Tonight on CBS their Emmy award winning reality show, Undercover Boss continues for an all new Sunday January 2, season 6 episode 4 called “Maaco”. On tonight’s episode Jose Costa, president of Maaco, works undercover at his body shops
On last episode Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill – CEO/Founder Doug Guller, welcomed controversy and proudly referred to his chain of restaurants as “breastaurants.” While undercover, Guller contended with a troublesome employee who not only refused to don the uniform’s bikini top, but also over-served an intoxicated person. Did you watch the last episode? If you missed it, we have a full and detailed recap, right here for you.
On tonight’s episode as per the CBS synopsis, “Jose Costa, the Venezuelan-born President of Maaco, goes under the hood to inspect “America’s Bodyshop,” On the job, the boss gets overheated when he finds an employee cutting corners. Additionally, the boss’s detailing work could stand to be fine-tuned.”
The show airs tonight at 8pm on CBS and we will be live blogging all the details. So don’t forget to come back and refresh your screen often for live updates.
Tonight’s episode begins now – Refresh Page often to get the most current updates!
Tonight, #UndercoverBoss is Jose Costa of Maaco, the auto painting giant. The company is based out of Charlotte, North Carolina and is the top auto care franchise in the US. Jose says his goal was to spread affordable care across America and has helped fix over 18 million cars. Jose is from Venezuela and his parents are Venezuelan and Italian. He came to the US for graduate school then stayed. He says KFC and Burger King sponsored his Visa then he joined Maaco 10 months ago. He really isn’t a car guy and has had a lot of criticism because of it.
Jose is married to Cindy and have a two year old son and a daughter on the way. He says he doesn’t like lazy people at all. He’s made up to look like an Argentinian immigrant on a reality show competing to win a dream home. He starts out at his number nine store in Orlando. He’s worried he’s going to screw up. He’s introduced to Jim, a body tech guy, as Alberto. Jim repairs dents and says he was expecting a younger guy. Jim tells him he only gets paid commission so he has to work fast. He explains the process to Alberto.
He shows Alberto how to sand a dent and keeps telling him faster, faster. Jose isn’t happy that Jim is cutting corners. Jim tells him customers expect a cheap paint job when they choose Maaco. Jose is pissed. Jose says this isn’t the Maaco way but says nothing to Jim about this. Jim then tells him he spent some time in jail, struggled with alcoholism and had to leave his family. He says he spent 18 months in rehab and couldn’t see his family and missed time with his kids. He says it’s his last chance with his three year old. He says he now lives for his kids and doesn’t want them to live like him.
Jose next comes back to the franchise in Orlando to serve as a painter. He says this franchise owner also makes big money painting all the trash cans for Disney World. He meets Christian who paints the trash cans. He gets Jose suited up and says he’s been with Maaco for 14 years since he lived in Puerto Rico. He tells him there is no room for error and shows him how to remove all the dust. Christian says the work is his name and says he never cuts corners and does everything himself. He tells him to pick up the pace but not to go too fast. He points out his mistakes. Christian calls the cans his babies.
Christian says he’s been there two and a half years and left Puerto Rico for the American dream. He says one day he wants to own his own shop. He says he’s been saving and working hard and then his wife had a high risk pregnancy and says they lost a baby. He says his wife is on bed rest every day and can’t work at all so Christian says he has to earn all the money and take care of everything at home. He says he sometimes feel all the pressure of the bills but says he’s happy in his life. Jose is very impressed with Christian’s positive attitude and says he’d like to have employees like him everywhere.
Next, Jose heads to a franchise in Trenton, New Jersey. He heads to talk to Matt about his franchise and how it’s doing so well. Matt greets him and takes him on a tour. He introduces him to Ronald Bran – they call him Rambo. He asks the guy to organize customer parking and then do some chores. Rambo says his job is to keep the lot organized and they start moving some cars around. He says Alberto/Jose drives like an old lady. He says he’s been there 13 years and could drive the parking lot blind. Jose asks how he does this so fast and so well.
There’s an announcement over the loudspeaker ordering Rambo around. Alberto doesn’t even know what a VIN number is. Rambo sends him running around to get VIN numbers once he explains it. Alberto sets off a car alarm. Rambo says he moves like a bear – slow and clumsy while he himself is more like a gazelle. He says he would fire Alberto for being too slow. Rambo tells him that he busted a rib and a knee in a wreck and says his wife was laid off at that time and he had to go back to work the next day. Rambo tells him he works outside year round and freezes and sweats all year.
Alberto asks if he’s asked for help. Rambo says there’s no budget for him to work inside. He says the roof leaks all over and says if he asks for help, he’ll make less money. Rambo asks Alberto why he moved to the US. He tells him that Argentina isn’t safe for his kids. Rambo tells him things aren’t always great in the US either. He tells him he worked eight part time jobs while going to high school to help his single mom. He then tells him he was in the military for 14 years and has then worked for Maaco. Jose is very impressed with him.
Jose asks Matt about the roof and Matt says replacing equipment and repairs is costly. He says as soon as he pays off the mortgage, he can do that. He says it’s frustrating that Maaco will add new locations rather than re-investing in their existing successful stores. Jose says that’s something he needs to address once this is all done. Next, Jose is working as a detailer in a different New Jersey location. He says every detailer should have the same standards in every Maaco and is hoping to see that. He meets AC who tells him his job is to wow the customer.
He shows him the Maaco policy board and says that’s his lifeline because that’s what the boss expects. AC explains to him how they do it so they don’t knock paint off. Mark, the boss, comes out and tells him he’s strict on time and says he only allows 30 minutes per car. AC tells him time is everything. Jose is very impressed with AC. He tells Alberto he’s going to give him 30 minutes to do a car the right way. He tries it and AC tells him he’s doing things out of order. He points him back to the board and he has to start over. He misses tape in a couple of places. AC says he’s messing up on everything.
Mark comes back in and pushes on him again. He says they are way over on the time. Jose says he didn’t think detailing was hard, but now knows better. Mark tells AC to take Alberto back to the board and show it to him again. AC says Alberto is slowing him down and says he would have four or five cars done by now all alone. Mark checks over the car and shows Alberto several mistakes he’s made. Jose thinks the guy is a taskmaster and wants everything done fast and with quality. He says that reinforces that Jim, the first guy, didn’t have to cut corners to work fast and do a good job.
AC tells him it’s rough in America just like other countries. AC tells him that his mom remarried and he didn’t get along with him and then he started getting in trouble and ran away to the streets when he was 14. He says he ended up in jail for drugs for two years. He says he got out on work release and has been with Maaco ever since. He says he met his wife and now has four kids. He says his wife getting pregnant changed his life and he knew he had to change his life when his first daughter was born. He says it doesn’t matter what he’s told to do, he’s going to do it so he has a paycheck.
Jose is very impressed with AC. He says this week undercover has shown him the huge contribution the employees are making. He wants to help them all get their own American dream. AC tells him they work hard and hard work pays off. It’s time for the big reveal. The employees he worked with think they are coming to the set of the reality show to hear the results. They are all surprised to hear he’s the big boss at Maaco and that they are on the show. They are all floored. He starts with Jim first. He tells Jim he’s a good guy but is cutting corners.
He says he was going to pull his disguise and fire him right then. He says he’s putting his money ahead of the company. He says they can’t cut corners. Jim tells him he’s worked at three different Maacos and that’s how he was taught to work. Jose tells him he’s going to give him 30 days to improve and Jim says he can make the changes. Jim says he’s going to work hard to show them a difference. He next meets with Matt and says it was tough to hear his criticism of Maaco about how the franchise owners are treated.
He says he’s giving him $35,000 to remodel the store, paint the building and get him a new sales office with all the high tech bells and whistles. Matt is shocked that he didn’t recognize him and says every day he thinks about making his location better but can’t afford it. Rambo is next and he tells him he doesn’t like that he as to work out in the elements. He says he’s going to build him a heated work station. Rambo tears up and says it was a wind chill factor of 13 a few days before he was there. Jose tells him he’s a hard worker who has served a lot of people.
He offers him $20,000 to make his life a little easier. Rambo says it was the last thing he was expecting and says it’s going to change his life. AC is up next and Jose tells him he was the highlight of his week. He says he liked to hear about his kids and how important they are to him. He says he’s sending him and his family on a vacation anywhere he wants to go and then says he’s setting up a college fund for his kids with $5,000 each. Then he gives him another $10,000 on top of that. AC is completely overcome and Jose tells him it’s for a down payment on a home.
Jose tells Christian that he was so impressed with him. He says he heard him say he wanted to someday own his own Maaco and says he thinks he would make a great franchisee. Jose says he’s going to personally train him so someday soon he can own his own Maaco. Jose says he’s going to bring him to corporate and help him develop a Spanish language training program for the whole company. Jose says he’s going to pay all the expenses to bring his parents from Puerto Rico for his daughter’s birth. Christian says his wife is going to flip out.
Jose says he’s going to pay his rent for one year. Christian starts crying. Jose also says he’s going to give him $20,000. Christian says he doesn’t know how to thank him. It’s sweet and very emotional. He tells Jose he will owe him for the rest of his life. Wow. Great guy – sooo much better than the d-bag last week from Bikinis. What a jerk that guy was.
Update – Jim left Maaco, Matt is revamping his shop. Rambo got a new truck to commute. AC took his family to Disney World and Christian is working on developing the Spanish language training program and his daughter has been born.
THE END!
