I love the arcade. I'm at this one a lot. Most of the staff know my face (if not my name).
Today a machine broke while I was playing it so I called over a staff member to fix it. As he was resetting the machine I laughed that today had not been my day as another game also broke while I was playing it.
He said it wasn't his day either. Mentioned how shitty customers were being to him. One yelled at him because customers are only allowed at the prize redemption corner if staff let them in. I could tell the guy needed to talk, so I listened and sympathized and told him how shitty that was, how customer services was the worst. He mentioned how even the keys they use to open the claw machines to retrieve prizes (not all the machines are the standard “you scoop a toy into the chute” kind) are broken so they have to get a key from a manager every time someone wins a prize from those machines.
He sounded better after getting this all off his chest and then he walked off. The issue with the game still wasn't fixed after a few minutes when he said it should resolve itself so I went to find another staff member as he instructed. They then told me their main mechanic quit.
It made me so sad. These people are clearly being mistreated at their job and corporate wouldn't send over… well, anything. Machines that worked, better pay for workers. Nothing.
I hope that guy felt better a bit (lord knows sometimes i needed a good vent when I was working customer service, on top of many other things) but tomorrow it's going to be the same thing. He goes to work 10 hours walking through the arcade doing soulless and repetitive tasks, being screeched at by angry customers for things that aren't his fault, with an environment so loud you can't hear yourself think between all the machines and the bowling alley. All for minimum wage.
Fuck this system.