Catherine Monson, CEO of FastSigns, appeared on CBS’ Undercover Boss where chief executives and heads of companies go undercover in their business to learn the real story of how they operate. During her appearance, Ms Monson gave an employee whose family had just been evicted from their property and made homeless, $50,000.
Gary from Los Angeles drove two and a half hours to work every day for his job at FastSigns at the time of filming.
While talking with his undercover boss, Gary shared that his family had just been evicted from their home, leaving them homeless.
While speaking to him, Ms Monson was impressed with his work ethic and back story.
In recognition of his hard work, the CEO awarded him the equivalent of £40,000, as well as additional support.
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Before revealing the $50,000 award, Ms Monson offered additional support to help grow her employee’s career.
She said: “Gary, the biggest gift to me was seeing a man who made a lot of mistakes and has now turned his life around in the most amazing and beautiful way.
“I want to give you the best opportunity to grow in your FastSign’s career.
“I am going to bring you to Dallas, where our corporate offices are for a week, and bring together a customised training programme for you.
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“Teaching you all of the tricks of the trade. All expenses paid, as well as your salary for that week.”
On top of this, the Undercover Boss offered Gary financial aid of $15,000 (£12,143.25) to help his church which was about to close down.
Furthermore, citing his long commutes to work, Ms Monson also provided him with a new car to facilitate his journeys.
The Undercover Boss added: “It breaks my heart to think of you and your family being evicted from your house so I’m going to give you $50,000.
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“You’re going to be an inspiration that brings lots of other people out of the darkness and into the light.”
Emotionally, Gary responded: “All of our prayers have been answered in one day. This doesn’t happen to people like me.”
“When I was a young kid, I grew up in bad neighbourhoods. Everybody belonged to a gang and I thought that was the way it was supposed to be.
“I started making money on drugs. I said: ‘Drugs are the way to go. I don’t need an education’. At around 19 years old, I was placed under arrest.
“I already had two strikes. The third strike means 25 [years] minimum to life without parole. When I was going to the court, I saw my mother and she was crying.”
Praying to God, he promised to reform his ways and get his life back on track for his daughter and family.
Despite being on his third strike, the judge dismissed his charges which led him down the road to end up working for FastSigns.
Episodes of Undercover Boss are available to stream on https://www.cbs.com/shows/undercover_boss/ .
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