Undercover Boss – Roto-Rooter COO
Roto-Rooter COO Rick Arquilla with a stopped-up bathtub
In the April 2, 2010 airing of Undercover Boss, Rick Arquilla, President and COO of Roto-Rooter, goes undercover to examine the daily lives of his workers. Although it’s not a particularly easy episode to watch — sewage, opening drains, pulling out hair and old towels from stopped up plumbing — it is once again a real eye opener for those, like myself, who are interested in the day-to-day work lives of the unsung heroes of the work world. Heck, I remember one of my own crises only this year, when our kitchen sink stopped up. Who do you think we called? Yep, that’s right – Roto-Rooter! We were faced with dozens of ads in the Yellow Pages, but we didn’t want to fool around. We’ve had experiences in the past with local companies which didn’t call us back or couldn’t come within 24 hrs. In our case, there had been a built-up of grease. Parenthetically, I should say we have septic and well water. What I learned from it is to wipe grease and oil completely off pans and dishes with paper towels and try and prevent it from getting into the system at all.
But I digress. Let’s get back to the show, shall we? We first see Rick in New Orleans, then in Chicago. He’s going under the name of “Hank”. Once again, the employees have a hard time training the newbie. You can see this in their expressions, rolling of their eyes, and their comments. It’s obvious their opinion is that this newbie is NOT going to make it. What really amazes me is how good most of these people are at their jobs. I’d do anything to hold on to them. For instance, the customer service person who tells him “you talk AT the customers and interrupt them”. He concedes that he has done that a number of times. She explains “I love our customers”. She tells them “basically, you want to be their hero”. He admits ” I gotta be a little warmer and fuzzier”.
I loved it when he was back in New Orleans, and being shown the ropes again at a nursing home with a problem. His “teacher” is obviously frustrated and says “Today’s his first day. Only time will tell — he may be my boss one of these days.” Well, that made me grin. Rick said “This was probably a little more than I had bargained for.”
As with past shows, he gets to have a one-on-one conversation with one of the workers. Chris reveals his past problems and recovery from alcohol and drugs, something that almost destroyed his life. Rick can fully sympathize, because his own father was an alcoholic, and it destroyed his life and impacted on his children. You watch Rick experience very emotional reactions, and he is clearly in tears hearing the worker’s story. In the end, he confesses “You taught me how to be a better person”.
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