Undercover Boss - Lucky Strike Recap
Undercover Boss Steven Foster, CEO of Lucky Strike, America's premier chain of upscale bowling companies, is married with two sons. His parents were very loving and supportive, even offering their house as collateral for his first business loan. His mother died recently and he is very emotional throughout the show as a result. All his parents cared about, he says, is whether he was happy. That's his business strategy with Lucky Strike. He wants to have an atmosphere, of a lounge/upscale party venue with special, dramatic lighting and lots of energy and attention to detail. He considers his company his child and believes it is time for it to grow some more.
Wearing a wig and glasses, Steven disguises himself as Aaron and begins Job 1 at the Hollywood, California Lucky Strike "where it all began." He is paired with cheerful, upbeat Devin, the bar-hop in wheelies, who also does promoting. Devin advises him that he must dress as Mr. Pin, a giant bowling pin, and go on the streets promoting bowling. Aaron really gets in to being Mr. Pin, singing and dancing with bemused pedestrians. Devin, laughing, admits he always thought there should be a giant bowling ball chasing Mr. Pin around.
Next Devin tries to teach Aaron to pour drinks, being the bar brings in 40 - 50% of sales for Lucky Strike. Aaron horrifies him and at one point, his supervisor, by going way too heavy on the alcohol because he refuses to follow the "bubble" system they have worked out. On a break, Aaron learns that Devin, the son of a professional Christian musician, traveled a lot with his dad in his youth, selling product for him at shows.
Aaron goes next to Manhattan, Lucky Strike's most successful venue. He wants to "catch the magic in a bottle and export it" to the other bowling sites. Brianna begins teaching him Job #2, serving drinks and decorating for parties. Brianna, who works five to six nights a week, wanted to open a daycare, but her parents' recent divorce derailed her plans as well. She laughs with the customers and tries to teach Aaron, but he is not fast enough, and still manages to spill a drink almost in the unhappy customer's lap. On break Aaron realizes there really is nowhere decent for the employees to relax as he and Brianna perch on a narrow ledge in other employees' way.
Job #3, in West Nyack, New York, involves helping Angel, a bowling mechanic, service the machines. Aaron warns him to be very careful while working to avoid injuries, and worries that Aaron's age keeps him from being spry enough to do the job safely. Aaron is worried because his wig begins coming loose, which could certainly compromise his undercover status. Not wanting to be discovered as an Undercover Boss, he excuses himself to go fix it. Angel points out that since Aaron is not comfortable around a machine or a toolbox, mechanical work might not be the proper fit for him. When Aaron returns, Angel tells him that his own parents owned a bowling center and that he worked for them when he was young. He talks about how much he respects his dad, and Aaron can relate fully. Worried about how empty the lanes often are, Aaron asks about it, and Angel says he thinks if they had a league program it would solve the problem. He says his daughter is who he works for, and he wants her to finish college and realize her dream of being a veterinarian even though she had a baby young.
Aaron heads to Houston, Texas for his fourth and final job, working with Jermaine at a control desk. Control is all about what lanes are available, working out details for public, league and party bowling and optimizing lane usage, all on the computer. Control workers must also work with the bowling public. Jermaine shows Aaron how to input data in to the Lucky Strike program, but Aaron doesn't even know how to make a capital letter. After seeing Aaron's ineptitude at using a computer, typing, or learning the programs, he decides that Aaron would do really well standing in front of Walmart, shaking hands when someone comes through the door. Aaron does quickly realize, however, that the two programs that Jermaine uses are not integrated, meaning the data has to be retyped in to the new program to finish the work.
Jermaine has not been at Lucky Strike for long. He's been working as a graphic designer for an investment company. He reveals that he would love to design a new logo for Lucky Strike. He's going to school to learn computer programming, but says he could see himself going for a Business degree and staying at Lucky Strike, since this seems like the right fit for him. Jermaine talks about his four year old son, born blind, and says he can't afford to make mistakes, but has to deal with life on life's terms. Aaron buys a bracelet from him that says "strike out cancer," which is a fundraiser.
Aaron transforms himself back in to Undercover Boss Steven Foster, CEO of Lucky Strike. The employees he's worked with come to headquarters, and don't recognize him until he tells them who he is. Steven tells Devin that he wants to create a national program around Mr. Pin and have Devin head it up, as well as design a Mr. Bowling Ball to go along with him. Steven also wants Devin to take his father on a trip at Steven's expense. Devin is thrilled to have been duped by his own company.
Brianna is asked to create a "Bowling with Bri" program for children, and when she's ready to open the daycare, Steven wants to donate $10,000 towards it. Also, a new employee lounge is going to be built in her branch of Lucky Strike. Now Brianna is laughing through tears.
Jermaine is asked to enter training since he's the kind of person they need in their company. Steven asks him to work with the programming department to help integrate the two separate computer programs for nationwide use. He is also asked to work with the design team to design a tee-shirt with his new logo on it, with a percentage of all sales to go in to a fund for his son.
Angel is promoted on the spot to Head Mechanic, with accompanying raise. Also, Steven asks him to head up League programs in his area, with a percentage of the sales from the league program going to him. After Angel says how proud his dad would be of him, Steven adds that he wishes to contribute $10,000 to his daughter's college fund.
Steven Foster, Undercover Boss and CEO of Lucky Strike bowling lanes, admits that he's learned things he didn't know, and should have known as CEO of the company. He is proud of the family of employees that he's met and learned from, and wants to "grow up and become the person his parents wanted him to be." His parents were all about helping people, he says, and from this point on Lucky Strike is going to be about helping "their people."
Undercover Boss Steven Foster is fond of dressing up as Mr. Pin and walking down Hollywood Boulevard.
Source: watching Undercover Boss on CBS
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Published by Tracie Walker
After homeschooling our three sons from K-12, I began doing more of the writing I love, with some success. The success I'm proudest of, though, is the more than 30 years of happy marriage I am enjoying with... View profile