Dante’s Seventh Circle of Hell: Chuck E. Cheese
Posted
December 15, 2008 at
9:07 pm by
Maureen
Guess what? It’s winter! In fact, the windchill in Chicago today was -20 when I woke up. And it isn’t going to get much better until, oh, APRIL.
Which, in addition frostbite, snow and ice, means that my husband and I are trapped inside on weekends like caged animals. Gone are the leisurely trips to the park, strolling around the zoo and long walks around our neighborhood. We’ve already started to go a little stir-crazy trying to occupy our toddler with indoor activities.
So when some friends called this weekend, wanting to get our kids together, we tried to think of a group activity. In the absence of any other idea, we found oursevles at Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday night.
Now, having not been to a Chuck E. Cheese in nearly twenty years, all I remembered was that there was pizza, beer for the adults and some games. All OK stuff, right?
Yes, in theory. However, immediately upon entering, we realized just what the hell we’d gotten ourselves into. It wasn’t the cacophany of eight million children screaming, the dinging of games sounding like baby slot machines or even the children having temper tantrums that were the most disturbing.
We were denied drinks because our drivers licenses looked “fake” according to the cashier, (Seriously, who would go to Chuck E. Cheese with a fake ID?) despite all of us being nearly thirty. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my kid almost got beat up by a four year old. My son, being all of sixteen months, was delighted by this Barney car thing. Well, apparently, this girl thought it belonged to her, because when I placed my son in the car, the girl ran over, slapped my kid on the hand, used a four letter word and demanded I remove my child.
Realizing I was at an interesting crossroads in parenting i.e. Door #1: Yell at obnoxious child for hitting my kid or Door #2: Pretend it never happened and get my kid interested in something else. I wanted to do #1. But I actually went with the second option.
Why? Because Obnoxious Child’s mother shot me a look that said, “Yeah my kid said *&^% and hit your kid. Got a problem with that? Wanna step up?” with her menacing boyfriend/husband/pimp standing behind her.
Not wanting to get all Jerry Springer in Chuck E. Cheese, I hauled my kid away and we all left, vowing never to enter the yellow doors again. And you can bet I scoured my kid with Purell when we got into the car.
Tags: chuck e. cheese, discipline, indoor activities, Parenting, toddlers |
4 Responses to “Dante’s Seventh Circle of Hell: Chuck E. Cheese”
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1. Judy Colbert
December 16, 2008 @ 8:38 am
You showed admirable constraint with that obnoxious child and after dealing with her mother, you know the apple didn’t fall far from that tree.
We had a balmy 70 degrees or so yesterday in the Washington, D.C. area. It’s not so balmy anymore. I think of December 21 as my favorite day of the year for the days start getting longer then. ::: Sigh :::
About 9-10 years ago, the DC area had an extremely unusual 70″ of snow in one winter. If this is Friday, then it’s snowing. If it’s snowing then this is Friday. School was closed for days on end. We started praying to the yellow school bus gods. It ended, but not a moment too soon.
Good luck. Maybe, stay away from Chuck E. Cheese on Saturday night?
Judy Colbert
http://www.TuffTurtle.com/tantrums.htm
2. Allison G-MOD
December 16, 2008 @ 11:15 am
Chuck E. Cheese isn’t so bad on weekdays during school hours. That’s when I’ve gone in the past.
But we had my 5 y.o. daughter’s birthday there last month. On at Sunday. At noon.
What a nightmare! They had 2 other parties going on there at the same time as ours. The guy working the parties had the music really loud, and kept telling the kids to SCREEEEAM! “I can’t hear you. Use your outdoor voices!” 4 kids from our party were crying because of the noise level.
Then I noticed a girl (who was definitely old enough to know better, like 8 or 9, not 2 or 3 years old) who kept sneaking over to our table and stealing tokens out of our kids’ shared-tokens cup. I had to chase her away.
Please people, if you must have a Chuck E Party, do so on a weekday during school hours. Or even or a weeknight, they’ll let you use the table for an unlimited time, not just kick you out of your table before your cake is finished. Avoid Chuck E. Cheeseat all costs on weekends. Heck, I think our goverment could use that place to torture war criminals! “Talk! Or we’ll sing the birthday song again!”
3. Hillary
December 16, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
Y’all are lucky. The Chuck E. Cheese in my neighborhood doesn’t serve beer and wine. We have to suffer without the added benefit of a drink.
I’ve been to Chuck E. Cheese so many times I am beginning to think their pizza is somewhat good. I need to get out more.
4. momof3_ipmod
December 19, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
OH MY GOSH!!! No she di’int! I would’ve gone all Jerry Springer but only after my hubs took our child away as to not teach our kids bad manners! lol Some people are so rude and have no respect for not only other adults but for small children. Did you happen to ask her if she owned the Barney machine? Did she pay for the machine to be put in Chuck E Cheese only for her child to use? What a crock! I’m not one for being confrontational but ya know what? There are some things that I will not stand for and someone being disrespectful to me in a public area in front of my child is one of them! What a beyotch!!!
And about the “fake” IDs!? Seriously, how do they look “fake”? And I agree with you. Who goes to Chuck E Cheese with a fake ID to get smashed? Give me a break! Did you talk to the manager? I’ve never drank at CEC but I would like to think that if I needed to I would be allowed. I look young and don’t think I’ve been carded for beer since I was 23! lol Maybe I don’t look as young as I think!