sarah-bellum

That's really interesting - you seem to be implying that it was quite expensive, but if there was really no teacher involvement in anything you did (even grading tests as you mentioned further down), what on earth were you paying for? I know there must have been expenses like books etc. but surely not enough to warrant really high tuition fees. (I'm not doubting your honesty or anything, it just seems like a huge money grab on the school's part.)

Buffy is definitely a show that could get fan funding if they wanted to as well. Even a decade later, the fanbase is still huge.

Employees usually get a pretty good read on what kind of person they're dealing with and adjust accordingly. When I worked there, if someone looked really uncomfortable, I'd often get other people to participate (ie. have the whole line-up of people do stuff alongside them) or shorten it down so it only lasted about 30 seconds. A person who really seemed to be enjoying themselves would get a much longer, more involved ceremony (especially if there were a couple of them doing it together - a parent and child or a boyfriend and girlfriend, for example).

Basically the employees just want you to have a good time. Happy people buy more! They'll try not to make you uncomfortable if they can help it.

I worked at a Build-a-Bear for four years as a teenager and I'd forgotten all about this until now! My manager at the time was a big burly 250-pound dude and he would still shrink away in fear when cutting those things open.