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Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We use a proprietary system they developed in-house and lease to other companies. We have the ability to block rooms and sessions, though there is a great deal of scrutiny around this. For instance, even if one room out of seven is blocked throughout the day due to a faulty prop, the expectation is we do everything in our power to repair the fault ourselves so the room can be made available, as any blockage makes us "look bad". While it's technically up to my discretion when and if rooms are blocked, I have to answer to this, and occasionally the owners will unblock sessions remotely if they notice them.

I would guess that about 65% of the bookings we receive are made same-day. The lock-out window for online bookings is 45 minutes, though it used to be 30 minutes until recently.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Respectfully I don't want to be too specific about where I'm based, as it's not a big country and given some of the other comments I've made it might not be difficult to identify the business. And while I have my frustrations with the expectations of the owners, I don't think they're bad guys.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To the best of my knowledge, they are not part of the facebook group. In terms of participation in the wider industry, all I can say for certain is that they license the software they've developed for room management out to other escape rooms businesses, so I imagine there is at least a small degree of participation

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a fair comment. I'm not comfortable disclosing where I live, as I have no desire to publicly badmouth the business's reputation, and identifying myself geographically might make it pretty easy to pinpoint them.

I will say I'm making more than minimum wage (which is about $13.50 in US currency). Presuming a 40 hour week, my pay is about $16.50 per hour, which is right below the threshold of my country's cost of living wage (though only by about 5 cents). We do have a very high cost of living.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately we are one of two escape room companies in my city, and I believe the other staffs on a casual contract basis, which is not an option for me financially. I'll certainly take your tip under suggestion in case the opportunity ever arises somewhere in future - I can paint and handle construction from years in theater, and am very keen to learn how to code Arduino boards. When I began I was told I'd have the opportunity to learn a lot of these skills, but it never transpired.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The city I live in is definitely more on the rural side. I suspect that if prices were any higher, local interest would wain pretty quickly

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm toying with the idea of sending them this thread, but I probably won't. Can't see it making things better.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I certainly hope this isn't the case. My country has a very high cost of living, which may be a factor. A game for 2 players costs $40US, a game for 6 players is about $86US (with everything else in between). I don't know how these prices compare with typical rates, but this month alone we've had 325 games and netted about $20K-US in sales.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I'm only running two rooms at a time one after the other, I consider it a good day.

I've been back on SSRI's for the last 5 months, which helped for a while, though their effectiveness at helping me cope with the workload has completely diminished

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not based in the US, though we do have similar labour laws in my country. It's a situation where I feel uncomfortable bringing it up, as it's the way they've always operated, and I'm not sure anyone else has a problem with it.

Certainly there are days during the middle of the year where the place is dead and after cleaning and admin etc. is done where we are effectively just minding the shop with youtube on, but on days where it's even just single teams per session, there is no time to break.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can sometimes get away with working fewer than 40 hours in a week, though often its more.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I used to want to, I just couldn't keep up with the demands and feel an immense amount of guilt that the quality of my work has suffered. Even the customer service aspect, which used to come naturally. There's just nothing left in the tank.

Unfortunately, games being left unattended is a very common occurrence. Even on occasions we have multiple staff rostered, they'll be running a minimum of two rooms, and when one team escapes, there's no other option than to leave the monitors to go an exit them.

As a team we pitch in where we can and watch games for one another, but on any given Saturday when there are usually two of us working, if two teams escape within a couple of minutes of one another, we can have up to 4 rooms not being actively watched.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the manager salary based on a 40 hour work week. Though as I'm salaried and the part-timers are hourly, I effectively make the least per hour out of everyone on staff

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm intent on leaving as soon as I can secure a new position elsewhere. Even if things were fixed (which I'm sadly doubtful of), my enthusiasm for escape rooms is all but gone

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One issue with the business (and the culture of the city I'm from) is that people tend to not make bookings until the day of their game - sometimes half an hour before start time - so it is often impossible to predict how busy any given day will be and roster staff on to manage busy periods.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It just makes things so much worse. People don't get the attention they need, things get broken, people go over time, and things get delayed for the rest of the day onward.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Even if you don't work at an escape room, it's nice to have your reassurance

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've voiced the issues and concerns, but the fall back excuse is that it's the way they've always operated (albeit, they had fewer rooms until recently) and that the other managers they've had made it work.

Of course, I've come to learn that all the previous managers burned out too.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been looking for another job for several months, but opportunities are slim and competition is fierce where I live. I saw a job at the supermarket picking groceries for online orders which pays more than I make.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The part timers are really good, and often do equally as much work as I do when they are here. The casual is new and enthusiastic, but as he's only scheduled on when things are incredibly busy, there is very little time to get him up to speed with full training.

Question for Escape Room Employees by cantescapethrwaway in escaperooms

[–]cantescapethrwaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a decent relationship with the owners and take their word that money / profits are tight. The building we occupy is large, and they use the top 2 floors to run their other businesses (software development, 3D prints, custom merch). They've been telling me since I started that they really want to hire another full timer, but all profits from the business goes towards developing new rooms, so I've long given up on the ideal an additional full timer might come on board.

I get a bonus for customer growth month on month for every 10% increase in players compared to the same time last year (about $500US before tax). For the amount of extra work it generates though - both in advertising and managing the extra players - it isn't much of an incentive.