Confessions of a Chuck E Cheese Employee 6

Well, I'm running out of clever ways to introduce this, so let's just get to it

 

Me: how long have you been working at your local CEC?
bamboozledaddy: I have been working at my “local” CEC (still about an hour drive) for a couple of months now, that’s after I transferred from a different location though. I moved away for the summer and worked at my other location first, and then when I came back home I transferred to the one I grew up going to.
bamboozledaddy (Unprompted Crazy Story): Just in the couple months I’ve started working there we’ve had to call the cops but over some pretty tame stuff. like, birthday parties not getting paid for, one time this woman started swinging on her baby daddy, but other than that it’s just a regular CEC, I just hold it dearly to my heart and that’s why I drive 2 hours a day LMAO.
Me: that brings me to this...what's alcohol doing at a place like CEC?
bamboozledaddy: So actually, in my state we don’t sell alcohol. the state won’t give us the permit. in my old location we did, but we had to abide by a very strict 2-drink policy accompanied by a valid ID that we scanned into the system, if they tried to come back and get another one after 2 the system wouldn’t let us. 2 beers is hardly enough to get buzzed so nothing ever ended up happening. it’s just all part of the “grown up menu” and some location specific beer or ales that appeals to millennials.
Me: I see..... So, what stage do/did you have?
bamboozledaddy: A studio c alpha- removed in march of last year...
Me: Another victim of 2.0
bamboozledaddy: Unfortunately. everything is very bland now. eck. the walls are all grey with very modern art, I really don’t like it. the only “old relics” we have are birthday party, fire rescue, pop it for gold, and the ticket wheel. we got to keep our ticket blaster and in the chuck e. closet is a chair from before 2.0 that i guess slipped by corporate, but that’s it.
Me: Going back to you specifically... what all do you do right now?
bamboozledaddy: I float around. I’m trained on everything so I just go where they need me, mainly cash though because I was told at my old location they need a pretty face up front
I also enjoy cash more, I just HATE the salad bar. bane of my existence. I do parties when we’re short staffed or have an issue, but I don’t regularly do showroom.
Me: So I take it you never put on the costume, right?
bamboozledaddy: I actually do, haha! I’m one of the only ones who does it! I’ll just grab someone to stand up front for a sec while I do it, it takes me all of 1 minute to get ready and depending on how slow it is I can get a walk around done in less than 5 minutes. so yes, I am very frequently in the costume.
Me: How's the inside like?  Does it smell and is it hard to breath in?
bamboozledaddy: No! It smells like cotton candy, surprisingly. I’ve never had trouble breathing in it… I guess the only places like that are the office and the bathrooms. Our bathroom was undergoing some construction because of a smell but it didn’t fix it.
Me: Going back to the whole 2.0 thing, Whose bright idea was it to strip away everything that made CEC...well, CEC?
bamboozledaddy: I think it was after Mr. McKillips was hired. To my knowledge, it was an attempt to get us out of bankruptcy, but a lot of people have very strong feelings about it. Nobody at my store likes it, and apparently no one on reddit does either. it wouldn’t have been as big of an issue if they had have told us to pack it up and send it back to them, but they instructed us to destroy and vandalize everything until it was unrecognizable, therefore not preserving the history of the restaurant. It’s like all they think about is the new generation of children and completely miss their target demographic of people our age who are working AT chuck e. cheese because they love it, who are die hard fans that want to preserve history. In my opinion, we should not be fired for trying to preserve history. If you are found dumpster diving its immediate termination and a ban from all chuck e. cheese stores. very disheartening for someone like me who has no malicious intent, just doesn’t want to see it all go to waste.
Me: YIKES...."Let's pretend the past 50 or so years didn't exist".
bamboozledaddy: On the other hand, Mr. McKillips is a great guy. has done some awesome stuff for our company. as well as Mr. Kupferman. he’s the reason why anything has been saved to begin with, because he got on reddit and saw that there were a TON of people against destroying everything. I think that’s the problem with having a bunch of 50 year old men as the heads of the company, they don’t realize how heartbreaking it actually is for people like us.
Me: Glad I was the age of a CEC kid aback In the 90s...
Side note, I might try asking people who are trying to restore these pieces of history as my next topic on the subreddit.i'm finding some of these people from.
So...how do you feel about all this history being treated like "it never happened"?
Also, you know what this reminds me of now?
The post-merge Concept Unification, turning the Rockafire Explosion into Munch's Make believe Band.
bamboozledaddy: Very heartbroken. like i can actually feel a pain in my chest. I hoped to work for this company and have them work to make it as great as i remembered it, just to find out i could get fired and blacklisted for trying to save the history of the store. the era in which i remember was a staple of tens of thousands of children’s childhoods (perhaps more), and its like its sand slipping through my fingers, stores that don’t have 2.0 are getting closed and gutted left and right and its like i can’t figure out which way to go to try to save it. just very frustrating, I feel like I'm stuck because there’s nothing i can do about it, and the execs in the company don’t listen.
AA: (to the concept unification comment): yes, I’ve researched that. obviously way before my time, but still interesting nonetheless. my location wasn’t a showbiz, but Pinevilles was, so it’s cool to at least have a 3 stage within driving distance. i don’t think the company is on good terms with Mr. Fechter, the creator of CEI and the RAE.
Me: Also, you want to know who might REALLY be disappointed with 2.0? Nolan Bushnell.
Seeing the thing he created being stripped of most of the ideas he had.
bamboozledaddy: Nolan Bushnell was at the grand reopening in CA, he is very old now though… honestly, i think when he handed the company off he didn’t want to have to worry about it anymore. and understandably so, i mean, he IS the father of Atari.
I understand where you’re coming from, though
Honestly, i really don’t like Rockstar. off topic, but on topic i guess? they shrunk him down to a tiny mouse from human size, and he’s very bland now. avenger had much personality and they took all the things that made avenger good and crumpled them up and threw them away. the only good thing to come out of Rockstar is the “new” walk around, it seems to scare kids less.
Me: If he was involved, would 2.0 have happened.
bamboozledaddy: honestly i can’t say. i don’t know that he even wanted to be involved, to be honest. they haven’t gotten any pushback from him, though, so I;m assuming he’s okay with it.
Me: do you have any opportunity to play in the game room at all during a work day?
bamboozledaddy: yes, on days that we aren’t busy I’ll play games sometimes. and when there’s an issue that another employee can’t fix, when i go fix it i use it as an excuse to play the games.
Me: Also, why do i all of a sudden feel like the Ken Burns of CEC. (if you even get the reference)
bamboozledaddy: LMFAOO too funny!
Me: I've been known to have my funny moments.
bamboozledaddy: You definitely are making a difference by finding and reaching out to us, I’m sure if the company ever reads the interviews they will take the criticism from the employees into consideration I’m sure obviously the most likely to read it is Mr. Kupferman.
Me: I take it that besides the dance floor and the game room, all you have nowadays ia a trampoline area, as part of 2.0.
bamboozledaddy: I mean, we also have the video wall, but that’s down in the showroom.
It can be seen from the front counter though.
Pretty much everything in the store has been affected by 2.0. new signage, trampoline zone, dance floor, video wall took the place of the stage, etc.
Me: Just isn't the same place it was 10 or 20 years ago...
bamboozledaddy: Precisely. almost unrecognizable. same structure, completely different… everything else.
Me: What is your favorite "era" of Chuck as a character?
bamboozledaddy: Avenger WITHOUT A DOUBT!
That was my childhood, he was fun and bright and “rad” and hip, best walk around costume, He was in all of the PBS promo material i remember watching as a child, i liked the other eras as well but avenger was by far my favorite. most nostalgia, best art as well.
Me: Tbh, that's pretty much mine too as far as childhood memories go
Me: Do you wish there was another place like CEC (or at least old-school CEC) out there?
bamboozledaddy: Hmmm… being as i am very protective of the company and my location specifically, not really. I’ve heard of billy bobs wonderland but I've also heard it’s not well kept, which is what i worry about happening IF that were to come to fruition.
Me: Btw, i assume you know of the recycled pizza myth, right?
bamboozledaddy: YES! LMFAOOO
Me: seems wider spread than I first thought before starting this series.
bamboozledaddy: Just a PSA to all of the little kids who watch Shane Dawson out there: this IS NOT true!! we hand make our dough and pizza, we just use a pizza cutter that’s like a long round blade, when we’re cutting pizza really quickly and trying to get them in the window sometimes it makes some slices look bigger and some slices look smaller. We DO NOT recycle pizza!! we throw away any pizza that is left behind, though wasteful, it is the best option.
Me: While on the topic of Pizza...does Pasquale run a ghost kitchen over there?
bamboozledaddy: So, we do have a “Pasqually's Pizza And Wings”, but very rarely do we ever get orders from it. most all of the time we get orders from our “Buddy V’s Cake Slice” ghost kitchen.
Me: Interesting...
Another pizza question: seen the CEC pizza that's being sold in the frozen section of stores?
bamboozledaddy: I have seen it! i haven’t had a chance to try it though. i’m sure it wouldn’t be the same… my best friend makes my pizza at work with love. LOL
Me: What would you do with the e-tickets?
bamboozledaddy: I guess not use them, we aren’t allowed to get prizes or use tickets.
Me: Figured that about not being able to earn tickets and all that.
bamboozledaddy: Very sad day for an employee who is also a fan LOL
I got my 2” chuck plush from pineville, actually!
Me: Besides the story you mentioned about having to call the cops for some stuff happening, any other interesting stories from your time?
bamboozledaddy: Tbh no… occasionally a bad birthday party and more than not we have rude parents and bratty children, but the good people and well behaved kids make it worth it.
Me: Before we finish, would you recommend this to up and coming people wanting to work there?
bamboozledaddy: YES! i work for the most fun, inclusive company on the planet. I try to get new people to come work at my store all of the time. there are times it can be stressful, so if you don’t do well under stress, i DO NOT recommend… but otherwise it is a wonderful place.
I hope that someone in the company can read this and take some input and try to change some things (though it’s unlikely. I just wish that the things i think are important they would find important as well.
Me: To be fair, any job has its stressful moments.
bamboozledaddy: That is true… this is just definitely the most stressful job I’ve ever had and i’ve had about 5 other jobs in my life.
Me: Oh! I just thought of something...what's your thoughts on the idea of keeping/putting the bots back in some locations as "legacy stores"?
bamboozledaddy: I think we already have a lot of legacy stores, I’m lucky to be in driving distance of one. I wish that we could have our bot back because i miss it very badly, but my location is not popular enough. I think it would be beneficial for the company to put bots back, i think it will bring in more customers because of the large fan base.
Me: Well, thanks for agreeing to share your stories and opinions
bamboozledaddy: Of course!!