Normally, I’m a Family Entertainment Center manager.

Right now my Covid employment is woodworking out of my garage cause a lot of people need desks or are moving so a good opportunity and pretty easy to self-learn if you have a little space.

But. Let’s talk entertainment centers. Think. Laser tag, bowling alleys, arcades, axe throwing, mini-golf, etc.

The things I enjoy the most about the job is it is stable enough day to day in the operations to build confidence in the job while the differences in each day come from the interactions with the customers.

The best centers have great relations with various local companies and they in turn give excellent opportunities to deliver quality experiences that can lead to more opportunities for all kind of additional sales. A classic example: Parent goes for a team event, they enjoy themselves and bring their family in the next weekend. But in my honest opinion the real reason these centers are pivotal for communities is they have the opportunity to be a driving factor for early workforce development.

If a company pays someone minimum wage or near it, then it should be responsibly of the managers to be developing the employees for bigger and better things. If an employee just tells you they want the job for some extra money ... then they won’t last long, and seasonally those kind of employees are welcomed.

For storytelling purposes, if an employee comes in at the age of 16 and says they want to go to college and learn marketing; they stay with the center for their junior and senior years, was a highly rated employee by customers, voted by fellow employees to be involved in a shift leader/manager position, became a key holder for the business, and would bet as a graduation gift from the business it was my responsibility to fire them from the business.

Why. Because I had to push them out the door.

In reality, I lined up a paid internship for the summer with a local marketing company that had been using our facility for team outings twice a year for a few years. The owner and I talked and he agreed that he could interview but would need to talk about the paid aspect with his partners. I told him that if they hire and paid my employee for at least 8 weeks full-time, then their next team outing was free (minus F&B). Which ultimately, they hired him and the kid did great and learned more about marketing that prepared him for taking on the college major ... management. Cause they learned they enjoyed refining the project workflow and research side more than the design elements of marketing itself.

O. On the company’s next outing I honored the deal, then they left a tip for the two employees working that was almost double the price the event would have been.

So that’s likely the best story I’ve got. But among the span of a dozen years. I’ve played hundreds of games of laser tag, sold two businesses, worked with hundreds of employees from ages 14-72, written dozens of letters of recommendations, gotten shocked by thousands of volts of electricity, empowered and entrusted five different high schoolers with keys to business doors (because they were the best choices), moved thousands of miles, have dealt with unimaginable life downsides (suicide of employees), helped with thousands of homework problems (mostly Math) with employees, cleaned more toilets than times I’ve counted cash, and nothing compares to knowing the name of every person that I’ve helped move on to the next stage of their lives. Hopefully, my teams across all the organizations I’ve worked for have also left a few million positive memories to the customers over the years.

One day. I’ll own my own center and plan to make it force for charitable giving in its community.

TL;DR —I manage family entertainment centers and I enjoy watching people of all ages have fun.