pure curiosity, cec wages

[lildook]

Does anyone know how much CEC pays their gameroom techs? Is there such a position as a show tech or does the gameroom tech also perform any maintenance on the shows?

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

At most stores what tends to happen is the Tech will handle the major game repairs/maintenance issues with the Show as well. Those few lucky stores that are able to have a Assistant Tech will have them handle all the tasks realted to the games/rides that the head Tech does not nessesarily need to do. An example would be PM ( preventive maintenance) tasks like cleaning insides of games, small repairs, and general upkeep in a mechanical/appearence sense. Some AT's also handle the Show, again usually smaller jobs while the main Tech does the major repair work. GRA's ( game room attendents) can also often handle some of the AT tasks, but usually GRA's are charged with Guest service and keeping the games full of tickets and fix menial problems ( tix jam, coin jam, etc.)

As far as pay rates go...that really depends on your particular area and your DM. In the Northeast it tends to be higher simply because of the economics ( higher cost of living in those states) while in other areas the rates may be lower.

Up here in the northeast i have seen Tech's make anywhere between $15 to $18 and hour. AT's will be below that ($ 10 to $12) and GRA's your average hourly rate for most CM's ( $6 to $8) .

As far as the Show goes, consider your Store VERY fortunate if you get a Tech that is keen on keeping the Show looking good and fully operational. Sadly most Tech's are tasked with so much work that the Show is almost always a afterthought. Corporate is more interested in keeping ALL the Games up then they are with insuring the Show is running right. Also coming into play is the fact that most Stores would rather use the Game Budget to purchase expensive game part instead of very expensive Show Cosmetics and other parts.

It really depends on the individual Tech really...and the attitude towards there job at CEC and their inherent abilities that determines what they earn and what they do in the Store.

Hope that helped you some!

[ChuckEZone]

Is there such a position as a show tech or does the gameroom tech also perform any maintenance on the shows?

It's not a company-declared position, but I'm the show tech at my store. I get the show and the tech gets the gameroom, so we're both happy.

[sungun12]

yea, it all depends on the area and cost of living. it can be anywhere from $11-$20

im anti-assistant tech - i think when you have your gameroom to where it should be, there is NO reason to have an ass. tech. if your ass. tech is doing pm's, what is your tech doing??? unless of course, you have like a brooklyn or something - i have like 30 something games and im perfect with my tech and setup.

[lildook]

Thanks for all the information.

Now I'm curious to know if those of you would share how you obtained your current tech positions? Did you just go into a store inquiring about it, or did you see ads somewhere posting, Tech Help Wanted?

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Tech's are usually brought in from the "outside" while Assistants T's are usually promoted from within the Store. All the Tech's i know here found out about it from visiting various online recruitment/job posting websites ( MOnster.com often posts CEC positions).

[sungun12]

yea, moster.com is a big one. when we were looking for a tech, we called a tech school and had them fax us resumes of people who fit the criteria of what we wanted. corporate ultimately found our tech and i have no clue how, but im damn happy with him

[lildook]

Anyone know the manager at the 82nd street Indianapolis, IN store :b

[CEC743]

It's true to say that an assistant tech isn't really needed as long as you have a smaller number of games. The store I work at now has 75 games and the store I used to work at has over 80 games. I truly feel bad for those two techs because they barely have enough time and resources to keep every game amazing, let alone the show, or anything else. But they do their best!

[CEC Kid Check]

I'm an Asst. Tech at my store...and everything I read above is all true..You pretty much keep getting promoted until your a manager...You go from a Redshirt/G.R.A to Trainer...and if you have no technical backround, you can skip being a Ass. Tech and go straight to management.

I don't think you can be hired straight up as an A.T., you have to start out as a Red Shirt..and if you can show the Tech and Managers that you have a Technical backround, and good "people skills" they will make you a A.T.

An A.T. is treated like a manager...they say a Trainer is "Jr. Management"...a A.T. is a step above that "Jr. Managemt."
That's why A.T.'s get more benefits...:
1. Free Food (if not, 75% off)
2. 75% off merch
3. Big raise
4. Keys to all rooms (Tech, Merch, Chuck room, Behind the stage, emergency doors, 1st set of G.R.A. keys, 2nd set of Game keys that opens doors a G.R.A. can't, A Master key that will open any master lock, Bathroom Keys, Ice Cream machine keys, Bill Changer keys....and a lot more)
5. A.T.'s have the responsibility of making sure everything runs smoothly out front with guests and cast when the manager is in the office...there supposed to solve problems with the guests w/o it trying to get to the manager(s).

There's much more...just don't feel like ranting about it....
You get the picture..

And at my store, my tech's focus is more on management rather than Tech stuff (fixing games and show)
It really makes me upset...I don't get why he should of just applied for manager rather than tech since I know more on the games and show then he does....
So what you read above is true, a A.T. gets those little projects like fixing light bulbs and cleaning...but its not true in my case...I've fixed major problems with games....and my main focus is the show....

[sungun12]

no offense kid check, but.....

ass. techs are NOT supposed to have bill changer or ice cream machine keys. thats against policy.

also, why are you expected to run shifts while the manager is in the office?? wtf is the manager doing in the office??? i have about 15 min of paperwork a week, and then about an hour on monday. i DO NOT understand why managers would ever just be in the office. thats MY job, to be out there running the shift. maybe thats why i run good labor, because i dont expect other people to do my job while i sit in the office. wow. amazing to me.

also, my team 2 all get free food. but no keys. just on sat or sunday, if i have a team 2 at cash, they will have a merch room key, but it opens nothing else. and the 75% off merch?? never heard of that before. if any of my people want merch stuff, they just pay what we pay from foland.

my tech does NOT do manager stuff. he does only games, show, etc. he has a pm checklist and thats what he does. mon-fri 6-2. the only thing we do in the gameroom is nighttime coindrop and then cleaning. mon-fri from 4-5 there is a list that the GRA cleans. same every week. that way all of our games stay miraculously clean. the tech only has to worry about the insides. we clean the outsides.

like i said, no offense to you or the position theyve given you, but if you were in my store, youd see things happen a lot differently.

[CEC743]

here here.. totally agree with you on that notion! assistant techs are like gameroom guys with ties (unless they can afford a logo manager polo). Never ever ever seen an assistant tech be responsible for anything but assistanting the tech (go figure?), and PM'ing games. Sounds like those managers that are letting the assistant tech have all the freedom and responsibility don't understand what an assistant tech is supposed to do. They actually took them all away from our district. It's pretty silly. If you wanna talk silly, what's up with the new found glory of having good labor these days? I'll take breaking even at the end of the week over 5 complaints a week !

[sungun12]

hey now....

i run the 2nd best labor in our region and ive had ONE guest complaint since july....

it doesnt matter how many people youve got working, if theyre trained right and youre ready for your shift, youve got no problems. im actually out there talking to my guests, i KNOW theyre happy

my labor is NEVER above 12. usually about 10.5-11.5

[CEC743]

No harm intended. I"m just used to the daily phone calls telling us to run it around 6 ! That's just silly especially b/c next year they'll all need it even lower for the bonus checks! ah well fun times

[lildook]

Wow, I never knew how many people on here worked at CEC! Awesome...

[sungun12]

six?? thats what i ran yesterday and it was pretty rough but we got through it. i can end the week at like 11% and thats usually perfect

[CEC743]

Yeah keepin it low is like just block and run, i guess it's good b/c it builds strong people fast.

[sungun12]

you mean 6 for the week or 6 like on a sat?? i know a lot of stores blow labor during the week and then try to save it on the weekend and all they do is blow the guest service since its the most important days to do awesome guest service

[sungun12]

oh and by the way, i think i jinxed myself by saying i hadnt had a guest complaint since july.....i got one today from saturday!! >: >: >: :rolleyes

[MatHat13]

what was the complaint?

[sungun12]

the person was the grandparents of the party kid, but they were the ones paying. they said they ordered at 5:45 seperately and when they went to ask when their pizza would be done, at 7:15, the cashier told them it would be 45 more minutes...

from 530-730 i was the kitchen person so my kitchen kid could do a party....this, i am seriously doubting. but either way, its a complaint that got sent in.....and it sux and looks bad. chances are, she will get all of her money back.