It’s an unfair assertion to ask “I wonder what they did?” whenever I see someone (aside of sports/team mascots/Disney) occupying a mascot costume. Maybe you’re the ‘new employee’ who drew the short straw to dress up in the cow costume at the grand opening of the Dress Barn in Dubuque – but still I wonder how life has led them there.
Which brings us to Chuck E. Cheese.
I’ve always thought that Chuck E. Cheese is an odd mascot. I get that mice are associated with cheese from consuming hours upon hours of cartoons but to consciously make the high-level decision to have the mascot embodiment of a restaurant be a rodent – something that if a health inspector found on the premises would immediately shut the place down – is questionable.
And maybe the lead is being buried here a bit, it’s not the mascot that’s the problem but the person inside – y’know like it’s the thought that counts – when you feel guilty about not doing anything.
The not doing anything here is a simple background check.
This still remains a real problem with these corporate / holiday characters that companies/malls parade out to openly interact with the public on your company’s behalf – instead of grabbing the last guy on the fry line and dressing him up to frolic with the kids in the ball pit – we outsource our mascot community outreach and almost immediately regret not doing the extra work.
A man, Jermell Jones, 41, wearing a full Chuck E. Cheese costume, was led out of a Tallahassee Chuck E. Cheese in handcuffs recently by police who arrested him on felony charges, as several children looked on. Jones allegedly got his sticky paws on a customer’s credit card and used it at several businesses including a Circle K and Whataburger.
Jones was (I guess) trapped by cops inside the restaurant where it’s reported a kid can be a kid and apparently a felon can be a felon.
[TikTok: @courtneygooddd] [The Smoking Gun]
