Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fur and adult tempers fly at Chuck E. Cheese's
Ohio Beacon Journal ^ | Jan 10, 2009 | Bob Dyer

Posted on 01/11/2009 10:44:45 PM PST by Lorianne

During the past three years, Fairlawn police have been called to the Chuck E. Cheese's on West Market Street 49 times. ___ That's more calls than any other stand-alone business in the city — including bars.

Only Summit Mall, a 120-store behemoth, produces more police reports.

Apparently, this is not particularly unusual. The Chuckster seems to be developing a national reputation for disorderly conduct.

If you haven't parented young kids during the past couple of decades, Chuck E. Cheese's is a nationwide chain of human anthills that are half-gaming parlor, half-pizza parlor, designed specifically for children. Well, except for the beer and wine.

I always thought the availability of alcohol was a well-conceived bribe to win over parents who normally would not be amenable to spending a couple of hours in a place where the noise level approximates that of the Blue Angels' afterburners.

Over the years, I have occasionally screwed up my courage and ventured into the never-ending whirl of yelling, running, screaming, jumping, falling, leaping and crashing. I am always struck not only by the incongruity between fuzzy robotic cartoon animals and free-flowing Budweiser, but also by the big age range among the kids.

Obviously, a big age range creates big size differences. And when large kids and small kids are mingling in an atmosphere of perpetual chaos — crawling through mazes and diving into small plastic balls — things can get a bit dicey.

Mix in a wide cross section of adults — including the type who never use their turn signals and wouldn't hold the door for somebody without a court order — and perhaps it's no wonder things can get a bit messy. Or more.

Major blow-ups

According to the Wall Street Journal, law-enforcement officials across the country say Chuck E. has played host to a remarkable number of arguments and fights, mostly involving adults.

At some locations, the confrontations have been so heated that maybe Chuck E. — a smiling mouse who wears a ball cap — ought to vacate in favor of the Chucky in the horror movies.

In Brookfield, Wis., last year, seven cops were needed to break up a melee involving 40 people who were knocking over chairs and screaming at each other right in front of the stage where a singing chicken and a guitar-playing hound dog deliver their merry tunes. That was only one of 12 fights there that required police action.

Whack-a-Mole, indeed.

In Toledo, four mothers were arrested after a brawl that followed an argument about the length of time someone's daughters were hanging out at a drawing machine. Ten people squared off. In the featured bout, one loving mother was using the entrance rope as makeshift nunchucks, swinging the metal hook at another of the loving mothers.

What's next, beer pong in convents?

''A lot of it is perceived actions against children, or somebody bumps into somebody and it becomes verbal,'' Fairlawn Police Chief Kenneth Walsh says.

''And a lot of it . . . is the 'Mother Bear' feeling. They're protecting their children. There's a dispute over [game] tokens or somebody thinks another customer is using a machine too long, and it becomes argumentative.''

Walsh says none of his 49 disturbances ended in an arrest. Often, he says, at least one of the squabbling parties has departed by the time officers arrive.

Jackson is mellower

In contrast to Fairlawn's track record, Chuck E.'s joint on The Strip in Jackson Township seems downright sedate. Jackson Township Police Chief Harley Neftzer says that last year, his department was called to only four incidents that merited a report: two thefts, a fire and a shoving match in the parking lot.

''I don't have any grandkids yet,'' Neftzer says, ''but I wouldn't be hesitant about sending anybody at all to our particular location.''

The Chuck E.'s are owned by a Texas company, CEC Entertainment, which runs more than 525 of them, 19 in Ohio and three near Akron.

The third is in Parma, near Parmatown Mall.

A spokesman for the Parma Police Department says their Chuck's doesn't have a reputation for brawling, but that things have not always been dreamy.

''For a while, they were hiring our officers to work in there because of incidents of theft and things of that nature,'' Detective Marty Compton says.

''You know, a parent gets up to go play with their kid and all of a sudden somebody walks out with a purse.''

Liquid courage?

Although mixing toddlers and booze might sound dissonant, authorities say alcohol usually is not a factor in the flare-ups. Nationally, only a few Chuck E.'s have discontinued liquor sales. Beer and wine are still available in this area, including Jackson Township, where Chuck has been leading a mellow life.

Lindsey Phillabaum, a manager there, attributes the lack of arguments to her particular clientele. She also says employees try to swoop down on any conflicts before they escalate.

In Fairlawn, says General Manager Jamie Rohrer, the problem is not so much the type of people but their number.

''It's just because it's crowded,'' she says. ''People just get irritated. When it comes to people's kids, they just get off the edge.''

Her palace of overstimulation has taken to hiring off-duty sheriff's deputies on winter weekends, which are the biggest period of the year both for crowds and disagreements.

But keep in mind that, even in Fairlawn, you're not exactly taking your life in your hands. Conflicts are relatively rare, and often a good time can be had by all. Even adults (not mentioning any names) have been known to revel in some of the games of skill.

As corporate spokeswoman Brenda Holloway points out, ''We served approximately 75 million people in 2008, and the occurrences are actually very rare.''

Still, whether Chuck E. Cheese's is consistently ''a magical place for families,'' as its telephone greeting insists, is open to debate.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: cheese
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-46 next last

1 posted on 01/11/2009 10:44:45 PM PST by Lorianne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Been there a few times: never had a problem.


2 posted on 01/11/2009 10:49:25 PM PST by period end of story
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

I don’t remember alcohol being served at the ONE Chuck E. that I was at.

I have no idea why I ever went in there. Hungry for Pizza I guess.

I’ll never darken the door of another one.


3 posted on 01/11/2009 10:54:29 PM PST by Battle Axe (Repent for the coming of the Lord is nigh!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

A lot probably depends upon the neighborhood. Never did like the place. Funny to think than Chuck E. Cheese needs a bouncer.


4 posted on 01/11/2009 10:54:56 PM PST by smokingfrog (Never underestimate the influence of a wife who bitch-slaps her husband in public.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Maybe they should call it Chuck Your Cheese.


5 posted on 01/11/2009 11:11:14 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

When I was in high school, a lot of kids would go there after getting stoned to eat pizza and watch the show. Didn’t realize they still exist.


6 posted on 01/11/2009 11:24:33 PM PST by killjoy (Life sucks, wear a helmet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Mix alcohol with a bunch of self righteous parents who think their kids can’t do wrong and you have a recipe for trouble.


7 posted on 01/11/2009 11:36:38 PM PST by LukeL (Yasser Arafat: "I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freekitty
Maybe they should call it Chuck Your Cheese.

Or maybe Up Chuck Your Cheese.

Chucky Cheese has the worst pizza I have ever eaten in my life. I guess they make it for a child’s palate.

8 posted on 01/11/2009 11:37:47 PM PST by Pontiac (Your message here.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

9 posted on 01/11/2009 11:46:43 PM PST by Islander7 (This Atlas is shrugging! ~ I am Joe!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Bookmark


10 posted on 01/11/2009 11:58:24 PM PST by dragnet2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freekitty

I’ve always called it Chuck E. Rat’s.


11 posted on 01/12/2009 12:02:52 AM PST by incredulous joe ("No road is long with good company. " - Turkish Proverb)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Pontiac
Chucky Cheese has the worst pizza I have ever eaten in my life.

No kidding. The cheapest store-brand frozen pizza is much better. So is the box it came in.

I guess they make it for a child’s palate.

I don't think it's made for anyone's palate. The money comes from the games; they don't want kids sitting around eating pizza.

12 posted on 01/12/2009 12:06:21 AM PST by ReignOfError
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne
I have had mixed results at Chuck E. Cheese. I don't know that it's a problem with the particular venue as much as a problem relating to hierarchy of responsibility and accountability. On this matter, Chuck E. Cheese is anarchy!

It's kind of like a Federal Government, which is unencumbered by reason, law and budgetary realities. Okay. So, it's not quite that bad, but when you enter Chuck E. Cheese, check generations of "me adult, you child, you listen to me" type authority at the door.



When you get to Chuck’s you go through that period of establishing parental protocols; Okay, do I stay, do I go? Am I stepping on Mrs. Joey’s mom’s toes if I hang out or can I go cut into some of my grocery shopping ~ just for a few minutes?

If you do stay do you take responsibility for attending (disciplining) other peoples' children or are you strictly limited in your sovereignty over your own offspring? If you do claim jurisdiction over other children what will you do when they reject your authority? Either indirectly, by pretending NOT to hear you (a good ploy in Chuck E. Cheese) or, directly, by haughtily laughing in the face of your directives. "Your not my daddy and you can't tell me what to do and I have the hotline to child protective services speed dialed into my cell phone. Anyway, we're in Chuck E. Cheese! I CAN'T HEAR YOOOOUUU!"

Kids ~ even good ones ~ can be like congressional representatives. To be in Chuck E. Cheese is to recognize that there really are no constraints or governing limitations. Anything is permissible, unless someone tells you otherwise. And, even at that moment, the child has the ability to speculate on the controlling influence being applied; parent-host, bystanding adult, adolescent employee or large animated rodent.

Let’s face it, if the cops are discharged to Chuck E. Cheese to quell trouble it’s probably got more to do with the fact that they carry loaded weapons, than that they have sworn an oath to uphold the law and defend the general public.

If I were management of one of these palaces of family entertainment, I’d save myself the trouble of hiring off-duty cops, unless they can wear dress blues.


13 posted on 01/12/2009 12:20:05 AM PST by incredulous joe ("No road is long with good company. " - Turkish Proverb)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ReignOfError

I remember the first time I went into a Chuck E. Cheese after I got out of the Army. I had some pizza there. One hour later, I broke out in hives.

has never happened before or since...and I did eat at a CEC about 10 years ago, with no ill effects.


14 posted on 01/12/2009 12:23:07 AM PST by hoagy62 (Tidings of comfort and joy are now too expensive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Islander7
Shouldn't need saying: Avoid restaurants whose mascot is a rat.
15 posted on 01/12/2009 12:27:55 AM PST by Oztrich Boy ("The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule." - H L Mencken.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne
Everybody, and I mean from the police officers to the journalists to the politicians, is either willfully ignorant when it comes to this stuff, or they are lying because they are too cowardly to state the truth. This is not a matter of moms being "mother bears" or alcohol being abused or any of the other quick and easy explanations being thrown around. There are a whole host of public places that a lot of people won't go anymore because they've become hostile and dangerous. That includes amusement parks, malls, movie theaters, and, yes, Chuck E. freakin' Cheeses. A couple of decades ago, we didn't have such problems on this scale. So why the change?

There are two reasons, in my opinion:

1) The primary cultural norm these days seems to be a thuggish free-for-all where morality and decency have been replaced by the law of the jungle. TV, movies, and music all promote this mentality. Gangsters are worshipped. This is especially true among the lower classes, and is absolutely true among the welfare leech ghetto class. Nobody ever suffers any real consequences for their actions nowadays, not spoiled children, not students, and not criminals. As a result, we have become more a nation of spoiled little whiny a-holes.

2) We have been effectively balkanized. Every racial/ethnic group (except white guys) is given a whole list of supposed grievances, which entitles them to whine as loudly as they can, continuously, and they feel entitled to hate and despise every other racial/ethnic group (especially white guys). Get a few of these groups together in a place like Chuck E Cheeses and it is inevitable that fights will happen.

It is far too un-PC for any of the cops to admit that it is primarily racial and ethnic tensions, coupled with the gangsterization of the culture, that is the problem, so instead they act as if the whole thing is a mystery, and that any man or woman would be equally capable of this behavior under the same circumstances. Complete BS, but that is the world of lies in which we live now. Welcome to the Obamanation.
16 posted on 01/12/2009 12:31:12 AM PST by fr_freak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: incredulous joe
Let’s face it, if the cops are discharged to Chuck E. Cheese to quell trouble it’s probably got more to do with the fact that they carry loaded weapons, than that they have sworn an oath to uphold the law and defend the general public.

One of the funniest posts I have read in a very long time.

17 posted on 01/12/2009 12:34:57 AM PST by killjoy (Life sucks, wear a helmet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: incredulous joe

LOL


18 posted on 01/12/2009 12:54:28 AM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Pontiac

Then, I am lucky I have never eaten any. LOL


19 posted on 01/12/2009 12:55:02 AM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Pontiac
It takes a LOT to give me acid indigestion, but they consistently were able to when I had kids that age. I've had better pizza from behind the counter of a truck stop that was made the day before and has been sitting under a heat lamp.
20 posted on 01/12/2009 1:09:01 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet ("Don't confuse what you got a right to do with what's right to do." Bill Bennett)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-46 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson