Undercover Boss Vali Went Too Far. Literally. How Did He Handle Working at ARTMiE?

A typical workday begins at ARTMiE. The warehouse is waiting for its usual pile of orders, ready to be processed by our skilled colleagues. Logistics is running at full capacity, and canvases are being stretched carefully and quickly. But suddenly, everything changes. A new temporary worker, Alexandar from Košice, arrives on a scooter. He’s a native of Serbia with a tough biker style. Our boss Vali, in disguise, spent a whole week finding out what it’s like to work as a warehouse employee. How did he handle it?

Friends with art and new colleagues

Alexandar’s look, complete with socks and sandals and a leather jacket, didn’t make the best first impression on many of his colleagues. Even so, they welcomed him to the team and were happy to train him. After all, ARTMIE is a friend to your art. We strive, and are often challenged, to work on relationships within the team.

We believe that if there is harmony among us, you, our customers, will feel it too.
Vali looks back on the experience with a smile: “When I was in disguise, it felt great. It was as if I had an invisible shield around me, allowing me to be someone completely different. It helped me put myself in an employee’s shoes and overcome my nerves.”

A curious moment from filming Undercover Boss

He also shares a curious detail from preparing for his transformation into Alexandar: “My new identity was also supposed to include brown contact lenses.” But the TV crew couldn’t get them into Vali’s eyes. “It took almost an hour, and I even fainted. I woke up on the floor, and one lens was finally in place,” he adds with a smile. In the end, all the disguise tricks worked, and the new temporary worker, Alexandar, got to work. We hope you had a chance to watch this episode of Undercover Boss and enjoyed it along with us.

How did Vali stretch canvases?

Long-haired Vali tried stretching stretched canvases under the guidance of our hero, Janko.

The detail-oriented perfectionist ended up staying after his usual shift to fix all the mistakes Alexandar had made. “He drove the staple into the wooden frame so deep and hard that the staples came right through to the outside of the canvas,” hardworking Janko recalls to his colleagues. Our meticulous team has been stretching professional canvases for you for more than 15 years, and we’re incredibly proud of them.

Handmade production, thorough inspection, and safe packaging: these are the three things artists find in every package from ARTMiE. We make sure our canvases provide a quality foundation for every work of art.

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Another work experience: preparing paints for paint by numbers kits

Despite being physically exhausted, our disguised boss took on another challenge: mixing paint shades according to the recipe for our original paint by numbers kits. As he admitted: “I’m a chaotic boss. I often need help from my colleagues.” Despite his trouble concentrating, Janka skillfully helped him mix the acrylic paints precisely. This prevented the wrong products from getting mixed into the packages. Vali reflects on working together: “Only when you work with someone as an equal and put yourself in their shoes do they open up and tell you more about themselves, whether you’re an undercover boss or not.”

Efficiency comes first at ARTMiE

Alexandar also worked hard loading, unloading, and receiving inventory into the warehouse. During this process, he spotted some shortcomings, which he discussed in detail with his wife, Danka. “Efficient processes are very important at ARTMiE. They also help us improve the quality of our customer service, and this affects every activity, whether in the warehouse, the marketing department, customer support, or administration,” he adds thoughtfully.

He struggled with the forklift and packing orders

Although Vali had some serious muscle soreness after a few days, he still joined our Ivetka in packing orders.

Unloading goods with a so-called forklift was no easy task, and he worked up quite a sweat, so she trained him for a seemingly easier job. The fake temp worker experienced firsthand how quickly you need to assemble a cardboard box so that every customer gets their package as soon as possible. He got so absorbed in the work that he accidentally packed a utility knife into an order.

He gradually got faster at assembling and taping boxes, too. He also learned how to properly protect large canvases from getting deformed during courier delivery.

Making your ARTMiE even more eco-friendly

Disguised Vali noticed that order packaging wasn’t as eco-friendly as he’d thought. Several months have passed since the filming of Undercover Boss, and he’s happy to report an improvement: “Our use of tape and bubble wrap has gone down by half since then. Packages need to be wrapped in several layers, so we also experimented with paper tape. But it contains plastic fibers that end up in the same waste. That doesn’t fit the zero-waste idea, so we decided to stick with the original tape and replace the other packing materials with more eco-friendly cardboard alternatives.”

How did the undercover boss help with Christmas preparations?

Everything usually moves very quickly before Christmas. We need to get packages to customers as soon as possible, since they can’t wait to receive their creative gift. Our goal is to delight every art lover. Vali adds: “We’ve made our processes more efficient. I realized that instead of going to the gym, I’d rather spend my time helping out in the warehouse. It’s not enough to just go around inspecting things. You also need to try the work yourself and make improvements.”

More revelations from undercover boss Vali

The head of ARTMIE admits he is pleasantly surprised by how much more willing employees are to stand in front of the cameras. “The team used to have a problem with this, but I can feel they’ve overcome their stage fright. I’d like to feature our Janko more on TikTok. There are real stars among the employees at ARTMIE who creative people in every country where we sell art supplies should get to know. They deserve success for their honest work. While filming the show, I also learned a lot about how a TV crew works. I liked how attentive and well-coordinated they were. It was a great experience, and I came away with inspiration for all of ARTMIE.”

If you like our team’s story and are happy with this year’s new products and the usual quality at ARTMIE, vote for us in the Shop of the Year 2023 competition. Your support motivates us to keep bringing a spark to your crafting and making the highest-quality canvases on the market, just as we have for the last 15 years, if not with even greater precision.

PS: We order pancakes with chocolate spread from Vali so he’ll get more practice mixing brown shades, too. Why? Watch the show in the Markíza TV archive on voyo.sk and you’ll understand :)