Last night I watched Undercover Boss on CBS because it was featuring Las Vegas and the MGM. In this episode, the boss of the MGM, Scott Sibella, was showing exactly why VEGAS TOURISM STILL SUCKS!!
Undercover Boss takes a CEO of a major corporation, dress them down, smart them up and send them to the front lines of their own company to see how they can improve company moral and profits. Their storyline is that they are competing for the same job with someone else as part of a television show.
At the end of the show, they get to reveal who they really are to the people they worked with, confess their sins, promise to repent, be a better steward of the corporate culture, improve their sensitivity to the workers and be more understanding. This is followed by a gifting, a token of appreciation ( usually a donation to a charity or a trip ) and everyone hugs and they go on with their life.
Scott Sibella, president of the MGM, shows the world that as the head of MGM, he is too high up in the ivory tower to realize all the problems that could easily be fixed and would definitely improve their profitability as well as their staff moral, if you just came down to our level on occasion.
This, despite the fact that he has lived here is whole life, was raised in a casino and worked his way up from the front desk to the corner office of the tower. he still seems shocked at what he found.
His alibi in all this is that he is new to the MGM. Just been “hired” in the last couple of months. Moving all the way over from the Mirage. Same owner, different building. Apparently different issues face different casinos and as mangers, they don’t seem to talk to one another.
Although it was really nice to see Vegas featured and to see a CEO get Larry-slapped up along side the head with a few “Dah” moments, it really showed how out of touch the CEO’s really are. And when the town is manged by only two or three players, that is a very big deal.
Opening Shots
Ok, here we get to meet his two spoiled children, his charming wife and get their feelings about the man of the house having to go and spend a week in a cheap hotel (Super 8)and interact with what the MGM’s best man, Senator Harry Reid, calls “smelly tourists”
The Ivory Tower Meetup
Next, we see the CEO in his Ferrari, driving down the strip. Pulling into the Bellagio Valet, talking about the importance of the people in the company…. He is there to have a private breakfast with his fellow Ivory Tower cohorts; Including The MGM’s head honcho, Jim Murren. As he tells them of his fears of failure in such a daunting task. Having to work with…. the front line people of the company…. Eeeeeeuuuwww… and do … w-o-r-k!
The Setup
He checks into a room at the Super 8 that is about the size of his walk-in closet back at the Sibella Estate. He resigns himself to the sacrifice he is doing in order to help him truly understand how to run the company better. Again, because he is so new to the MGM.
Winners Write the History
Being a professional Tour Guide, I was a little put off right from the beginning when he claimed that MGM created the modern day Las Vegas. That MGM was the one who lead the way and created the trend of Mega resorts.
No… The big green building that is the MGM is the only Vegas Mega Resort the corporation ever built. They bought the others. City Center is co-owned by Dubai.
Blackjack Anyone
His first assignment was to deal blackjack. or at least try to deal. His complaint? Too many decks in one shoe. Well no shit sherlock. Have you read any of the reviews posted on any Vegas website or sent in to your company?? Apparently not. Other than the lousy odds you give, the other complaint is the number of decks they have to deal with.
Front Desk Mayhem
This was absolutely priceless. Working the front desk, he realized that the new computer system they paid millions for, was a piece of crap to work with and its failures pissed off the customers as well as those who had to work with it.
I’m sure the system looked wonderful on the show floor and the price was a steal, so why not take it. Who cares what the workers think of it…
Than his trainer was a smoker. So its off for a smoke break. Guess where they went? Almost any guest who has ever been to the MGM can answer that question without thinking…. Near the main entrance. Where the guests can see.
As a frequent guest of the MGM, I always thought those smoke butts on the ground and watching your staff members choking the nicotine stick while I waited for a cab, always classied up the joint. Maybe Not.
Again, I point to the fact that anyone who has been to the MGM has seen this. It took a chance to be on TV, for him to come down to earth, smell the nicotine and see what the rest of the world, the paying guests to his resort, see every day. It’s not like it was a great secret or hidden away from the guests. Its out in plain view. Always has been.
MLife Anyone??
Next up was a floor person. Or back in the day of full employment and when keeping the customer happy was a priority, they were called slot persons. And you had more than one per 100,000 square feet of casino space.
He learned a quick lesson, that carpeting swaths looked really nice on the panel in the office, but sucks to the people who work around it all day. If they hate to look at it, don’t you think maybe the guest does too??
He also learned that just because your paid committee think the new slot program called MLife is really, really cool… getting others interested in it is not so easy. Did you catch the payoff? Two dollars dropped in equals one point. Get 3000 points (Spend $6K) you get a free buffet and tickets to “KA”… WOW!!!
Hustling the cards can be tricky, especially if you are a guy in a suit. And maybe, just maybe, if you offered the floor person a better incentive to push the cards to the players, other than “Do It”, you may get a better response.
Spin The Wheel
Final task was to be Mr Roulette where Mr Boss, the man who practically grew up in the casino business, broke cardinal rule number one… Do Not Put Hands in Your Pocket. Hands in Pocket Can Get You Fired!!!
He went on to spin the wheel, lose a ball and learn why he wife always told him “math is hard, lets go shopping….”
I stop here because this is where the Big Red Flag hit me. He was shocked, shocked I tell you, at all the smoke and filth that the dealers had to put up with while doing their job. OMG!!Really?? Are you THAT out of touch with the business you are running??
Once again he came out with the “I am new here, so I didn’t realize” excuse. Five years running the Mirage, and this issue never came up? The class action lawsuit against second hand smoke that is forming at the Wynn, across the street from the Mirage, was not on your radar?? The fact that it made headlines in the USA Today that the Wynn was planning to put up air curtains between the dealers and the player, never crossed your desk??
The fact that he worked in a casino most of his adult life, this issue and the other ones he seemed shocked at, never crossed your path while learning the business and climbing the corporate ladder??? Really??
Family Rescue
On the night before he revealed himself, he was rescued with a visit by his family. Including the family dog. After all, that Super 8 is dog friendly. While he made up time with the wife, the kids were busy looking for the rest of the suite. It had to be there somewhere.
The go to the common area and enjoy a meal of In-and-Out Burgers while he talks about what he found out. He talks to his kids about volunteering at an old folks home with one of his workers. They all looked at him like he had three heads. Volunteer?? Old folks home?? What is that?? No, that’s what we have hired help for.
Than he went on to suggest that when they travel, they could stay at places like the Super 8. The wife shot that idea down before the last word escaped his lips! Mom Speaks, Its Law! Spa resorts with the private jet, or nothing. How dare the hubby think she will spend any time like he did, consorting with the common person. Not in this lifetime!
It’s television
I get that, and stupid drama makes for great television. But at the same time, you get to see what makes this town tick and why, in some large part, we are in the situation we are in. These great men… men who get paid millions every year to run these mega resorts, are so out of touch with the common guest, its tragic.
Many people depend on the paycheck from these mega corporations that depend on people to come through the front doors and spend money with them. Yet the leaders of these resorts act like they have never really walked in the customers shoes for a day.
It takes a television show to get them out of the tower and onto the floor? Really?? Shouldn’t that be like an almost daily or at least weekly occurrence?? Walk the floor, stop a guest and ask “Hows your stay?” Walk the floor and ask the staff “what can we do better?”
Jack Binion still does it and he doesn’t even own a casino!! Maybe now that Scott Sibella is no longer the “new” guy, he will too. One can only hope.
Go Ahead, Stalk Us