fast-working guy." "It's hard to keep up with him." "So, Albert, how long have you worked here?" "This is my sixth year on park." "Sixth year." "Yes, sir." "So you were here since you were fif-- 14." "14?" "Yes, sir." "Mom said, "get a job,"" "So I listened." "That's how that works." "Wow." "Yeah, we could use another double stroller" "And a couple of single strollers." "And now we're ready for the next rush of people." "Let's go into the break room here," "And we'll have ourselves some lunch." "All right." "That sounds good." "I grew up at this park." "I've been on this park since I was two years old." "I have all these ideas" "About theme parks and stuff." "It's not just a place I work." "It's my passion too." "I love the theme park industry." "I'd really like to get into designing if I could." "You know, if that's something that I'm led to." "Design attractions, yeah." "I've been working on a couple designs," "And I've got some, if you wouldn't mind seeing 'em." "No, I wouldn't mind at all." "So this one is set on Lake Silver," "The man-made lake here at the park." "You're underwater at this point." "You're underwater at this point." "Do other coasters go underwater like that?" "To my knowledge, there's not a coaster" "That goes underwater." "So that's another benefit to it." "You want to go to a design school?" "I don't know yet." "That's the problem," "Is that I come from a pretty poor family." "We weren't well off in any sense." "And so I have to work to go to school." "And I'm trying to go to school for work." "I'm just doing ten hours this semester" "And then working 40-plus hours a week also." "Oh, wow." "What do you think" "The ideal job is here?" "Um, I would like to eventually be a CEO" "Of Herschend properties." "Who's in that job now?" "Joel Manby is our CEO." "Mm-hmm." "He is an awesome guy." "I think that's--that's something within your control." "I just know by seeing the type of person you are." "You've been fun to work with." "But that's what this park is all about." "I don't even feel like you're my boss." "Exactly, but at a point," "I'm gonna have to become your boss again, 'cause we got to go back to work." "I know we got to go back to work." "I think our break's over with." "I have a lot of emotion for Albert." "I really respect his passion and energy." "If you want to be an employee of this park," "The more you know about the park," "The better you're gonna be at your job." "Albert does overwhelm me a little bit," "But that's great, 'cause you can channel that." "And it definitely makes me want to try to help in some way." "I saw in Albert a little bit of myself." "I grew up poor like he did." "He may be no different than I was at that point," "But I got a few breaks along the way." "I still remain nervous to do each job" "And maybe be found out," "But even Albert mentioned my name as if, you know," ""maybe Joel Manby would look at my ideas."" "I'm sitting right there in front of him." "It just--wow, that really blew me away." "Got up at 3:30 this morning, which has never happened before." "I don't know why and how people choose to do these jobs" "So early in the morning." "It's just totally different than my normal, everyday job." "So I think it's gonna be hard." "Well, here I am back at Silver Dollar City." "This was ranked the cleanest park in America," "And so I really wanted to come" "To see how in the world we get this place so clean." "My name's Richard." "Hi, Richard." "I'm John." "Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you." "All right, we're gonna kick it in high speed." "This morning, the park opens at 9:30." "All right." "It's gonna be fast-paced." "Okay." "So I hope you're feeling energetic this morning." "Well, I'm good to go." "All right." "Always put the hose behind your back" "And grip it with the other hand." "You wanna flush the streets really good." "So just open it up." "All right, now I'm gonna let you wash." "Okay." "Is it this--is it the red one?" "No." "The black one." "You turn--turn the black." "Whoa." "Whoa." "Thing gets heavy." "See that dry spot?" "Yup." "Just hose it down just a little better" "Down through there." "There's leaves over here you'll need to get." "Yeah, I keep missing 'em." "How comes there's still leaves where I do it?" "It's actually harder than it looks." "He had to keep telling me to go back" "And hit those spots I was missing." "So do you think you could do this every morning?" "I'm not sure about the getting up part." "You get used to it." "I've been here going on 12 years." "Now we'll shut it off and drop a section of hose." "There's gonna be less hose to drag around." "What you do is you just take it, kink it," "And put your foot on it." "All right." "All right." "Just keep it kinked tight." "When I release the pressure, just shake that loose." "'kay!" "I'm pulling it apart now." "Okay!" "I'm trying." "Richard." "Uh-oh." "Uh-oh." "I think my hose is leaking." "Come back behind you here." "Whoa." "Sorry, buddy." "Don't get my boss wet on the first day." "I'm telling you." "He's already got me wet." "Whoops." "You might just stay behind me." "Okay." "Sorry." "So how did-- how did you come to work here?" "Well, actually, I worked in commercial construction," "And I wanted something different" "Where I could be home every night with my family." "Which, I have five kids." "You have five kids?" "I have five kids." "I adopted two." "I have four girls." "Four girls." "All right." "And we actually adopted one too," "So we have something in common there." "We were blessed as parents" "And didn't want to see some kid go through life" "Without parents, you know." "Right." "It doesn't seem right." "Well, it isn't right, really." "There's a lot of kids out there" "That needs a chance in life." "They really do." "I'm really impressed with Richard." "He's a hard worker, cares about his family." "To add two kids, the fact that he took all that on," "Just shows you the huge heart that the guy has." "So are you actually living in the area right now?" "I'm actually in a hotel, just kind of checking it out." "Where do you live?" "I live in Galena." "'cause, two years ago, we lost our house in a flood." "Did you have all five of your kids," "Your adopted kids too, at the time?" "Yup." "It was rough." "We actually lived in a pop-up camper at first." "We didn't have a place to go right then, so..." "I can't believe you lost all your stuff like that." "It must have been really hard to start over." "I had to go in and gut everything out." "So we still got quite a bit of work to do." "You're a hard-working man." "I was overwhelmed hearing that." "His whole home being wiped out from a flood." "Everything is gone." "And he's still working his way through that." "We have started a financial assistance program." "We use it to assist employees in need." "One thing I'm really frustrated with" "Is Richard didn't seem to apply for it," "So we can't help him, and we can't help others" "If they don't, and that's a problem." "Well, I say, you done pretty good" "For your first time." "Well, thank you." "You really did." "I had a good instructor who had some patience." "Well, I don't know about that." "I'm just proud that we have a guy like that" "Working in this company, I really am." "Coming up," "Joel gets a dose of his workers' reality." "This job is a gamble." "This is hard for me, to never know" "What's gonna happen when you come in." "And later, Joel meets his toughest boss yet." "Make sure you get up here too." "Make sure you don't put so much water." "You got to take pride in what you do." "Joel Manby," "CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment," "Continues his undercover journey inside his own company." "I'm going to work on the showboat Branson belle." "The showboat's over 14 years old," "It attracts hundreds of thousands" "Of people a year, and they come" "From all over the country." "It's a highly timed experience where you have" "To get people on that boat, serve them," "Watch a show." "It's very precise," "And I wanna go out and make sure" "Our guests' experience is still holding up" "And obviously look for ways to grow attendance as well." "Jennifer, this is John." "John, this is Jennifer." "Hi, Jennifer." "Hi." "How are you?" "Nice to meet you." "She will be working with you today." "Go get your uniform ready and get dressed." "All righty." "Okay." "I've never served before, so are you a good trainer?" "I'm gonna try my best." "Okay." "Thanks." "Here we go." "You ready for this?" "Yeah, I'm ready." "All right." "This is John." "He is gonna be helping me serve today." "How are you?" "Yeah, this is his first time," "So I'm gonna help him out." "Oh, you're a rookie?" "Yes." "I am a rookie." "Regular for you, sir?" "Please." "Everybody all set?" "You good?" "Everybody all set with drinks?" "I'm gonna get that coffee." "Do you want anything in this glass?" "Do you want water or anything cold?" "Timing is everything for us." "Do you have a watch or a phone?" "I have a watch." "Okay." "It's 11:55." "Is it really?" "Yeah." "Have you ever carried a tray before?" "No, I haven't." "Well, it's all about balance." "So just find your balance." "And we're just all gonna just kind of parade" "Through the very front row where we just were." "Ladies and gentlemen, coming out of the back part," "Serving 75,000 pounds of salad a year." "There you go." "The dressing is already on top for you." "You can go ahead and place a couple down." "Hello." "Did I hear we need some more dressing over here?" "You got it." "Our dinner course comes out at 15 after." "I think I'm doing okay." "I wish I'd worn an undershirt." "I'm sweating like crazy." "But I'm also nervous that I'm gonna drop something." "Okay, now push your hand towards the center as it goes." "I've got this." "You're good." "Yup." "Keep pushing it towards the center." "Whoa." "Okay." "Hold on." "Can you breathe?" "It's almost over." "I'm sweating." "she's very efficient," "But she has that rare talent that she can be efficient" "And really friendly at the same time." "How's your ice cream?" "Very good." "Yeah, that's my favorite." "That's a great trait in this business." "Some of the ladies are loving him." "He's adorable, so they're like, "hi."" "You know." "You did a good job." "Oh, thank you very much." "Thank you." "We're done." "We're just gonna go on break." "This is when we get to eat our lunch" "And just kind of hang out." "Hey, I'm kind of busy." "What's going on?" "She's sick." "What do you mean, like, sick?" "Did she puke sick or?" "Just tell her to stay in her bed." "No, she needs to stay in her bed" "And just stay at home and... okay." "All right, well, thanks for letting me know." "Okay." "Bye." "My daughter, she's sick." "How many children do you have?" "I have two." "Ten and seven." "Wow." "I married an army man." "We're divorced now." "How is it raising two kids with this kind of a job?" "Oh, it's actually really challenging," "And we've been trying to get the corporation" "To actually get a childcare facility" "Because, with all these parks and the weird hours" "That we work, it's-- we can't get" "A normal babysitter 9:00 to 5:00." "But the biggest thing is," "In the recession right now," "We're not filling the boat anymore." "We usually have twice as many people." "Yeah." "And we rotate through the boat." "That's how we get a station." "And when we rotate to the back of the boat," "And there's no people sitting in your station," "We get sent home." "I see." "So I would have my child at the babysitter" "And then have to go turn around and go pick him right up again," "Pay them for having them watch them" "For a couple of hours, and then not make any money myself." "And that happens all the time." "All the time." "This job is a gamble." "Never know what's gonna happen when you come in." "It really is a catastrophic issue." "Day in and day out," "She can't get her childcare covered." "And so, for people in that situation," "We ought to have some kind of assistance for them." "All righty." "It was a pleasure." "Thank you." "Yeah, it was a pleasure meeting you." "You take care." "Yeah." "Good luck to you." "Hope to see you soon." "I'm here in Camden" "Heading in to my last undercover job" "At our Adventure aquarium.A" "We just purchased these aquariums," "So not only is it a brand-new business," "But I don't know the people very well." "It's a very concentrated experience" "With a lot of kids in a small area." "And they do a good job, but I want to see how that's done." "And I want to learn how they do what they do." "Hi." "Hi." "Are you John?" "I am John." "I'm Melissa." "We have a lot of groups outside, and I want to get you started 'cause we need your help." "Is that okay?" "That's okay." "Can you show me what to do?" "So we're gonna head straight up the stairs here," "And you're gonna learn how to do touch tank." "So this is a normal day, John." "This is what it normally looks like up here, so..." "This is Mercedes, John." "Hi, Mercedes." "Hi, how are you?" "Excuse the wet hands, but hi." "That's all right." "I'm John." "John's new to the team, Mercedes," "So I hope you can show him what we do up here." "Sure." "Great." "Jump on in." "All right, I'm jumping in." "As soon as the kids come up, I let them know" "Everything is touchable." "They have to take their two fingers and stroke." "They can't poke or pick up." "Okay." "That's a leather sea star." "This creature right here is a green surf anemone." "The kids love it 'cause it sticks to your fingers." "Anenome?" "Anemone." "All right, anemone." "A-nem-on-e." "Tell me the species difference again, though." "'cause I drew a blank." "This one is a sea ochre." "And they all are sea ochres." "Now just touch him with two fingers like this." "It's a sea cucumber." "No, they're two different species." "It's--I don't think it's asleep." "So, John, we have to get ready" "To do some cleaning." "Okay." "So we're gonna be washing the tanks." "So--and you want to wipe in a circular motion 'cause you don't want to leave scratches." "Okay." "Or marks." "What happens if guests come up while I'm on it?" "Just keep working?" "You can step aside, yeah." "And do I go up really high." "Speedy, speedy, speedy." "All right, all right." "Come on, come on, come on." "I think you missed a spot." "I know." "It's really hard to get all the spots 'cause there are so many fingerprints." "You got to take pride in what you do." "Let's come on over here." "This looks really nasty." "There's actually a smudge right above your head here." "Make sure you get up here too." "Put some more muscle into it." "Have you ever done cleaning like this?" "Ever?" "Right up in here." "Yeah." "Golly." "Make sure you don't put so much water." "'cause it leaves a smeary mark." "That doesn't look so good." "It just looks smudgy." "Let me see." "Yeah, that's better." "As soon as you're cleaning it, somebody comes along" "And touches it." "No excuses." "No excuses." "You can get this." "I'm slow, and I think I'm not very good, 'cause I keep missing spots." "And she keeps coming in after me," "So I feel a little embarrassed." "She was faster than me and better." "You know, she obviously cares a lot," "Which, you know, that kind of picks up my performance" "And makes me wanna do better." "So you do this, and you work the touch pool." "Yup." "I work in accounting in the finance department," "I also do events, hosting." "Also the touch-a-shark tank where you saw me." "Wow." "Yeah." "You're busy." "I do pretty much a little bit" "Of everything here." "So, Mercedes, how long have you been here?" "It'll be two years in January." "Oh, wow." "Yes, I've been here" "For two years, and it went by so fast." "Jump right on in." "So tell me more about what you were saying." "You're kidding me." "And my son was about one years old." "Where were you actually living?" "We were staying in his school." "It was a private daycare," "And we were sleeping on the floor." "And it wasn't because of my resume or work ethic." "Nobody would hire me." "It was just really hard times," "And the only thing that kept me going" "Was my son running up to me and smiling." "Like, he never knew, you know, we were homeless" "Or we were going through hard times." "Kids don't know that stuff." "They just are kids." "You know, they're innocent." "And I finally got the job here." "This place was, like, a lifesaver for me." "So..." "Wow." "Ever since then," "I've just been saying yes to everything" "And accepting every opportunity this place has to offer." "Whether it's cleaning, whether it's filing," "Whether it's greeting a guest" "Or hosting a party." "Wow." "That's really impressive." "I think the more you know, the better." "Yeah." "The pay comes later." "You know?" "Yeah." "It's really humbling to see what she's been through." "The attitude to just do it all on your own" "Like she did," "It's just so amazing to me." "In this experience, you know, you just see" "So much pain, and you just think, why" "You know, why does it have to be like this?" "And, you know, you want to help," "But you can't always help everybody." "It's just-- man, what an amazing person." "What an amazing person." "I feel worn down." "I've kind of felt overwhelmed seeing all this." "Because I had never done the frontline jobs," "I could not possibly have the appreciation for it." "I am feeling, not just reading about or hearing about," "I'm feeling how good our people are" "And how important their jobs are." "And how incumbent it is on me as a leader" "To make sure it stays that way." "It's gonna make me a better leader." "It's gonna make me stronger and even more dedicated" "Than I even am today." "Coming up, Joel summons his employees" "To headquarters." "Where am I going?" "What is this all about?" "I'm a little nervous." "How will they react" "When Joel reveals his true identity?" "I'm actually Joel Manby," "And I'm CEO of Herschend Entertainment." "My experience has come to an end now, and I'm gonna" "To report back to my team and tell them" "What I learned while I went undercover" "The good and the bad." "Well, thanks, everybody, for coming together." "And, as you know, I'm back." "Welcome back." "From my little trip." "Thanks." "It's good to be back." "It was just an incredible experience." "It was more physically exhausting" "And more emotionally exhausting" "Than I anticipated." "Wow." "And there's some things that I want to talk through" "That--that we need to fix and we need to do better." "The overriding thing is we have financial assistance" "For our employees, and, almost without fail," "The people I talked to had not applied for it" "Even when they had huge needs." "Do we know why they didn't apply for assistance?" "Do they not know about it?" "No one wants to apply for financial assistance, right?" "And so somehow we have got to figure out" "How to market that better," "How to get people to apply more easily." "I don't have all the solutions," "And I want your guys' input into that," "As we normally operate." "The second kind of overarching thing was" "We have to find a way to serve single parents better." "They are a significant part of our workforce," "And, as you go back out to your properties," "Just keep an open ear to that." "I sure would like to have concrete results" "Out of what we learned from this experience." "So I really appreciate it, and thanks for your" "Your listen to all this." "Thank you." "Great." "Now it's time for me to reveal my true identity" "To each of the people I worked with" "Over the past week." "I'm in the dark right now" "And feeling like, "wow, where am I going?" "What is this all about?"" "I'm a little nervous 'cause I don't know what to expect." "Hey." "How you doing?" "John Briggs." "John." "Yes, John." "Good to see you." "hi." "John." "Yeah." "Hey." "How are you doing?" "Good." "How are you?" "Just fine." "I'm not actually John Briggs." "You're not John?" "Well, I'm actually Joel Manby," "And I'm the CEO of, of Herschend Entertainment." "No." "That was you." "Okay." "Whoa, so you-- it's my boss's boss?" "Well, yeah." "Wow." "Man." "So that was a pretty good-- you got me." "I was John Briggs." "Oh, man." "I never worked the frontline jobs at Herschend." "I really wanted to work the frontline jobs," "And I didn't want people to know who I was" "Because, whenever they know who I am," "I get treated differently." "And even though I feel badly that we had to do" "The disguise, and you didn't really know," "That was the only way I could get the real experience." "that's cool." "That's pretty cool." "Captain, first of all," "I just have never seen" "Anybody transform themselves like you transformed themselves." "All righty, folks, little fella coming through." "I tried to interact with the kids." "But you, in some senses, became a kid." "For me, this is an opportunity" "To touch somebody else's life," "To wake somebody up, you know," "To get somebody going," "And hopefully they'll have a good day from me," "And that's what I'm trying to do, so..." "Can we take some of that magic and put it at other," "Other ride-the-duck locations in other cities?" "I'd like to see you be able to go and help teach them" "Some of what you have." "I would love to do that." "Let's make it happen." "I'm there." "All right." "Great." "No problem." "I really appreciate you." "Wow." "This is, like, what?" "It's just amazing." "I'm--I can't wait to go home and tell my girl about it." "To me, Jennifer, I was impressed with your work ethic." "What you did is really put a face to being a single parent." "I wanted to do something about it, so what we're gonna do" "Is expand our financial assistance program," "And we're gonna allow childcare." "So you can take that worry out of your life," "At least from a financial standpoint." "That would be great." "It's like a huge weight..." "Tchh." "Yeah." "I hope you can continue on a positive track." "And I really admire what you've done." "Well, thank you." "Appreciate that." "It's the one thing I struggle most with." "So it's gonna feel amazing" "To not have to worry about it as much." "I can't even explain to you." "Richard, you are a very special man." "And you have a really special heart." "Thank you." "And we're very lucky to have a man like you." "Well, thank you." "I appreciate that." "That story about losing your home really touched me," "And what I'd like to do" "Is, for your home, allocate the full $10,000" "Of catastrophic funds that we have available" "To help you redo your house." "And then we're gonna take" "The citizens of Silver Dollar City" "On a day off and come to your house" "So we can fix it up." "And something that'll take you over a year to get done," "Maybe we can get done in one day." "I don't know what to say now." "Well, I appreciate that." "You don't have to say anything." "You got me good, I just" "I've never dreamed about something like this" "Ever happening." "So it's gonna be a big relief." "Mercedes, you're just an incredible worker." "The more you know, the better." "Yeah." "The pay comes later, you know?" "Even though you have every reason" "To have a very different attitude." "There's a couple things I want to do." "First thing we want to do is give you an immediate raise." "Oh, god." "Oh, lord." "I don't believe this is happening." "I'm sorry." "Oh, my god." "You okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "Oh, my god." "In honor of you making that huge move" "From being homeless into a new apartment," "We're gonna come with you to your apartment" "And we're gonna inventory with you" "Everything that you need." "And you just tell us what you need," "And then we're gonna take care of that." "I hope you're with us for a long time." "Who knows, maybe we can see you get into your own home." "Wow, that would be great." "And I want to see you achieve your dreams, okay?" "Thank you." "All righty." "Thank you so much." "I feel like I'm on top of the world." "Like, this is amazing." "Wow." "You're trying to work full-time," "And you're trying to go to school at night." "You've inspired me to, uh," "Start a scholarship program." "I should tell you you're gonna be the first recipient." "You're gonna get to go to school full-time." "So you don't have to work all day." "You don't have to go to school at night." "We're gonna actually pay you" "Your 40-hours-a-week salary while you go to school." "That's amazing." "Well, you deserve it." "All we ask is that you, you know, in the summertime" "When you're not going to school full-time" "Back to work?" "Come back to work." "I would love to." "You can't keep me away from the place." "We need a lot of people like you," "With your kinda passion, your kinda enthusiasm." "First thing I'm calling is my parents." "I'm gonna be jumping up and down while I'm telling 'em," "And I'm gonna hear my dad." "I know he's gonna be so proud." "Good afternoon." "I'm really excited to talk about what happened, 'cause it was once-in-a-lifetime," "And I just can't wait to tell 'em about it." "Here's our CEO, mr." "Joel Manby." "My name's Joel Manby, and for the last week" "I went undercover at our great company." "And so, we thought we'd uhow you a little bit" "Of the experience of what I went through" "With some of these great folks down here," "And we're gonna start in Branson, Missouri." "What you do is just take it, kink it," "And just take this loose." "I'm" "Richard." "The ladies are loving him." "He's adorable." "So they're like, "hi."" "Thank you very much." "What do you think the ideal job is here?" "A CEO." "Who's in that job now?" "Joel Manby is our CEO." "We talk a lot about" "Creating a great guest experience." "But I have to say, I had no idea" "How great you guys are" "And how passionate you are about your jobs," "About each other, and about the company." "And I am so thankful that I went through this experience," "Because I have an absolutely renewed passion" "And appreciation" "For what you all do on the front line." "I just could not be more proud of you." "So thank you very much for what you do," "And thanks for coming today." "I am just so glad that I did this." "And I have to say, it's the greatest single week" "And greatest work experience I've ever had." "Stay tuned for scenes" "From our next episode."