IAmA former Employee of Chuck E. Cheese, Where A Kid Can Be A Kid! Ask me anything!

Did you ever meet Charles Entertainment Cheese himself?

You could say I’ve walked a mile in his shoes

Is it true that Chuck E. Cheese stock can now only be redeemed for prizes on the middle shelf or below?

Unfortunately, now it’s only the front case :/

I just gotta say I now realized that there's always an Employee Is at the front of the Restaurant to deter child predators and kidnappers. Smart

Yup! Kid check is there to stamp parents and kids hands so that whoever comes in together, leaves together. If your numbers don’t line up you’re not getting out

Where do you recommend I go to pick up single moms now?

The roller rink, man. There’s always single moms there at kids birthday parties, esp on Monday afternoons at ones across the street from strip clubs

What age was the oldest birthday boy/girl? I ask because my friend had her party there when we were 14 (sort of as a joke), and when the damn mouse came out, it started laughing at us (literally rolling around on the floor and beating his clenched paws to the ground). 😂

I can’t quite remember but definitely 12, I think 13 once. 14 is def the weird age where it’s unclear if you’re genuine or ironic. It would become funny again around 18-21, then not funny anymore

What can I get for 78 tickets?

The amount of tickets I’d get compared to the 100 my male coworker would

When I was a kid I remember that being some bomb ass pizza. Did the bomb assness of the pizza decline over the years?

I think it’s actually gotten better tbh

Any animatronics where you used to work? I remember as a kid trying to get the courage to peek under the curtains, and seeing their lifeless bodies standing still in the dark.

Yes the full band was at my place

Have you ever been offered sex for tokens?

Nah but a really creepy dude asked for my number once and for whatever reason my go to reaction was to laugh. I was just hella uncomfy cuz he had been staring at me the whole afternoon already and my boss wouldn’t let me stay in the back even after the interaction (he kept scraping up coins to have a reason to come buy something at the counter)

Was this dude, like, accompanied by children? Can adults just chill at Chuck E Cheese and scrape up coins?

There were a few kids (it was a family) but adults are welcome without kids (they rebranded as such a few years back when they introduced alcohol)

Ever have anyone hack some of the ticket games? I've seen those videos where they do some special move on the bass-fishing-handle game to automatically win the jackpot. I'm always tempted to try at places like Dave & Busters but since I always go with the kiddos, I don't wanna get kicked out or banned and then have to explain to my kids why I did the wrong thing lol.

Never saw it happen

How many fights have you witnessed? I ask because I've heard in the past that chuck e cheese is the restaurant with the most fights in the US.

Never saw any actual physical fights

Is Chuck E. Cheese a restaurant or a family entertainment center?

It operates as a restaurant primarily

Do they ever disinfect the play structures?

My store didn’t have them, I believe they did start phasing them out a few years back over sanitary concerns but I’m not positive. But yes, they would have gotten cleaned nightly by gameroom staff (this is both on training documents as well as just stories I heard from bosses)

What would be your #1 top rule you would implement if they stayed open?

Hmm, small or large spectrum? One store or all stores? Entertainment change or financial one? QoL improvements?

Generally I’d want to say better attention to detail/more staffing, but in a rush, no one pays attention to details, and I was never management so I assume they were working with the hours they had

What was the best prize you could win at your store? How many tickets did it cost? what was the best value for your tickets?

Most expensive ticket prizes were the 6000 ones (think like cheap game you would have gotten as a kid that had no discernible qualities other than it being skinned with a popular movie from years ago, or a giant fucking like 5 foot long nerf football knockoff)

Best bang for your buck would actually be taking advantage of the ticket=1 penny route. There were giant like ~3 foot plush of most of the characters for 35 bucks which was always just a little too expensive imo but it’d only be 3500 tickets which, for the quality of it compared other stuff that would be around that level, nothing else even compares. Except maybe like cotton candy or giant lollipops being like 200 tickets which is negligible

What were your worst examples of kids with temper tantrums?

Honestly, more often than not, it was the parents that would have the tantrums. I worked in a less than good neighborhood, and so many people who came in acted entitled as hell, screamed across the restaurant whenever they would want, they’d get in my face w homophobic insults (I look stereotypically queer), demand free stuff all the time, throw their trash on the floor and walk away, etc etc.

The kids were usually at least a little sweet, and if nothing else were just excited to be there (but apparently they’d be “too excited” cuz their parents would start screaming at them for being happy??)

What was one of your favorite moments working there?

I always had an interest in the franchise before I started working there, so I knew a lot about the “lore” w the characters. One afternoon, after going in on an hour bus ride after a day of classes at uni, I was exhausted and was at a mentally low point so I just didn’t want to be working. This little girl comes up to the counter and starts asking questions about Chuck E and asks how he started the restaurant so I just told her the story and she was so interested and ran up to the animatronic Chuck to talk to him about his life. That warmed my heart for a minute

I still believe Charles Entertainment Cheese pulled off the perfect coup d'etat when he took over Showbiz Pizza.

I agree. My man over here straight up ran out of money, asked his brother for some, then pulled a move straight out of the Bible, killed his brother, and took over like no one would notice

What is Chuck.E the mouse's origin story?

He was an orphan who found refuge in the rafters of pasqually the chef’s pizza restaurant. The restaurant happened to be a hot spot for parties, and Chuck E grew to love the happy birthday song. He went on to work with pasqually and create Chuck E. Cheese to host birthday parties for kids to make up for the fact he didn’t have one. Jasper is his “best friend” (he’s a dog), munch is an alien that landed and found them, and tbh I’m actually unsure of helens origin, I think she’s just chucks friend

Is that fucking thing a rat? Because it looks like a rat, not a mouse, and it is a rat, and no one can convince me otherwise, and we have a fucking rat in our apartment right now, and it's not going into the peanut butter traps and it is PISSING. ME. OFF.

EDIT: Seven hours later: Roommate who owns lease (staying with his parents during pandemic in Long Island) realizes apartment has rats, isn’t renewing lease, one month from now — I’m out of this shithole city they call the Big Apple after 12 messy years. AMA.

F

Did you ever have adults show up without kids? What was the policy? I figure some adults might just want to play video games and eat pizza.

It never happened but adults are welcome without kids technically

Did staff members ever get to play the games? Also, were there employee events? If so, what were some notable ones?

No events, but game room could “play” the games by testing them, and once we got a bunch of new ones and it was a slow week day so we spent the afternoon playing them. That was a pretty good day

What makes that Hershey’s chocolate cake so damn good?

It’s made with extra love 💕

Can you tell me a bit about your worst day at work?

I was out drinking w friends and a date the night before and blacked out accidentally. Woke up hungover as shit, in my clothes, and couldn’t find my phone, school Id (needed for building access), or wallet. After finding most of my effects in the bathroom, I started getting ready in the 20 min I had, and stubbed my toe really hard on my bed. Great. Get to work and it’s still hurting and I feel like toss. Hours later I look and it’s black and blue and they wouldn’t let me leave to go to urgent care which would be closed by the time I got off. So I suffered through the shift, as the only employee, then had to pay an extra 120 in extra Uber’s and my accidentally skipped out bar tab. The worst

In a fight do you think chuck e cheese would win or mickey mouse?

Chuck e was raised on the streets. That pampered little frat boy wishes he could take Big C

Were any of the games rigged?

Not that I know of

DO they ever clean the ball pit???

Ball pits got removed like 20 years ago. They actually made light of the joke of having dirty ball pits in one of their animated clips that played in the restaurant (iirc something like “don’t throw me in the ball pit!” “Well actually, we got rid of those over 20 years ago, why does everyone think we have them still”)

Did something happen in '87?

Also how good do you consider the pizza compared to other chains?

I have no comment about an incident that may or may not have happened at an independent franchisee’s location around November of 1987

I think the pizza is pretty top notch tbh, especially compared to chains

Uh let's see.

1. How long have you been working there?

2. What are some things people dont know about working there

3. Knowing what you know now would you take kids that you know to a Chucky cheese?

1. I worked there from Jan-nov of last year (left for health reasons)

2. In my experience, they’re horrendously understaffed. Some days I’d be at the front door spot (kid check) and you can’t leave that spot because you’re basically security, but anytime someone would want to buy something or need a game fixed, they’d come to me. Then I’d have to somehow let my boss know in the back, without leaving my spot or causing a scene, before the parent gets angry and starts harassing me (frequent occurrence). Other times, I’d be the only person for the whole operations, so I’d be doing register, prize counter, Chuck E. Live shows, kitchen, gameroom, and cleaning. On a Monday afternoon that’s not too bad, but there’d be the frequent bump where I’d be running around best I could while having parents yelling at me from every direction. If parents/kids could have at least been responsible for their trash and not just thrown it on the ground, my life would have been astronomically easier. The restaurant often gets the bad reputation of being dirty, so people think it’s ok to treat it as such, when in reality, it’s the parents who think since it’s Chuck E. Cheese, they’re allowed to not care if they smash a slice of pizza into the carpet or throw cake across the party floor, and there’s not enough staff to balance it out. That’s why it has the “dirty” reputation

3. Well I’m only in my early 20s so I don’t know many kids but I took my sister a lot. But I don’t see a reason not to take anyone?

sounds like you guys would’ve benefited from radios to communicate. i run security for a concert venue and not being able to communicate with my team would be a nightmare.

We had them technically, but no one would ever wear the ear piece, and sometimes we’d pick up the ihop

How much puke?

Surprisingly minimal

Is Mr. Cheese as nice as he seems or is he a showbiz diva?

Nah I wouldn’t say he’s a diva, moreso just a little mousy

i've read you just worked last year, so im going to ask if you've ever heard if the whole five nights at freddy's popularity explosion affected business in any positive or negative way?

also, in your personal opinion: whats the secret of a good pizza?

I actually love Five nights at Freddy’s (one of my internet handles is a reference to it). But I have no idea any impact it had on business. As to the pizza, the key is a good cheese to dough ratio

Did the Shane Dawson pizza theory really effect the company?

I had to throw out everything in a now publicly displayed trash can in the middle of the floor for a month when it released, but otherwise no

Used to go to Chuck E Cheese all the time during the 80s and early 90s when I was a kid.

Questions:

1) Is there sugar in the pizza to make the kids want to play longer?

2) Do they still serve beer to adults? (My dad used to get absolutely hammered there and I'm pretty sure that is why my parents always chose CEC for birthday parties)

1. There was never sugar as far as I’m aware/I never used it. I suppose it could have been in the tomato sauce but that might be true of all pizza sauce to a degree

2. Yes but my place didn’t

Were you working on or around October 15, 1993 and were you the person in the Chucky suit that I kicked? If so... I am so sorry.

Wasn’t me, but Honestly I can prob speak for them and say If all you did was kick the mascot and not grab their ass or anything else for whatever goddamn random reason, then you prob weren’t the worst kid they dealt w that day

Some of us have good memories of Chuck E. Cheese and their corny ass music videos and birthday parties. My kids LOVED that place. Do you think that there is a place for Chuck E. Cheese type franchises in the future? Or are they too unhealthy and dangerous?

In general, it is a perfectly fine concept. Hell, I still love it, but I think the decision to start removing the animatronics was the wrong decision. I don’t think it actually happened at a lot of them, but the reasoning was that kids aren’t interested in them, but I saw that to be quite not correct. I think they might do well to go back to their roots, increase support for the animatronics, and start doing more “show” type stuff again. I think a lot of the appeal is that it’s just something different, and if they actually invested a lot of effort into the animatronic shows like they did in the 80’s/made the place a little more adult friendly in general (maybe like a sitting area for adults to hang out?) then they might draw more people back in. They’d have to rope them off tho which might ruffle feathers cuz kids love climbing on them

How does it smell inside that rat suit?

Sweaty

Have you ever tried to re enact five nights at Freddie's?

One day last summer our power went out and when I got in the next morning the kitchen was pitch black. Chica was definitely up to something back there but it was NOT on me to figure out what

Do you regret it? The only one I want answer to be honest.

Not a minute of it. I truthfully didn’t want to leave, but health problems prevented me from working by the end of last year. Would go back if it was closer/paid better/was opening again

What was the worst thing you had ever seen a parent do?

Def not the worst but the immediate one is just put their infant on the floor 20 feet from the bathroom and changed the diaper in the middle of everything

Do you have any good poopoo or peepee in the play place stories?

As a child, I'll never forget crawling in a tunnel of piss.....on my fucking birthday. Ugh

Fortunately, my store axed it’s play place years before I worked there

Ahh I see. Ok changing my question then.

How many slices of Chuck E Cheese pizza did you consume per day?

Depending on when during the year you asked, either 4-6 or 0

Former CEC employee here too! Did you have the ice suit to wear under the chuck e suit?

The

what

I have never been but always been curious how was the value of going to the restaurant was it cheaper or more expensive than Dave and busters? What games did you have to play? What was your most bratty kid story?

It would be WAYYYY cheaper to go to CEC as opposed to D&B. You can get 2 hours of unlimited games for 30 ish bucks at cec. Dave n busters charges insanity

Have you ever tried/beaten a kid in a arcade game? And follow up, have you ever encountered misbehaving teens at the restaurant? Thanks!

Never played against any kids, I didn’t typically work in game room. But sometimes teens would roll in if kid check was lazy (they technically need an adult but no one cares enough to stop and ask teenagers for an id before going in) and cause some problems and they’d have to be kicked out. Problems were typically of the “oooo hahah I’m 14 in a Chuck e CHeESe what?!??1” variety

Do you guys really put unfinished pizzas together to make new pies like the Shane Dawson video??

It’s long answered in my post but No

u/topcoatsandhats please answer this ^

Plz read my post

What do you think CEC could have done better?

And I mean that broadly. From the top down to the bottom.

Better pay, more employees/hours, I think withdrawing support from the animatronics however 20 odd years back was a mistake, removing them even moreso, maybe expand the menu a little more, or add an adult lounge area for adults to talk with each other if they want to take turns watching kids or whatever

Hey fellow Sun Devil!

Have you ever played FNAF? Was it weird? Do you think you're more or less afraid of animatronic critters than your average person?

Hi!!

I love the fnaf franchise, it’s actually part of the reason I wanted to work there in the first place. But I’m def less afraid lol. I used to pose for pictures w them

What's the cut off for kid/adult?

Adults can just go in, kids are required to be accompanied by at least one adult

How often do the rides and stuff get cleaned?

Nightly. It’s closing game rooms biggest job

Are the ticket play machines actually “hackable” like these YouTube videos suggest? Have you ever caught someone? Did you confront them or leave it?

I’ve never heard of them being hackable. You’d have to have a key to get into the computer parts of it

Did five nights at Freddie’s give you nightmares?

Nah but the VR one gave me a good jump or two

[deleted]

copy and pasted from my post

And I’m just gonna get this one out of the way: of course they don’t salvage and reheat slices. The business operates as a restaurant first business, doing something like that would get them shut down so quick. If the pizza were to have gone back in the oven, it would have burned guaranteed (we warn people before they request theirs get reheated if it was left idle on their table for a while). It has an uneven shape because it’s hand stretched dough, which allows for occasionally uneven circles, and the pies get cut with a type of rolling machete, which can often warp the slices if done fast (like in a Saturday rush). Everything is made to order. Dough is even prepared and made in house

Why’s the pizza and food quality so poor? Is the pizza made of sand and cheese?

Asking in a non bitchy way, but when was the last time you went? I love their pizza, and used to bring it home to have for dinner through the week. Dough is made fresh in house, cheese is shredded fresh, etc. it’s a genuine restaurant. They underwent a change like 5-6 years back so I ask cuz if it has been a while, you might not know how it is now (I think they brag about having beat Pizza Hut in a blind taste contest but that isn’t that hard to do tbh)