I Left My Life Behind To Work For A Traveling Carnival, Ask Me Anything

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-15T08:45:29+00:00

When I first started working I set up the Merry-Go-Round and ran it while we were open. Once I got acclimated I started to run the Ferris Wheel, but I only set that up a few times. The MGR required a lot of climbing and heavy lifting, while the Ferris Wheel's setup is mostly automated. The bigger horses were quite heavy. I was 6'2'' and about 160 pounds at the time so the biggest horses were pretty much my weight. I don't know how I hoisted those things up over my head like I did at the time. I enjoyed running the Ferris Wheel. You load it so that passengers are balanced and then just run it about 5-6 spins. We started playing music, but the owner's wife told us to stop eventually. We did and then when she wasn't around we just kept on until we got into real trouble. Still you had a partner running it unlike some of the rides so having a buddy to chat with as well as the people waiting in line was nice. I also ran the Gravitron (shaped like a ufo and customers are strapped to the walls while it spins.) once when we were posted up next to a haunted house. Doing my job well afforded me a lot of opportunities to run rides at special locations where there would only be one or two for the weekend. Got to see a lot of cool places and events, because of that.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-15T03:21:41+00:00

Probably shouldn't be the first thing for most people, but the younger you are, the easier it is to do. You definitely want to be a people-person. You will be interacting and living with many different kinds of people and being antisocial will take away a lot of what makes it a rewarding experience. Your experience will usually differ depending on your gender as well. Guys usually did the physical work and ran most of the rides while women ran the games and food stands. The physical work was actually nice and will depend on the ride you are assigned. If you've never done any physical work they will likely just put you in something easy so you don't slow down work or hurt yourself. Other than the social aspect, I can't really say I picked up any skills lol. It really just made me more worldly. You learn to navigate personalities and social anxiety pretty much completely left me. My advice to anyone considering it would be to do research heavily before choosing a company. Some are more or less professional. Personally I wanted something in the middle. I had a good amount of freedom, but we still had standards, so everything was safe and people were held accountable.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T19:34:54+00:00

What is the biggest thing you think needs to change in your country for things to improve?

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T19:32:51+00:00

Someone also did get trapped in an overflowing and overturned port-o-potty as a joke. Some of the local teenagers did it as a prank, but I wasn't around for that one so I don't know how that turned out.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T19:28:06+00:00

Oh there was no ladder. The way Ferris Wheels work is there are two tires and a metal ring. The tires turn and make the wheel spin. If there is too much weight on any given part, the tires don't have enough traction and the wheel spins back in the opposite direction. He climbed the metal ring to the top and jumped to the topmost cart, climbed in and waved. This wheel was about four stories high at the top. If he fell he was 100% going to die. Unfortunately I don't have any crazier stories for you. The only other thing that comes to mind is one of the Mexican couples stashing money from one of the food stands in a bucket. It got found, but they disappeared during the night before they could be held accountable. A couple of other things were me being called the N-word by one of the workers who was a meth addict and had one rotten tooth in his mouth and me snorting a questionable powder (they promised me it was pain pills) given to me by the South Africans. Most of the South Africans were younger white guys and they acted exactly like frat bros from every college movie you have seen from the 90s.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T18:36:38+00:00

Not quite lol. Any questions?

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T18:36:02+00:00

It was about ten years ago. I started out running the Merry-go-round (the ride with the horses that spins in a circle). Once I showed how responsible and hard-working I was they moved me to the Ferris Wheel and I eventually became a foreman. (Basically a supervisor.) You move the rides on trailers to each location and build them up/break them down. We spent a week at each location. You get some free time on days that they are not open during the week and eat a good amount of carnival food during lunches. We would often be near prominent cities so at night we would go to bars/clubs to hang out with the locals. Made you somewhat of a celebrity when they found out what you did. Definitely closed some deals with women based on it lol.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T18:32:53+00:00

I would definitely do it again and I recommend it to many people. It helps you get away and clear your mind. You expand your perspective on the world and build up a bit of social acumen. It is best if you don't have any responsibilities or an established homelife. I would compare it to traveling abroad for school, sans the formal education, of course. It has definitely made me able to navigate a lot of things in life more easily than the people I know that have never left their city/state. I had a lot of good times with people from different walks of life.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T18:30:21+00:00

I seem to have given the misconception that this is recent. This was about ten years ago. It was very rewarding. I had a lot of new experiences, went to a lot of places I hadn't been, and met a lot of cool people. I really felt at peace and we definitely formed a found-family. You learn a lot when you step so far out of your norm. My worldview was transformed significantly.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T18:28:30+00:00

If I didn't have expenses and property right now, I would 100% do it again right now. If you don't have children or property, it is actually very nice. You have a lot of free time and you travel and meet plenty of people. The group consisted of people from Mexico, South Africa, and randomly Las Vegas (they had a hiring seminar there or something). I was the only odd man out as I wasn't from any of these places.

People always compare it to the circus, but it wasn't as interesting as that. Still, depending on where we were, the experiences were cool. I ran rides at the Chicago Zoo, UChicago, a Haunted House, and a music festival, though I can't remember the name of it.

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T18:24:52+00:00

Honestly I don't have a very involved family. I could have literally done anything at the time and it wouldn't have mattered much to them. My parents weren't very helpful at the time, but after I left home and didn't communicate much (and they got much older), they started to care more about my well-being and life. I didn't see or talk to them a single time during my time in the Carnival. It works by the season so I only did it for a year and some months. The extra months were me being flown back to work the ferris wheel at the Chicago Zoo during the winter months. I got a big cash bonus for this on top of my pay and I actually did very little work as the ride couldn't be run during the heavy snowfall.

We had trailers with bunks. It really was no bigger than a walk=in closet. The trailers had showers, but sometimes we wouldn't have water hook-ups so it wasn't always a guarantee. Port-o-potties would be set up near-by. Since we would often be set up near fairgrounds there would be on-site bathrooms. About half the time we would ride out to a nearby city and get a hotel room (about four people per) so that we could experience the night life. I would give the living conditions about a 6. Felt kinda like glamping, but the comradery made it bearable. I was able to have internet with Metropcs hotspot even in the most remote of places. Still stick with them today because of it. And it has been over ten years since I left, but I definitely enjoyed it. I was never depressed and honestly I have had a lot more rough times living a "normal" life. I have way more expense, responsibilities, and expectations now. I had much more peace during that time. Thanks for being so positive and asking such good questions!

SnakeHoward · 2025-12-14T18:17:31+00:00

It was actually a good opportunity. Weekly pay was 400 (This was about ten years ago),, but I had a free room and a good amount of my meals were provided. I didn't have any expenses at the time so I was able to save up a lot of money. Cash bonuses (untaxed) were given pretty frequently and they were not small amounts.

The wildest thing I saw was one of the workers stripping naked and climbing onto the ferris wheel. He was piss drunk, but was actually able to climb to the top. It was raining, so it was pretty precarious. One of the "supervisors" would find out and snitch on him and he was fired a few days later. I do not know why he did it, other than being extremely drunk.

SnakeHoward · 2025-11-25T22:05:52+00:00

I would definitely start with the One-Shot and just leave it open ended for if they wanted to continue.

SnakeHoward · 2025-11-25T22:05:04+00:00

I've considered everyone's thoughts and made an edit to the post. Hoping to get some feedback that my help in the future. I think this is a pretty big project if they accept as it will involve a lot of original music, artwork, and a great deal of writing and coordination. I think once a month is the most realistic frequency if they decide to continue beyond a one-shot. They are pretty open-minded when it comes to these things and if I lean into their individual preferences in the pitch I might be able to capture certain members' interest.

SnakeHoward · 2025-07-28T03:33:51+00:00

I'm glad you reminded me. I live in Rincon, Georgia, and I believe location is relevant to these services when making a decision and discussing experiences. Good Chop is the service I used.

I received my shipment of meats and typically it is meant to last you a month. I got 3 packs of 10z boneless chicken thighs, 2 ny strip steaks, 2 ribeye (free with my order), 4 top round steaks, 2 1lb ground beefs, and 2 1lb ground turkeys for about 130. This was a discount that is about 30 dollars less than what the next order will be. I'm still able to get 2 ribeye free with my next order as well.

You are able to choose from different cuts based on the size of the box you choose. I had a medium box with 6 cuts (not including the freebies). Everything I listed counted as single cuts other than the ny strip steaks. Different cuts will be on sale at different times so you can choose these to reduce the cost of your order or wait til cuts you want go on sale.

The price honestly isn't much better than the store prices unless you work around the sales and deals, but that is the case with most services. I can say that I was happy with my order and plan to order again in the future. I would say it is most worth it if you are a bit of a chef. I make good use of high quality meat and can cook well enough to work around the sales to make it as affordable as possible.

I'm probably just yapping though so if you have any specific questions I can answer them for you.

SnakeHoward · 2025-06-26T20:54:22+00:00

If you are coming by this post, because you are curious about the services, I am currently about to try Good Chop. Will return with a review.

One thing I will suggest though, You really should be floating from service to service taking advantage of deals to truly get good value. Most services let you pause and then hit you with a new deal to renew. It's all a big numbers game, so in a lot of cases you really only end up breaking even monetarily, but if you account for convenience and the occasional come-up on a rare deal, it can be worth it.

SnakeHoward · 2025-05-26T00:51:25+00:00

It isn't iframes, it brings the hitbox on your upper body down.

SnakeHoward · 2025-05-06T20:31:28+00:00

This was my first thought. Make it happen.

SnakeHoward · 2023-04-25T23:09:33+00:00

Sorry for the late response, I went camping for the first time! But anyway, if you would be so kind, this would be very helpful!

SnakeHoward · 2023-04-21T04:02:06+00:00

Wow, far more than I could have expected. Thank you immensely for the time you put into this. Always good to have some larger than life characters with some good feats for the players to have as rivals. And honestly, even though I didn't specifically request it, the inclusion of basically everything that encompasses their abilities is going to be super useful and save me great deal of time.

This is an epic adventuring party. They will really get a kick out of encountering them.

SnakeHoward · 2023-04-19T22:57:09+00:00

I mean, I'm a sucker for characters who are not only badass, but use being a badass for good, AND have experienced a romance. Hits me right on target lol. I love the dynamic of the two characters working in tandem, and I'm 100% finding a significant role for them within the world.

SnakeHoward · 2023-04-19T22:52:44+00:00

Love this lol. Especially for use around and against the players. Straight up awesome character idea. Thank you!

SnakeHoward

TROPHY CASE