[dramatic music]
male announcer: More than 100 of America's biggest bosses...
- I just hope I can keep up with the guys.
announcer: Have gone undercover
in their own companies.
- That wasn't as easy as it looks.
[indistinct shouting]
- Lift me up!
- I'm about to just flip out, here.
- I would almost swear you look like somebody else.
- Right here, right now,
we're gonna shut the restaurant down.
announcer: More than $20 million
has been awarded to employees...
- I'll write up a checkfor $250,000.
- Oh, my God.
announcer: And millions of lives...
- I'm gonna pay off the mortgage.
announcer: Changed forever.
- For real? - This is real.
The greatest reward is to see people
live their dream.
- That's a life changer.
[dramatic music]
announcer: Tonight. - Oh, man.
That's a big one.
announcer: On "Undercover Boss"
- We have drugs. Everything.
announcer: The newly-elected mayor
of Shreveport, Louisiana.
- I feel older.
announcer: Is on a mission to turn
his troubled city around.
- We have everybody shot,
but shot at of course.
announcer: To crack down on crime.
- What I've learned from them,
they like the officer presence.
- Right now, crime going crazy.
announcer: Unearth the big problems
his team is facing. - Put on the brake.
But you got to remember not to panic.
announcer: And find a way to fix the city
for a brighter future.
- You ever turn any kids away?
- Unfortunately,I have to.
announcer: Going undercover, he'll be facing down fires.
- Here we go.
announcer: Dealing with the harsh realities.
- Who be paying for the snacks?
- It comes out of my pocket
because the snack could be the last meal.
announcer: And hearing the hard truths.
- These people in chargejust don't get it.
They've never been there.
If you've been thereone time,
you'll never forget it.
announcer: But how will his coworkers react?
- Are you serious?
announcer: When they discover. - What?
announcer: That's he's really the mayor.
- There's almostno words to explain.
announcer: All this next on "Undercover Boss".
[upbeat music]
♪
- I am Adrian Perkins.
I'm the mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana.
I am the second youngest mayor in Shreveport's history.
I started when I was 32.
I am in charge of roughly 3,000 employees
and we have 13 city departments.
Shreveport's the third largest city in Louisiana.
We have around 200,000 residents.
There's a lot of responsibilities.
announcer: Shreveport back in the 1930s
was a successful oil and gas town
with a booming economy and famous music scene.
It's where Elvis started his career.
But by the 1980s, the good times
had come to an end.
The economy crashed and the oil and gas companies left.
Today, the city is struggling.
- The last 30 or so years,
Shreveport has lost about 30,000 jobs.
It devastates the morale of a community.
When people are in poverty, you see crime rates go up.
There was 60 homicides in Shreveport last year.
I ran for mayor to change the fortunes
of my beloved hometown,
to improve the underfunded public services
and reduce the crime rate.
I am born and raised right here in Shreveport, Louisiana.
My father left when I was about four years old.
My mom, she raised me and my two other brothers
by working multiple jobs.
There's some painful memories.
A lot of times we struggled to make sure
we had enough food.
She would set the table for me and my brothers,
and we wouldn't even see her eat.
So, I really saw hard work and sacrifice
at a very early age through my mother.
[siren wailing]
And then 9/11 happened when I was a junior.
And I kind of made the decision that I would go
and serve and protect the country.
So, I went to West Point,
learned how to be an artillery officer.
I went to Iraq. I was a platoon leader
over roughly 30 soldiers.
I was 23 years old
with that kind of responsibility.
And I was promoted to captain.
Then I went to Afghanistan twice.
After that, I was ready for another challenge.
Fortunately enough, I got accepted
to the Harvard Law School.
I always said I'm coming back to Shreveport.
I love the city.
And I've been watching Shreveport
and I saw some of the decline.
I knew that maybe some of my leadership
could kind of get us out of the rut
that they were in.
So ultimately, that's what pushed me
to go out and be bold
and run for mayor.
I won this election with 64% of the vote.
To fix this city, I need to get down
to the individual employee level
to see what's going on,
and the best way to do that is by going undercover.
Y'all want some coffee? Anybody, coffee?
- No. I'm good. Thanks. Thanks.- It's a bit much. Not too much.
- All right. So, invitedeverybody here
to let you know something.
I've been keepinga bit of a secret.
I am goingto be on the show
"Undercover Boss".
all: [laughs] - What?
- So this was this is.Yeah, yeah.
- Oh. [laughs]
- So the personI'm gonna be--
my name will beWayne Oliver.
- [laughter] - Okay. Yeah.
- And I workfor a steel company,
but I got displacedby technology
so I'm trying to findanother profession.
- How do you know they're not gonna recognize you?
- There are no guarantees.
But once you seethe outfit
that's gonna bepretty convincing
that I'm not... - Yeah, dude.
You got to get a fat suit. - [laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
- Are you ready to become Wayne?
- I am. - Let's do it.
- I'm ready for my transformation.
- Nice.
- Going undercover in our departments
will allow me to see the day-to-day activity
of my workers.
As the mayor I intimidate them sometimes
when they won't disclose things.
When they don't think they're talking to the boss,
I can get that raw feedback.
Going back to my military time
I did with special operations missions,
I am pretty confident that I'll be able
to keep this under wraps.
Looks like.
Uh-hmm.Here we go.
Oh, wow.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.This is pretty cool.
I feel older.
- Whoa. - Oh, my God.
- This is Wayne. - Whoa.
So this is Wayne. - So I'm gonna have to walk
a lot slower.
So y'all think it's gonna work now?
- Yes.
- To go undercover, I will be assuming
the identity of Wayne,
an out-of-work steel mill foreman.
My employees think that Wayne
is taking part of a TV show
for people looking for new careers.
- All right, good luck. We will see you soon.
- All right.
All righty.
[exciting music]
- So this is my first time out being Wayne.
And I'm confident about this disguise.
Today I'm going undercover in Shreveport Fire Department.
Fire departments are very important
in just about any city.
We have 22 stations looking after 200,000 citizens.
Last year there were over 44,000 callouts.
Our fire department is one of Shreveport's
first lines of defense,
but it's underfunded.
Half of our fire trucks in the city
are over 15 years old.
Louisiana has the second lowest pay for firefighters
in the US, making it hard to keep them.
So I need to go undercover
to experience firsthand the realities
of being a firefighter
and see what we can realistically improve.
Today I'll be working with Dylan.
He's a fire engineer.
And I really wanna get the inside scoop,
so I'm hoping he's open and honest.
I'm Wayne. How you doing?
- Hey, Wayne. Dylan. Nice to meet you, brother.
- Good to see you. - Where are you from?
- I'm from Georgia.
Yeah, I just left a steel plant, man.
I got fired, but looking for another career
so I wanted to check you guys out.
- Yeah, man. We'll go over the truck.
And as a matter of fact,
we'll pull it outside. - Okay.
- And if you meet me right out there
I'll pull it around and we'll go over.
- All right. Good. Good. I'll see you in a second.
[upbeat music]
- When he first walked in, my first impression
was that he was slightly older for a rookie fireman.
It's a physical job. It's gonna put him to the test.
He's gonna feel the pressure.
It's not just walking in and putting the wet stuff
on the red stuff.
You're the firefighter today, right?
So, you got to be ableto put on your gear.
- Yeah. - And the way that we do it
in the academy is,is that you have to have
all your gear onwithin two minutes.
I'll walk you throughwhat you need to do
and how you need to do it.
Kick off your boots,throw that Nomex
on your head. All right? - All right.
- Put your pants on,
suspenders, tie 'em,
buckle up,then your jacket.
And then your pack. - Okay.
- You will throw itover your shoulders,
drop it on, tight,
tied in right here,same thing,
and you're good to go. - Awesome.
- I'm a super competitive person,
so I had to beat the two-minute mark.
- Mark set, go.
- All right.
Because of my time in the army,
I'm used to getting geared up.
So, I put a lot of energy into it.
- Now, imagine doing thatat 3:00 in the morning
when youwas just asleep.
You gotta buckleyour pants.
- It is very heavy and it's very hot.
- Man, there's so many pieces to this.
- So many pieces.
- You can imagine the sun is already hot out here
and then putting on that heavy jacket
and the heavy pants.
- Okay. Your neckpiece.
- But I get that they need that protection
to go in a fire.
All right. - There you go.
That right thereis a minute 35.
You did pretty good, man. - All right.
Man, 3:00 in the morning. - Right.
- It'll be a little bit slower probably.
- What's really funis when you make one at 3:00
in the morning and thenyou make one at 6:30 again.
You got to putyour wet gear right back on.
- Oh. How many pairs of gear do you guys get?
- We get one pair,right now.
- So, you all can't switch up
if you get back to the station--- No.
- --and put on anything new?
- No, sir. Unfortunately.
- They only have one uniform to go out into a fire with,
so if they're going fire to fire
and they come back and they get another call,
they gotta put their wet, sweaty uniform on
with potential carcinogens in it from a fire.
So, the fact that they don't have redundant uniforms,
everybody don't have at least two,
that's something that really alarms me.
- We'll train at the station every day,
we'll get to work, and we'll do
some kind of an hour of EMS stuff
and a couple hours of fire stuff
to just to stay efficient-- - Yeah.
- --to stay knowledgeable in your craft.
- Got a major [indistinct] on scene,
we have a two-story building
with heavy smoking fire
from the [indistinct] stat.
- Let's go.
- This is one of our fire department's
regular training exercises.
Getting this gear on under pressure
is a whole different ballgame.
- Oh, Wayne.
Oh, Wayne. It's burning.
- I'm the mayor of Shreveport and I'm going undercover
in my city's fire department.
- Got a major [indistinct]. - Let's go.
- Right now, we're going out on one of the regular
training exercises
where response time is everything.
We got here, it was dark, everybody was running,
you could tell they knew exactly
what they were doing.
I wasn't as fast, but they were lightning,
I mean, they probably were in the truck
within, like, 30 seconds.
And I was still outside, struggling with my pants.
- Oh, Wayne. - And I'm grabbing the jacket.
- Oh, Wayne. It's burning.
- In that scenario,
we have three people on the truck already.
If he's taking that long, if it's burning,
deuces, see you later.
[siren wailing]
- In the truck, sirens on,
knowing that we were headed to fight the fire,
you get a little anxiety because you don't know
exactly what you're gonna be doing,
how crazy this fire is gonna be.
[siren wailing]
It was a lot of adrenalin.
Oh, man. That's a big one.
- Grab this. Come on. Pull.
Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.
Pull.
Here we go.
lay it out. - When we got here,
it was dark.
Everybody was running out.
You could tell they knew exactly
what they were doing.
I guess that's the point of regular training exercises.
I'm just hoping I can keep up.
Okay. What do I do? - Spill the air out.
[indistinct instructions] Come here.
- Dylan is monitoring the water pressure.
I was the rookie big time.
The smoke is hot.
- Yes, sir. - The smoke is steaming.
- We were out there, it got really, really hot
and I could feel myself kind of sweating.
I understand now why two suits
would really help our firemen.
I did get a bit of an adrenalin rush.
I just felt my heart beating a little quicker.
- Yeah. Come all the way out.
- And you still know that, hey, it's a fire
actually burning.
This is a pretty dangerous job.
- [indistinct instructions]
- Everybody was just moving like clockwork.
People running into the building.
It was impressive to watch.
[suspenseful music]
♪
- I guess we're good.
- The thing that stood out to me the most
was how well-trained our fire department is.
- Good job. - It made me very proud--
- It was a cool job.
It was a little harder than I thought that was gonna be.
I'm hot as hell. - I know.
- He listened, he engaged,
and he did what I said to do.
Keep going.
That's what we need in this kind of job.
We need a guy that's willing to get his hands dirty.
- You know you work up
an appetite. - Oh, yeah. I'm starving.
- Someone's gotta cook,so that's gonna be you.
- Oh, man. All right.
We got to brown it for a bit.
So, you're on swing shiftright now or no?
- Yeah. - Okay.
Is it difficult? - It doesn't really bother me.
Get five days off.It does allow you
the time to spendwith your kids.
- And how old are they? - I got a 10-year-old
and then a 12-year-old,
and my daughter runsacross the country
and my son's biginto football,
so he's a bigold Saints fan.
- Oh, man. - So, family
is the most important thing.
We didn't do a whole lot when I was kid.
Not the easiest childhood, for sure, right?
It kind of makes you appreciate things.
- Oh, yeah.
- So, I try to give my kids a lot.
Swimming, hiking, flying, just whatever we can do.
We like to go do it and that's why I work.
I work so they can live a good life.
- Oh, yeah.I'm sure they appreciate
the time with you as well. - Right.
- All right. I thinkthese noodles are done.
- All right.
- If Dylan had a tough childhood,
I can understand why he wants something better
for his children.
He gets those off days that he gets to dedicate
to spending time with them.
He's always wanted to be a firefighter.
His heart is definitely in it.
Do you get nervouson your job at all or...
- Sometimes, it is unsafe out there, for sure.
Not long ago, a guy walked up
and pointed a gun.
The driver just took off
and the side mirror knocked the gun
out of his hand-- - Oh, man.
- --and he was able to drive off.
Well, we haven't had anybody shot,
but shot at, of course.
- It's definitely concerning that in the emergency responses
that some people would pull the gun on 'em.
You just don't want our firemen
to be put in harm's way.
Our firefighters already have a tough job with low pay.
I need to make them feel as safe as possible on duty.
[bright music]
♪
Today, I'm going undercover at the Airport Park
Recreational Center.
I grew up in Shreveport.
I know how rough the streets here can be.
I could've gone a million other directions
given the neighborhood that I grew up in.
The title of my campaign was Leadership for the Future.
A big part of our future is going to be our kids.
I wanna make sure that the rec center
are really targeting our youth,
keeping them engaged,
and just doing positive things.
I'm here today visiting Gerald,
one of our managers.
- Hey. Are you doing? - Hey.
- Wayne. - Coach Brown, man.
- I'm glad to meet you. - Pleasure to meet you, man.
- I ain't been to Shreveport long,
so I just wanna check it out
looking for a job.
- Hey. I'll be happyto show you around.
I don't knowif you're familiar
with RecreationalCenters but this,
one of the centers,kept me out of trouble.
This used to be my sanctuary right here, man.
- Okay. You've played a little basketball?
- Yeah. - How many kids
typically comethrough here?
- On a daily,
anywhere between 50and 70 kids.
Right now, Shreveport,
they got a crime going crazy.
So, this is a safe haven for kids.
It give them somewhere to come
other than lookingat negative role models.
And when I saynegative role models,
I'm talking aboutdrug dealers
and wannabe gangbangers.
- This is a low-income neighborhood.
If those kids can't go to that recreational center,
there's no telling what they're doing instead.
- I'm gonna introduce you to some of my kids,
and this is the fun part, man.
I want you all to meet Mr. Wayne.
all: Hi. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
- What did you do before you came here?
- I workedin a steel factory.
You all knowwhat steel is?
- Yes. - The material?
- First impression, he looked like a hardworking guy,
very humble, seemed like he had a good heart
and that passion for kids, too.
all: [indistinct] - I can't hear you.
all: [indistinct] - What?
all: [indistinct] - What? Forward.
[whistle blows]
Don't hit nobody in the head. Don't let--no.
Oh, they're tryingto get you, Coach.
What's up? [indistinct]
- Gerald is extremely animated with the kids.
- Oh, what, what, what?
- Very, very active.
- Coach, give me the ball.
- So, I'm, like, sweating throughout my shirt.
- Coach.
[exciting music]
- [screams] - Hurry up.
You can't beat it.
- And I love it. - I love it, man.
With that right there-- - Oh, yeah.
- --I wanna stay herewhere I can
make a difference,because you see it
on their face, that love.
I see 90% of moms
and only a few dads.
So, it's important to have a positive male role model.
To the circle. To the circle.
- Gerald, he's seriously like a dad,
uncle figure to all the kids.
- Have you all been doing
what we've talked about at camp?
About the bullying when you got somebody
that's talking about your parents,
do they know anything about your parents?
- No. all: No.
- Do not fall in that trap.
- He's teaching them hard work,
getting along with people, staying out of trouble.
- Now, before y'all leave,
y'all give Coach Wayne a hug.
Don't knock him down now.
- Watching him in action, I learned a lot.
Kind of a jewel within our fire department,
you know, showing our kids something positive.
- Show that love. - Thank you guys so much.
[laughs]
- If we had hundreds of Geralds,
I think we'd be even a stronger city government
than what we are.
- Don't--hey, don't knock nobody over.
Hey, hey, hey.
[mellow music]
- A lot of space over here.
- Yeah, but it's not a football field.
Football team--they need places to practice.
I wish I had more, you know,
but you've got to utilize what you got.
- Although Airport Park,
they have a lot of facilities there,
what they could really use is like a soccer field
or a football field.
There's some improvements that we can make there.
- In the summer, I haveover a hundred kids, man.
- Whoa. You had to be turning the kids away?
- Unfortunately,I have to.
- Okay. - Because if I didn't,
I have 300 kids. - Oh, man.
- So, I don't wanna miss no kid but the reality,
we're gonna miss it. - We're gonna miss it.
Coach Brown, he's extending himself
as far as he can,
and he still has to turn some kids away, which saddens me.
So that's very important for me to look into
to see if we can expand those programs in any way.
announcer: Coming up. The mayor comes face to face
with some harsh realities.
- Who payingfor the snacks?
- It comes out of my pocket.
- Sometimes, you just gotta go on your pocket.
announcer: And here's about the fight against crime
in Shreveport.
- We have drugs.
There was that stabbing.
[upbeat music]
- I'm the mayor of Shreveport
and I'm going undercover in my own city.
Today, I'm undercover in Shreveport's
recreation centers with manager Gerald.
Hollywood Heights is one of our centers
where kids can go after school
if no one is home.
I went to something similar growing up,
so this program is very close to my heart.
- Hey there, Doris. How are you doing?
- Hi. I'm good. - I'm Wayne.
- Okay. Nice to meet you, too. - You, as well.
- School days, we have the afterschool program.
The kids do their homework.
- What's your favorite subject?
- Social studies?
- Coloring?
- Coloring is your favorite thing?
- After homework, we allow them
to play games.
- And when they're out thereplaying kickball,
do they have footballs?
- Well, we have donations and--
- Okay. - --people come in.
- And we go in our own pocket. - We go in our own pockets.
- So Doris went in her pocket--
- So, what do you goin your pocket for?
- Basketballs, football-- - Yeah...
- --pool sticks...
- Something else that I learned today
that is very, very troublesome to me
is that they're paying out of their pocket
and not from the city budget.
- Because sometimes, put it in a request or--
- Okay. - And you can put
three basketballs, two footballs.
But you got to put that order in
and it sits on this desk,
- Okay. - And it sits on that desk
before it's even signed.
- Who paying for the snacks?
- It comes out of my pocket
and I make sure the kids have snacks
every day they come in because I don't know,
the snack could be the last meal.
- Sometimes you just got to go in your pocket.
- I just don't think that it's acceptable.
I don't think that's in line with my campaign.
Pleasure to meet you. - See y'all later.
- Goodbye, Coach. - All right.
- It's just something that I really got to think about
to see how we can possibly help out.
[dramatic music]
I'm halfway through my undercover mission.
And today I'm on my way to visit
with the Shreveport Police Department.
My big campaign promises was reducing crime,
so I'll be able to really dig down
and see what's going on and, more importantly,
to see how police officers are interacting
with the citizens of Shreveport.
The toughest thing for me as mayor
is being a cheerleader for the city,
making sure our citizens are really trusting
our police officers to keep them safe.
And I'm gonna be working alongside Jason,
the community liaison officer
and also one of the mounted police officers.
[cheerful music]
- Hey. - Hey. How you doing?
- Good. Good. Wayne. - I'm Jason. Welcome.
- I appreciate you guys taking the time.
- Good, man. You wanna goahead and get started?
- I do. Yes. - Okay.
- So what I like to do today
is we'll clean outa couple of these stalls.
- All right. I'm ready to get to work.
We started off at the bottom rung,
shoveling poop.
I'm having a hard time trying to determine
what's the poop and the dirt.
You have some big horses.
Most of the police officers are just
in their cars riding around.
So I'm guessing you got a lot of opportunities
to get out because you're on the horse.
- Yeah. - And talk to people.
- Well, this really isan icebreaker
which is great, and the horseis just part of.
We're what's calleda community policing.
They want those officersthat they see every day,
that they know they can talkto, that they can trust.
- Mounted patrols offer such an asset
because it's forcing officers to get out there
and know the community while being on patrol.
So, you get to kill two birds on one stone.
- All right, Mr. Wayne. - Yeah.
- Are you saying you were a steel worker?
- Yes, I was a foreman at a steel plant.
- I was a fabricator,
a welder for a little bit. - Oh, okay.
- I don't knowif that's similar.
- He keeps asking me these really tricky questions.
I'm kind of starting to get worried.
I volunteered to go and dump the poop.
But as I was coming back, I overheard a conversation
in the horse stable...
- Yeah. It took me while,I was like, "Wait a minute."
Things like we'resupposed to just, kind of,
don't know or something.
- I'm pretty confident right now
that the cover story is blown.
- So what do you think? - I'm loving it,
I'm loving it. - Awesome.
- But I thought I heard yousay something earlier.
I just wanna talk about it.
- Sure. Let's talk about it.
- Who do you thinkthat I am?
[dramatic music]
- I think you're the mayor.
- Well, Jason,I got to tell you,
you're right.Uh, I am the mayor.
- It was pretty obvious, the stuff that,
you know, we're trying to look for in policing--
you just--you can't hide those things that was there.
- The police departmentis near and dear to my heart.
I wanted go undercoverbecause I wanted that raw,
unfiltered feedbackfrom you. I really want--
- Yeah. - --to know what you think.
- No, sir. I promise you one thing I can be is honest.
It will be respectful but it'll...
- Absolutely. - --definitely be the truth.
He said that he wants to
really look to see how he can truly make
the police department better.
I suggest, sir, that we go take a ride
and actually go through the community
and we can have a real conversation
about, you know, what can be done.
- That sounds perfect. - So, okay.
Let's go. - Yeah, let's do it.
Jason knows who I really am at this point,
but the citizens don't,
so I'm hoping that I can maintain cover with them
and really get to see how they're gonna interact
with him in a very kind of unfiltered way
and to see how he's engaging the citizens as well.
[upbeat music]
- Some of the sweetest, most wonderful people
are in this area.
I'm proud to work here.
You know, yeah, there's a lot of struggles,
there's a lot of issues. We have drugs.
Recently, you know, there was that stabbing,
and a couple days later, there was that shooting.
- Historically, there's been a lack of trust
with our police mending
those historical wounds that exist,
so I will say that's one of the biggest challenges.
Jason, if you had a magic wand,what would you do?
- You know, I used to just think
when I first started as police officer,
we make arrests, we write tickets,
we enforce.
But there's so much more than that.
People worry about safety.
So really, what a community officer is to really--
- Yeah. - --make people feel safe,
make people feel comfortable.
And I get it now, my son is two.
It changed everything for me when I had a son.
- Yeah. - 'Cause being a father--
that's probably helped me being a police officer
even more.
Hey, how you all doing?
- Community liaison officers right now
are very important to me.
- Oh, okay. I'm Jason, by the way, how you doing?
[overlapping chatter] - Nice to meet you.
- And to see Jason in action and how he's engaging citizens
will be a rare opportunity for me
to experience a side of policing
rarely if ever I get to experience.
- Hi, Wayne. Diana. - So...
- Nice to meet you, Diana.How you doing?
I got to ask you a question because I'm interested
in being a police officer.
Well, this isn't what I typically see on TV.
You know, police officers engaging with the community
in a positive way.
Is this typically your interactions with police?
Is it really good?
- Yeah. You have to engagewith them, too.
- Uh-hmm. - You know, like you see him--
- Does that make you feel safer when they're--
when they're doing it? - Oh, gosh, yes.
- Okay. Good.- I think it takes the community
working with us, but-- - Oh, yeah, it takes people--
people willing to step forward,
talk to the police,
tell them what you see and what you don't see.
- It's a two-way street,so police being responsive,
being present,and you are--okay. Good.
- Yeah. - Uh-huh.
- What I've learned from being on patrol with Jason
is that community policing is going to take the police
and the neighborhood working together.
Something that we have to look into is
how do we sustain those interactions
between the community liaison officers and our city.
If we have more police officersdoing that when I was younger,
you know, I would havehad a much better
perception of policeofficers from an early age.
Although, I got busted today,
I've still gained a lot of insight,
so I'm more dedicated than ever.
I'm making sure that all the police officers are
really bringing themselves closer to the community,
and hoping that the community returns it.
announcer: Coming up.
- Push up and down.
announcer: The mayor has a rough ride.
[car engine revs]
- You see some of thesepeople in charge,
and they just don't get it.
They've never been there.
- I'm the Mayor of Shreveport.
I'm going undercover in my own city.
Today, I'll be working with my park maintenance team,
and they do things like cutting grass
and maintaining parks.
Shreveport's population has been declining for some years.
I'm a big believer that if we look good,
it makes the place feel safer, and more prosperous.
So it's more likely to attract new residents and businesses.
Park maintenance
looks after 125,000 square miles of city land,
in over 60 parks, on a very tight budget.
They have a lot of responsibility.
They're constantly just kind of spinning their wheels
to try to maintain as much as possible.
Today, I'm going undercover to see
how morale is doing.
Wanna make sure that our employees are motivated
to maintain our city as best as possible.
I'll be shadowing Mary.
She's been with park maintenance for over a year.
So I'm gonna be seeing what she does
on a day to day basis.
- Hello. - Hey, I'm Wayne.
How you doing? - Hi, Wayne. I'm Mary.
It's nice to meet you. - Good. Good to meet you.
- Heard you was a steel worker?
- Yeah, I was. - Yeah.
Unfortunately got laid off,
so just trying tofind some work.
- Been there, done that. - Okay.
- Today, we're gonna take Wayne over to teach him
what driving the tractor could entail,
and what would be expected of him.
It's real simple. Your gear's over here,
you got to push up and down.
Look, do that.
Find the middle.
- Okay. Got you. - Yeah.
- I'm not even in park. - It's not in--
Okay, put your clutch in.
- Clutch on, yeah.
- Now, you come up off the clutch
and you hang on and watch what you do.
Put on the brake immediately. - All right.
Cool. - Okay.
You got to remember not to panic.
- Mary was very thorough
in teaching me how to drive the tractor.
- It's all about the clutch foot--
- Okay. - --releasing more gentle.
- She covered every single possible base.
- Put your clutch right back in.- Oh, there we go.
- Very good. There we go. - There we go.
- Don't try to do no fancy turn, now, Wayne.
- I'm not, I'm not.I'ma keep straight.
- I noticed his nerves seemed to be up.
It's not just super easy to do.
- I'm going around the pole. - Well, anywhere you wanna go,
just don't hit the pole.
- I will not.I promise.
- Use the, the gas.
- Okay.
- You don't wanna see the tractor go
careening off the hill with somebody in it.
- Let's do it.- You can't just throw somebody,
you know, something like this.
- It can be complicated. - Right.
And all you have to do to stop it
is clutch and brake.
- And we'll just-- - Ready?
Put the clutch on, put them first, always.
Were you comfortable with that? - I was.
- Okay. - Yeah.
[upbeat music]
- The park's employees
don't just make our city beautiful,
they also are expected to maintain their equipment.
- Engine-wise,
first thing you alwayssupposed to do,
we have these airfilters,
and with this one,
when you're tryingto get dirt out,
I'll let you do that. - Okay.
[air hisses] - It's not bad.
You're not seeing a lot coming off.
- Mary's showing me how to check the oil.
- Yeah, we're good. - All right.
- How to fix a light.
It's going in. - Looks good.
- How to lift the blades up in the back that cut the grass.
Oh, I see it. - Pull it towards you.
- Pull it towards me, oh. - Then lift that, yeah.
- I'm grateful because Mary is saving the city money
by keeping these machines in tip-top condition.
She's really giving her all into this job.
- I have a old trailer. - Okay.
- I've been a single parent
for years. - Okay.
- I've barely made a living. - Uh-hmm.
- If I had the money, I'd go back to school.
- I don't even knowwhat I'd do
if I went back to school-- - But you can't--
Do you know? - Yeah, I do.
Just--I thought about IT.
- Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
For somebody that's so smart,
that knows their tractor back and forth,
not to have the opportunity to go to school,
that kind of breaks my heart a bit.
What do you guys do for lunch around here?
- Well, that gazebo areawould be good.
- All right.
- When I got this job withthe city, I was really happy
because I'd lost the jobI had before that,
and I was raising twinson my own.
It's not easy out there.
- I was struggling too when I was growing up.
Are you making enough with the city
to kind of see your way out, or...
- Yeah, slowly,
if I'm careful. - Okay.
- I've got places in my trailerthat need to be fixed.
There's at least three spots,if they weren't covered up,
you can see downthrough the ground.
It's cold, it's cold as-- - My grandmother lived in
a trailer and experienced - Yeah.
some of the same things. - Yeah.
The wood is rotted,
the roof needs tobe replaced.
Grand total,it's gonna cost me
about four or fivethousand dollars.
- Oh.
We can't afford to pay our employees a ton of money,
so, for me to, you know, be the mayor of this city,
and to know that I have employees
that are struggling in that manner, it's hard.
- I feel like that people
are constantly walkingaround on eggshells,
thinking that they're goingto lose their job,
you're very disposable.
- Uh-hmm.
- Your self-confidenceis ruined,
and you start completely over,
and you are blown away.
And...
- Are you okay?
- Yeah.
I'm sorry. - What--no, it's okay.
- Because you see somethingthese people in charge,
and they just don't get it.
They've never been there.
If you've been there one time,you'll never forget it.
- Oh, yeah.
Hearing Mary's story, living paycheck to paycheck,
reminded me of my own mother.
It's really one of the reasons why I wanted to go undercover.
Even if we come up short on giving our employees raises,
at a minimum, we can make sure that they feel valued.
We wouldn't be in this community
without people like Mary.
Goodbye, Wayne.
Going undercover,
there was some things that I learned from my employees
that shocked me.
I was surprised to learn that Shreveport firefighters
actually didn't feel safe on the job.
Staff at our rec centers are paying out
of their own pockets,
and employees are feeling undervalued.
It's made me realize how much I need to do.
[suspenseful music]
- I'm about to reveal my true identity
to the people I worked with this week.
And I've asked for everyone to meet me
one last time.
- Hey, so what's going on?
- Well, I do knowit's for a TV show.
"My Second Career."
- They think they are coming to be interviewed
about their time spent with Wayne.
They have no idea
this is really "Undercover Boss".
[suspenseful music]
♪
- You know who I am?
- You're the Mayorof Shreveport.
- All right. - I seen you last night
on the news. - Yeah. Anything familiar?
Voice?
Goatee?
- Oh, my gosh.
- Now that you brought it up,
and you're sittingin front of me...
- Well, there is no Wayne.
- There is no Wayne?
- I am Adrian Perkins, the Mayor of Shreveport.
And you are on "Undercover Boss".
- Are you serious?
- Wow. - I'm shocked.
How did I do?
announcer: Coming up.
- That's amazing.
announcer: The mayor delivers life-changing news.
- What?
- Are you serious?
- There's almostno words to explain.
- Dylan, I've personally worn a ton of uniforms,
and I've put on gear in a hundred degree heat,
forty, five pounds of gear,
but that bunker gear, intense.
- Intense. It's hot. - Like, super intense.
Yeah. Yeah.
If you go out to a fire, you get back from--
and you get another call to go out to a fire.
- You put thatsame bunker gear back on.
And the carcinogensget in really bad.
Cancer is a really baddeal for firemen. Yeah.
- I can't sleep at night with our firemen just,
you know, having what they have.
I'm already in talks to make sure
that we can allocate the funds to where all of our firemen
will have at least two sets of bunker gear.
- That would be amazing. - You know--
you know they're kind of expensive, but--
you know, that's a priority to me.
Signing up to be a fireman, to some people,
is just signing up for them to fight a fire,
but what they encounter on the job
are other dangers as well, right?
- A lot of the areaswe go in are pretty bad off.
We've had peoplepull guns on us,
had people shoot at us.
- The safety aspect
is something you shouldn't have to think about.
So, I've spoken to Clean Harbors.
They're an emergency clean up company,
and they really wanna help.
They're donating $24,000
to put this in many of the city's fire stations.
I got to have you all safe,
you know, we-- - Oh, absolutely.
And that's amazing. - Yeah.
Another thing, your pride and joy is your children?
- Absolutely. Definitely.
When you grow upand it's hard,
it makes you not wantto repeat the cycle.
- Your son's
favorite football team? - Saints.
- How many games have you and him been to?
- We have not beento a Saints game yet.
- Well, I've reached out to somepeople about that as well.
- Okay.
- And we are going to send you and your son
to the Saints game.
- What?
- Yeah. In New Orleans,
provide the hotel, expense-free.
- That's freaking awesome.
He's gonna cry.
- That isn't all.
I've reached out to some friends,
and we want to start a $4,000 college fund
for your son and daughter.
- That's awesome,thank you very much.
- Because clearly, they're gonna go to college.
- Yes. Oh, they're goingto college.
- Yeah. - They don't have a choice.
They're going to college. - Yeah.
The mayor came out, Jack,
and he is going to do an all-expense paid trip,
and go watch the Saints.
- [gasps] For real?
- For real.
- Oh, my God.
- Jason, it was a privilege to see you
interact with our local citizens,
and your role as a community liaison officer.
I've spoken to a company.
They have pledged $5,000
to help officers like yourself
create and plan events
for you guys to really get those touch points,
get that engagement.
You know, how do you feel about that extra $5,000?
- Oh, that's great, sir. - Okay.
- I--even better for the kids.That's what excites me.
- Yeah. And it was clear early in our conversation
that your pride and joy, your two-year-old son.
- Oh, yeah.
When my son was born,I realized,
I wanna be the best fatherI could be.
- Uh-hmm.
- So my son literally mademe a better man,
and that made mea better police officer.
- Yeah. And he's gonna be very proud of you.
- I hope so, sir. I hope so. - He's gonna be very proud
of the work that you've done. I called some businesses,
and they are going to set up a college fund for your son.
- Oh, wow. - We're gonna put in $2,000.
- Man, I appreciatethat, sir.
- Yeah.- Oh, come here, man.
Oh, thank youso much, man.
That's my son. That's my heartbeat.
So, I thought that was wonderful.
- Mary, starting off.
Your tractor, you loved that thing.
- [laughs] Yeah. - I wanna just thank you
because you were very methodical,
and showed me how attentive to safety you are.
As a boss, that's very good for me to see.
So, I learned a lot about you
even those teaching moments, I wanted to thank you
for it. - Okay.
- But you've had a very tough run of things.
You talked a little bit
about the structure of your house,
and how it's doing.
- Oh, the roof needsto be repaired.
It's starting to showleak signs,
and stuff like that.It's a trailer.
So, you can't get loansto get something simple fixed.
- Uh-hmm. I've spoken to one of our local businesses,
Ivan Smith Furniture.
They're gonna spend $6,000,
to not only to repair your roof,
but also improving your trailer,
and providing you new furniture.
So how do you feel about that?
- Stunned.
And, um, don't thinkI deserve it, but...
- You definitely deserve this.
- Another thing that stood out to me was
when you talked about college.
It seemed like something that you regretted.
- Yeah. - Well, Mary, let me tell you.
I wanna help you with it,
and I've spoken to Louisiana State University of Shreveport
about you, and they have agreed to grant,
free of charge, a four-year scholarship
worth $36,000.
How do you feel? Is that good?
Is that good for you? - Is--there
there is almost no wordsto explain,
because this does nothappen to people like me.
- Well, Mary, it should happen to people like you.
You're a very valued employee.
- I've always believed if you keep trying
to trudge along and do the right thing,
that good things will happen to you,
but they just haven't.
And then, this happened today.
It's almost impossible to put into words.
It's just everything.
- Coach, you make the resources that you have
stretch beyond anything
that I would ever imagine, sitting in that mayor's seat.
- Never be the oneto cry and gripe on stuff,
you just got tomake it happen.
- One thing that really made me take a step back,
to hear that you were using your own money
to pay for food for the kids that come to the center.
What I'm gonna do with it is
we're gonna put more funding in the system,
so that we can actually adapt to the needs of these centers,
with how much food you all are providing these kids
in the day to day. - Wow. Wow.
- You think that will work?
- Yes, yes. Yes.
Thank you, man.I appreciate that. Yeah.
- I'm super grateful for you
and the sacrifices you make for our community,
you know, like, giving up that time at home,
giving up your birthday to be there.
- God woke me upfor that day,
so my appreciation is,
you know, showingsomebody else love.
I won't take no days off.
- And then that's about the change,
you not taking time off. - [laughs]
- I called some friends, a local business,
and told them about your story,
and they are going to send you
all-expense paid, luxury vacation,
$10,000 with your family. - What?
- To wherever you wanna go.
- Wow.
Thank you, Lord.
Wow.
Excuse me though.
- You know, I know we allocate resources that we have.
The city can only do so much,
but I mean you are magic with what you're doing,
but we can always do better.
So I called our friends
at DICK's Sporting Goods Foundation.
- Wow. - And what they're going to do
is donate a hundred and ten thousand dollars
to build two-- - Wow.
- --multi-purpose sports fields.
- Are you serious? - Right here in Shreveport.
- [cries]
Man, are you serious, man?
It's--wow, man.
I'm sorry.
- That's all right.
- It blew me away,
because that's gonna do so much for the community.
Gonna change a whole lot of kids' life,
and that's the main thing,
is changing those kids' life.
- Going undercover, I had no idea I would learn so much.
Our firefighters have to have more protection.
Our park workers need to know how valued they are.
We need to supply more resources
and food in our rec centers,
and after school clubs.
And we need to do more to get our police force
and the community working together.
Can I fix these problems as mayor?
I've got to try.
[acoustic music]
♪