Chuck E. Cheese Employees Describe The Wildest Things They've Ever Seen
Chuck E. Cheese occupies a strange niche in pop culture. Children and adults often have wildly differing perspectives on this rat-themed arcade/pizzeria, and it's not hard to see why. For many kids, Chuck E. Cheese is a colorful playground full of snacks, games, and wonder. As an adult, however, it's hard to get past the bizarre horror show of uncanny animatronics, grimy ball pits, and noise.
There is likely no better source for bizarre Chuck E. Cheese stories than the employees themselves, many of whom have taken to Reddit to share their wildest memories of working at Chuck E. Cheese. For a place designed to entertain kids, there's an unusual amount of impropriety going down at Chuck E. Cheese.
A Girl At A Sorority Party Flashed A Little Boy
From Redditor /u/disgruntled-elk:
I worked at a CEC for three years... I live in a college town, so we had sororities who would book events through us. They'd book the entire party area on a weekday, and they'd never show up until 9 pm, giving them only an hour. They always showed up already drunk, and at our CEC we had a "one drink per hour, per ID" rule. Some would sneak in [substances]. People would [get intimate] in the bathroom...
We would warn parents before they came in, but they'd usually stay anyway. One girl flashed a family's young son at one of these events and apparently thought it was hilarious. Naturally, the store was a [mess] after these events. These... kids would try to [take] and destroy anything they could get their hands on.
We were always at the store into the wee hours of the night, but a lot of people actually liked working these events. They were surprisingly fun to work and we'd spend the night cleaning and sharing stories of the weird sh*t we had happen to us.
They Saw Lots Of Bodily Secretions In The Ball Pits
From Redditor /u/ginty:
[Poop] and urine in the tubes and ball pits.
So. Much. Vomit.
The Head Of The Animatronic Singing Chicken Fell Off
From Redditor /u/KatyLiedTheBitch:
My brother used to work there.
Know the animatronic singing animals they have? The head of the chicken (named Helen) fell clean off.
Shortly after, the girl that was dressed as Chuck E. fainted because it got hot as f*ck in that suit.
Costumed Chuck Panicked When 60 Kids Surrounded Him
From Redditor /u/Bizronthemaladjusted:
I was head game room trainer when I was in high school. I basically walked around the arcade area and fixed sh*t, and when we hired someone new I would train them on how to do simple repairs to the machines, replace tickets, etc.
Well, when you start working there they tell you about the the Chuck E. costume and the dangers of wearing it. Management said if you ever see Chuck E. giving the time out signal, you need to rush to his aid and get him out of there.
Well, one day I'm making my rounds when I see Chuck E. give that signal as he's being surrounded and groped by literally 60-plus children. I run over to help him out, but the sea of kids is thick and unruly. So I start palming kids' heads and faces to shove them out of the way while yelling, "They got Mr. Cheese," which was an homage to an old SNL Eddie Murphy sketch where Buckwheat gets [aimed at]. Anyway, I'm shoving these kids out of the way as they clammer and claw at Chuck E. Cheese.
I end up getting Chuck out of there with the excuse that he's going on vacation. When we get to the back room where they keep the costume, the guy in the suit takes off the head and has a look of panic on his face.
He was literally scared. The kids almost pulled him to the floor. He was so sweaty. He thanked me and never donned the costume again.
No One Cleaned The Rodent Costume
From Redditor /u/hitchhikingghost_:
We never really had a set person to dress up [as Chuck E. Cheese]; it was usually whoever wasn’t busy. A lot of the guys would spray themselves with cologne after taking [the costume] off, so it was a little like a boys' locker room inside the closet.
It wasn’t a super-disgusting costume because we did spray and wipe it down after we took it off, but it most likely was not clean. The managers were supposed to take it to get deep-cleaned every so often, but I never actually saw that happen.
They Saw Lots Of Vomit In The Wind Tube
From a Redditor:
You'd be surprised at how often they puke in the... wind tube.