Confessions of a Chuck E Cheese employee: Volume 3

 Another one, which I was working on the interview & transcript on WHILE the other from "current anon" was happening.  Yes, me juggling 2 interviews/chats at the same time, all while doing other things like getting ready for a Dave & Busters trip the next day (the day after when I posted volume 2 and did the draft for this one.  Once again, edited for grammar and formatting.

The experiment is if posting the interview directly to the subreddit would do better than posting to my blog page. Also, I worked on both Volumes 2 and 3's interviews and transcripts at the same time at one point, which is why both are ready to be posted. (Again, edited for grammar and formatting)

In any event, here goes another one...

Me: Where's the location of your CEC (if you want to share)?

Liz: We are located in Houston Tx!

Me: I know you said it in the reddit post, but how long have you been working there?

Liz: I started in January of this year so going on 10 months.

Me: What's your main job/function over there right now?

Liz: I'm a party coordinator.

Me: Do you ever have to put on any of the costumes?

Liz: Omg yes, my location only has Chuck E but i absolutely love getting in costume.

Me: Does it smell in the costume? and what about breathing?

Liz: No actually, they get washes every other Tuesday/Wednesday I believe but after every use we spay it down with Lysol so sometimes it’s super heavy and hard to breathe. And I wearing the heavy costume and dancing makes it hard to breathe.

Me: Btw, what animatronic stage do you have? Or do you have the "dreaded" 2.0 dance floor.

Liz: I have the dance floor unfortunately, when I got hired i was so excited to be working with the animatronics but at that point they were gone...

Me: And i gotta ask, what effect (if any) do you think the Five Night at Freddy's franchise had on the CEC brand and the perception of the animatronics by the kids who go there?

Liz: I believe that the fnaf franchise really helped bring kids back after the pandemic with the new games and whatnot but now that cec is modernizing I feel like they’re trying to break away from that.

Me: Were you ever able to play in the game room/arcade area at all while on the job?

Liz: Yeah definitely! After closing sometimes I ask for the game room attendants card to play some games, and I recently asked to be cross trained in game room mainly to be able to play more!

Me: I haven't asked anyone else this... but out of the main characters in the CEC roster, who's your fave?

Liz: I absolutely love munch!! I’ve been trying to snag some of merch from the wall.

Me: Would you have wanted to work in another era of CEC, if it was possible.

Liz: Yes definitely, I would have loved to work there in the era of Avenger Chuck, I grew up around going to Chuck E. Cheese during that time and since I was a kid really wanted to work there.

Me: What's your take on the rumor of recycled pizzas?

Liz: Hmmmm Idek how people came to the conclusion that the pizza is recycled like no way that would every be approved in any way, but I’ve heard it only looks like that cuz sometimes locations cut the pizza before the throwing them in the oven and it misshapen them.

Me: Have you seen the CEC branded frozen pizza in grocery stores?

Liz: I’ve seen the frozen pizzas online and have been looking for them out in the wild to see if they taste like the real thing but so far no luck.

Me: Does Pasquale run a ghost kitchen from your location for food delivery apps?

Liz: Yeah my location does run a ghost kitchen, but I don’t even see orders for it. The pizza boxes are super cute tho.

Me: Btw, going back to your answer to the era question, what exactly made Avenger Chuck, well... Avenger Chuck

Liz: Definitely the costume, I loved it so much, when rockstar Chuck came out I was terrified of the costume, I only got over it when I started to work there.

Me: Did you ever hear about the older competition to Chuck E Cheese from back in the day (places like Showbiz Pizza)?

Liz: Honestly no, I literally only started hearing about it after I joined the subreddit.

Me: Tbh, i only found out about that stuff when the internet happened.

Me: If you DID have an animatronic stage, which one WOULD you have wanted?

Liz: I believe it’s called the 2 stage Idrk about the other but I grew up with a that one and it gives me a sense of nostalgia.

Me: Something I didn't even think to ask anyone else I've interviewed about their CEC experience: How are the tokens and tickets handled nowadays?

Liz: Tokens are called points now and are held on a game card along with tickets. it’s annoying when people come in with stack and stack of physical tickets and we have to count them in order for them to be redeemed since we don’t have the ticket machine and also some games use the physical tokens to be played and little kids try to redeem them and tickets, it’s kind of cute.

Me: Shows how long it's been since I've been to one.

Liz: Yeah it was like 8 years that I got to go to one so everything was completely different!

Me: Your thoughts on the idea of some locations serving alcohol to the adults in a place marketed to kids?

Liz: I absolutely hate it, my location doesn't serve alcohol since it’s kind of in a bad area so we juts about it all together but it’s so weird to me, like why are you wanting to drink with your children around and I guess there was two drink limit but wouldn’t it be easy to bypass by getting someone else to order for you. People are always asking me why my location stoped serving it and they get almost physical with how upset they are. It’s scary!

Me: Yikes!!!

Me: Btw, while looking at the website, i see a thing called "Sensory Sensitive Sundays". what's all that about?

Liz: Ohhh on Sunday mornings I believe the audio from all the screens is super low to provide parents with kids who go into sensory overload with a place to be, I honestly love working those shifts cuz my regulars come in and I also get really overstimulated from all the kids screaming and lights and music so I also benefit from it.

Me: When I grew up going to CEC, i remember skytubes and ball pits. what do you have nowadays?

Liz: We have the trampoline, it’s really popular but you have to pay for it so someone has to be monitoring it at all times, and kids don’t listen so it’s miserable having to call they’re parents over to get them out if they haven’t paid and even parents sometimes want to argue with you over the price. Oh and cleaning it at night is so annoying.

Me: Is that all?

Liz: At least for my location, yeah.

Me: Man, talk about gutting the experience...

Me: From your experience, would you recommend working at a CEC if there's one close to them? even in its current state.

Liz: I definitely would, it can be super overwhelming and management can suck ass at times but it’s so rewarding to see families coming in and enjoying they’re time together, I love giving kids the experience that I once had and hope that one day they also want to give that experience to the best generation.

Me: Btw, before we continue, thanks for wanting to (and agreeing to) share your CEC story.

Liz: It’s my pleasure, love sharing my experiences!!!

Me: And I'm beginning to enjoy hearing about and sharing these as well!

Me: To be totally honest, i haven't been feeling the best prior to doing the original "Confessions of a CEC employee" post on my channel and seeing the positive response (especially after posting it in the subreddit). And I mean mentally.

Me: Any last stories from your 10 months you'd like to share before we end this interview?

Liz: Hmmm recently one of our managers was transferred to a new location and we threw a going away. Celebration for him, we had cake and decorated the break room and we made taco pizzas and it was so much fun, I miss him.

Another time my location went to a vendor event to promote birthday parties and our Chuck E became kind of icon within our district cuz of the drama he causes.