Confessions of a Chuck E Cheese employee: Volume 2
Well, I didn't think I'd be doing a Volume 2, but after sharing the original "Confessions of a Chuck E Cheese employee" to r/chuckecheese over on Reddit, I've had a positive response to it. In fact, people FROM the subreddit wanted to sit down for a similar interview (this being one of them) Once again, they wanna be anonymous. When I asked what they'd want to be referred as in this post, they said "current anon employee" so that's what I'll use. Again, some of the original Discord conversation has been edited for grammar and other stuff for the sake of this blog post.
Current Anon Employee: Well from the times I visited back then it was just pizza games and fun Ya know it really lived up to "Where a kid can be a kid because kids" don't worry too much if that makes sense, but now while there still is very much pizza and games, as an adult now the tone has sorta shifted into Chuck E. Cheese being a thing of the past...
Seeing the new screens and the cartoons I admit are pretty entertaining but it’s sorta now a shell in comparison to how it was back then.
Me: What animatronic stage do you have, if you don't have the 2.0 dance floor?
Current Anon Employee: Unfortunately, we have the 2.0 dance floor which, to be honest I never really understood how it fit with the kids.
The only thing it does of all the times I’ve seen it is it let kids push away the items which is displayed on the screen. During the summer it was beach balls and now near Halloween it's spooky pumpkins. I don’t really see how it can be labeled a dance floor haven’t really seen kids dance on it.
Me: Do you miss the animatronic days?
Current Anon Employee: I’ll be honest, I do. Chuck E. Cheese for me was really the only place that had animatronics in a location that was “affordable” at the time for my family and I. It was very interesting to see how they moved and sorta got me interested in robotics. When I heard that they were getting rid of them I knew they were just metal wires and programming, but I felt like it meant something more than that, but I guess I can’t really find out what now.
Me: if i were to guess, that "something more" is nostalgia.
Me: Did the FNAF franchise do CEC and the concept of animatronic band any favors?
Current Anon Employee: FNAF I feel like put the spotlight on CEC considering both were pretty similar as being a pizzeria with animatronics but it also coined the word animatronic as being the most relative connotation.
A Bunch of franchises have animatronics but to the now very popular FNAF, when you think animatronics, I think FNAF is one of the first things people think of,
If anything I feel like FNAF brought more attention to CEC for a short while since again CEC was probably the more affordable option to see these animatronics so fans of the game would often go to the store just to see them so it’s sorta brought attention back on CEC, but I think around the time CEC was starting it’s 2.0 phase so the animatronics weren’t the spotlight of it anymore.
Recently I think there was some sort of controversy how CEC’s Five nights of Fun poster looked very similar to the FNAF movie poster so it went from oh FNAF is similar to CEC to now CEC is similar to FNAF.
Me: Thoughts on how they serve alcohol to adults at CEC locations?
Current Anon Employee: I get that CEC is a place for the family and we should have some options catered to the adults of the family but I don’t think alcohol is something we should serve.
At the end of the day we’re not a day care. Yes we’ll help families with any questions or concerns they have, but it’s up to the parents to also keep an eye on their children and I think that’s especially important nowadays when I deal with children. I don’t wanna have any contact with them in case someone from afar would take it the wrong way so sometimes when I’m at the trampoline, I can’t exactly stop any kids from going inside and try to explain what they need to enter, and again their kids - sometimes even toddlers - who may not understand what I’m saying and they are often wandering around by themselves so i can’t really explain to their parents or ask for their help in handling their child cause most of the time I don’t even know where they are.
Recently there was a situation at the front where someone wanted to buy alcohol but I guess their ID didn’t check out but then there was this dispute that the customer was saying stuff like the cashier wasn’t licensed to sell alcohol which I guess he tried to justify why he should get a drink.
Honestly we shouldn’t serve it at all at the end of the day it is a place for kids the last thing we need is a drunk adult in there cause then that could cause a lot of problems,
Me: Btw, what DO you do at your CEC location, while I'm thinking about it.
Current Anon Employee: Well originally I was hired for kitchen but now they have me do other jobs like the game room and the trampoline area. Pretty soon they may have me do parties! Guess I’m sorta a jack of all trades now,
Me: Ever had to put on a costume?
Current Anon Employee: That I actually have not done surprisingly. Only the game room attendants tend to put on the suit and when they have me in the game room, it’s usually just to help clean tables or collect trays,
Me: Speaking of the game room, did you ever have a chance to PLAY the arcade games and such at any point in a typical day on the job?
Current Anon Employee: Uh no, actually the General manager often tells us he pays us for three things:
- Clean
- Take care of the customer
- And stay busy
So if we’re not doing anything I guess work related then we’re just “wasting time”. Since I’m not officially game room I don’t get a little like master card for the games. If there is any down time or management sees that it’s sorta slow they just send workers home early but only the closing shift weirdly
Me: Also, since you were originally hired for the kitchen, do you know HOW this rumor of recycled pizza even got out there? Or if it's even a wide spread one?
Current Anon Employee: i honestly don’t know how the rumor started but from what I remember I know people found the pizza shapes odd in the trays they were in like it seemed like some slices were bigger than others and that could’ve given people the whole “is this the same pizza” suspicion, but when I started working in kitchen I can confirm it is the way we cut it. I’ve cut a few pizzas pretty wonky myself when I was learning but I assure it is the same pizza.
Me: Have you heard about Pasquale running a ghost kitchen from CEC kitchens for food delivery apps?
Current Anon Employee: I actually have! On rare occasions one of our to go orders comes in with the name Pasquale, being a Pasquale order, and speaking from kitchen experience, we use a different dough and cut it a different way, like a large is usually cut to make 12 slices but for Pasquale we only cut it to make 8 we have a board and everything to help us remember how to package a Pasquale order.
Me: Would you want others to work there these days?
Current Anon Employee: I think it’s a good experience one of the better ones in terms of first job. I’ve only been there like 4 months and I’ve seen new people come in and some go but again I think it depends on the location whether or not you’ll enjoy your job. Management at my location is often why people left.
Me: Best/Worst thing about working there?
Current Anon Employee: Best thing would be helping the customers have a good experience. Often times I get customers that are relatively new to the whole establishment so for me it feels good answering their questions and explaining anything they may be confused about. It also helps that I’m bilingual when I get customers that don’t speak English they are often happy to see someone who speaks their language and can communicate with them.
The worst thing however about working at CEC is honestly the mixed quality of service. I’ve been to a couple of CEC including the one where I work and it kinda surprises me how some locations differ based on quality of food, service, or the overall atmosphere.
I guess the worst part about working at CEC is it not being consistent enough. You might be told to do things differently than what’s advertised speaking from personal experience the french fry platter is advertised as 5 servings of fries one serving is roughly 8 ounces so 5 should be 40 ounces but the location I worked at tells me to put 32 ounces which I pointed out was one serving less but no one seemed to care. We did change it though recently so now we do serve the five servings and I honestly don’t know why they suddenly did.
Me: And thoughts on how the overall direction of the company is going?
Current Anon Employee: I wanna start it off by saying I am in no regards knowledgeable in anything having to do with business so this is just my speculation I’m sure people might want to explain things about what I said as “it’s a business” and that I get so I’m not gonna say oh this is how they should run it but I will say this:
I think CEC might be going downhill, sadly. I feel like the prices were always a little too high especially since most of the CEC locations around me are in what can be considered low income areas it often saddens me a bit seeing a parent pick up a small individual pizza for their child a pizza that cost roughly 18 dollars in comparison to our XL at about 32 dollars and that’s just food I don’t know much about the play time for the cards. I know the recent pass they’ve been seeking has an option of 50% off food but I feel like in order to get value out of the pass you have to go consistently and not a lot of families can do that.
Being an employee I often get emails from the company saying that we had a great quarter and that sales are up but from what I hear from the managers is that the company is struggling and they are trying to save money and cut costs and unfortunately that means cutting hours for some people.
So overall I feel like things are going down hill a bit. I mean it’s hard enough as it is to stay relevant in today’s day and age. We’ve seen posts on the reddit of locations shutting down so it feels like it’s not a matter if CEC will ever shut down but just a matter of when.
Me: is there any last thoughts you want to share about your CEC experience?
Current Anon Employee: I know my answers may have been more on the negative side but I really do enjoy working there. My co workers enjoy it as well and while we do have some bad days we strive to provide great service to each family that walks in.
It’s just sometimes hard when it feels like the company you work for is against you. Like I've been saying the quality of service varies upon location. While I’ve only worked for one location I’ve gone to others and just seeing the differences kinda makes me sad as an employee at my location sometimes cause I feel like we’re not up to par.
I’m not coming as someone who hates my job or establishment but rather someone who really wants to see the place succeed. I love my job and I wish I could go into more detail but I feel like I rambled quite too much 😅 either way I just really hope CEC continues to exist. I’d hate to see the place I once cherished as a kid just shut down. I try my best ensure over the top service but there's only so much I can do alone
Me: Thanks once again for agreeing to this chat, btw. I appreciate the HECK out of the brave souls who work at CEC both back then and in this day and age, especially since i was once a CEC customer at one point. these chats I've been having with you folks have brought a bright spot in my otherwise boring day-to-day life
Current Anon Employee: Well thanks for providing a way for our voices to be heard! maybe this could be the start of a new CEC era! lol 3.0
Me: no problem. It was nice talking to you. BTW, I'm serious in all this talk of it being a bright spot in my life as, idk why, but i think I'm having that mythical warm & fuzzy feeling
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