DALLAS -- The cover story: Danny Rossi, an out-of-work real-estate executive in search of a new career, takes a job at 7-Eleven. He is followed by a camera crew documenting his experience in entry-level work.
The real story: Joe DePinto, president and CEO of 7-Eleven Inc., experiences life on the front lines at several 7-Eleven stores as part of the CBS series Undercover Bosswith duties including making coffee, sweeping, stocking shelves, making pastries and making deliveries.
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of Undercover Boss.)
DePintointroduced as the "Baron of the Big Bite," the "Sultan of the Slurpee" and the "King of Convenience"leaves his Dallas home, family and office for a week in motels and in the company's stores and commissaries. He trades in his "executive office and personal putting greens for a mop and pot of joe."
The West Point graduate says, "The time I spent in the military was formative for me. The army was all about ensuring that you properly led the people that were assigned to you and that you took care of them. That's the approach I take very day as CEO.... One thing I took away form the militarywe always had our equipment working so that we could be mission ready. And it's the same thing in running stores."
Through this experience, he hopes to discover "how the communication from our support center in Dallas is flowing down through our organization and ultimately to our stores."
DePinto is first assigned to a New York store that sells 2,500 cups of coffee a day, more than any other in the system. Unfortunately, his work is not quite up to par, according to Dolores, the18-year employee who refers to him as "mushy-mush" after a coffee-brewing mishap. DePinto is impressed with Dolores, who he realizes is responsible for much of the store's repeat business through her ability to connect with customers, most of whom she knows by name. Healso learns that she is on kidney dialysis.
At a 7-Eleven commissary in Baltimore, he is trained by Phil at making pastries. DePinto, in a performance comparable to Lucy working the candy conveyor belt, needs to be cajoled by Phil into speeding up his work. He learns that Phil is also a talented artist.
At another location, he works with Wagas, a night clerk who does notbelieve he can rise in the organization. There, DePinto is troubled by the amount of unsold food that goes into the garbage at the end of the day, despite a program in place to donate it to charity. And he is disappointed in the lag time for some corporate maintenance at another location; he sneaks in a call to corporate to get the needed fix.
And he makes deliveriesalmost blowing his cover at a store near his housewith Igor, an immigrant from Kazakhstan who loves the opportunities of America.
After his week is up, DePinto gathers these employees together to reveal his true identity and to praise and reward them for their hard work and dedication to the company. In honor of Dolores, he directs the company to establish an organ donor awareness program and contributes $150,000 in her name. He gets Phil freelance work in the company's marketing department. He assists Wagas in working toward moving up the corporate ladder. And he helps Igor become a franchisee.
Overall, the experience was positive for DePinto, "To see folks work as hard as they were, made me feel great as a CEO," he said. "And makes me want to work even harder in my job to ensure we're giving them all that we can to support them in what they do."
Click here to watch previews and full episodes, including the DePinto episode.
Also, click on#711undercoverboss and#undercoverboss to view comments about the show on Twitter.
(Follow CSP Daily News on Twitter at #cspnet.)
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.