Confessions of a Chuck E Cheese Employee: Volume 4

 This 4th interview was from a CEC discord server, the identity of which I'll keep private per the interest of higher ups in said server

 

Me: how long have you been working at your CEC?
CEC Employee: Almost a year and a half.

Me: Are you ok with sharing what location you work at?
CEC Employee: I'd rather not, some people tend to have a severe disliking to my location due to immature reasons.

Me: I'd ask what stage you have, but i have a feeling you've gone 2.0...am I right in that assumption?
CEC Employee: Yes, we just got 2.0, but we had a Studio C Alpha.
Me: Sad to see one of the things that made CEC stand out be removed, IMO.
CEC Employee: Yeah, it broke my heart to see the stage gone.

Me: Do you still have any of the play structures like the sky tubes, or is it now just the trampoline thing.
CEC Employee: No, all we have is a very small trampoline zone
Me: Kids getting little to none of the classic CEC experience these days...
CEC Employee: Yeah, everything is digital and soulless.
Me: Even the token/ticket system has gone digital, as I learned in a previous interview.

Me: Going back to you and your working there, what jobs do you have?
CEC Employee: I started out as a game room attendant, but I'm pretty much a party server now. I'm supposed to be the party coordinator but it's not officially my title even though I do a lot of the tasks associated.

Me: Btw, one thing that slipped my mind the first 3 interviews... how's the prize quality for the higher-valued stuff these days?
CEC Employee: Not the best. A lot of the things that are 8000 tickets (which translates to $80.00 USD), you can get at Walmart for $25-$35.
And it's things that kids aren't that interested in.
The only reason kids choose a giant floor puzzle is because they see paw patrol characters on it and that's all they care about.
Me: The power of branding, everyone!

Me: Now, have you ever had to put on a costume in your time over there?
CEC Employee: Yes, a lot! lol
Me: How was it?
CEC Employee: Personally, I love being Chuck!
I get to be silly.
Me: And what about the inside of the costume?
CEC Employee: It gets hot pretty quick, and the head is missing the jaw strap so it's difficult to really move your head.
Also, being a smaller person, it makes it a lot harder to see.
Vision is very limited.
Me: I can imagine how that can be an issue.

Me: Did you ever eat any of the food from there? Or are employees not allowed to eat, even off the clock
CEC Employee: Yeah, we get employee meals on the clock, and a 50% discount off the clock
Me: Be honest, how are the pizzas over there
CEC Employee: I really like them
They're a lot better fresh though
Me: As any pizza tends to be
Speaking of, ever seen the CEC pizzas in the frozen section of grocery stores?
CEC Employee: I personally haven't seen them before, but know they're out there

Me: If you had a choice, provided both were still operating and didn't merge,
would you have chosen Pizza Time Theater or Showbiz Pizza Place?
Just wondering how things would be if we lived in a world without Concept Unification.
CEC Employee: Pizza Time Theater, I find the skits more entertaining.

Me: Going back to the pizza, you know that rumor that they recycle pizzas when serving them to customers, right?
CEC Employee: Yeah, it's a rumor that makes no sense. lol
Me: I won't ask you for any more details since it's been covered by the first 3 people i spoke to
but I agree...why "recycle" pizza?

Me: Were you able to play in the game room at any point?
CEC Employee: Yeah, plenty of times.
Part of game room is doing what we call "card tap", which is loading your staff card with points and playing every single game to make sure they work properly
It's done twice a day, am and pm, and it gets logged
Me: Ah

Me: Now I'm gonna ask a tough question...
Who has it worse when it comes to keeping these kids under control, the employees or the parents?
CEC Employee: It depends...
Unless they're being destructive to the games, we can't say much to them.
Me: Also, while on the topic of parents: thoughts on how some locations serve alcohol?
CEC Employee: I think it's funny to serve alcohol in a place that's so worried about being "family friendly".
It's certainly annoying for the cashiers, since they have to go through the whole id verification process, and get a manager.

Me: Getting away from the generalized questions for a bit...
Do you have any specific memories from your 18-ish months you've been there so far?
CEC Employee: Yes, good and bad.
Me: You can tell about both.
CEC Employee: On one hand, there's been a couple cases of having to kick certain people out.
And then there's more wholesome interactions, like teaching kids how the animatronic worked and helping them get over their fear of him.
Me: Ah, speaking of Animatronics... what's your thoughts on the effects of the FNAF franchise on CEC?
CEC Employee: I feel like the harder CEC tries to deny that FNaF has brought them popularity, the worse they'll end up being. They constantly reference FNaF and pretend they didn't.
Me: interesting take.

Me: Who has it better right now, the customer or the employee?
When it comes to the CEC experience.
CEC Employee: The customer, for sure!
We pretty much bend over backwards for customers.
And they tend to make it harder for employees anyways.

Me: A few more questions...
Do you recommend working at a CEC, provided it sticks around long enough?
CEC Employee: It depends if you have the patience to deal with people, and lots of noise.
Me: And any tips for those wanting to do so?
CEC Employee: Remember that despite everything that might happen, it's never the child's fault. They only know what they've been taught.

Me: Alright. thanks for agreeing to share your stories on this whole thing.
CEC Employee: Yeah no problem!
Me: Hopefully yours (and others like you) can help the community have a more "human" side, as I've been hearing about elsewhere online when it comes to typical topics in the CEC community as a whole.
CEC Employee: Yeah, the employees aren't corporate, we just have to do what we're told.