I worked as a 'Carnie' for several years.

Best perk of the job. I went on everything from the kiddie rides to the roller coaster. After a while it does get a bit boring however. I ended up setting a self limit of 1 ride a day and worked through a rotation

They are pretty strict about this, to the point that even as a Former employee I'm not allowed to play them for prizes. The reason is, while the games aren't rigged they are more like a puzzle than anything else. There is one correct solution to them and once you know the trick you can do it every time. Because of this we aren't allowed to play because we would clean them out.

Being a Carnie was one of the hardest jobs I have ever had. Thur and Fri we worked 11am to 11pm running the carnival itself with Sat being 9am to 11pm. Sundays were the worst as we opened at 9am stayed open to 10pm then immediately dug out the hardhats to begin dismantling everything. This would often take until 4am or later depending on the area and other problems. We then drove to the next location which could be anywhere from 50 to 100 miles away if not more. We then had to make sure all the rides got there safely, set up our RVs and housing trailers as well as generators before getting some sleep around 6am. We then got to sleep till 10 am where we began setting up rides and equipment until 6pm on monday.

Tues we got up at 8am and continued setting up rides and other things until 6am. Wends we got up again at 8am then finished setting up before the state inspectors came to look over the ride. If everything is good we are cleared by 11pm and get an hour before we open at Noon and stay open until 10pm.

This was every week and when we weren't working we were on call. If something needed to be done or a ride fixed and you weren't 'on the clock' you still needed to come in. Its 2/3 heavy construction 1/3 Babysitting

This is one of the shadier part. 'Ride jocks" are paid salary because they work the longest hours. Always on call and working near 60+ hours a week they make between $250 to $300 a week. Most of this goes into food as most don't have a way to store groceries. They often eat at the company 'cook shack' meaning that money goes back into the company.

"Gamies" generally make 20% commission. For every $100 their game makes they get $20 and are paid everyday. Some games, days and locations are better than others. In a good spot they could make thousands in just a few hours and in a bad one they could make nothing for days

Concessions have it easiest as far as work but require the most training and certification. Each stall generally needs at least one ServSafe qualified person working it.

Serious, you find so much stuff. The ride in the picture was very good for it as it spun and people with loose pickets and hoodies would have stuff go flying out. If it was a personal belonging or wallet we returned it (With all its contents if we wanted to keep our jobs) but loose money was fair game.

This is why I'm a firm believer in Karma. It was near the end of the day and all the ticket booths were closed. A little boy and his dad wanted to ride the bumper cars togeather and nobody else was in line. With only one ticket and no way to buy more I let them both on and even let them go for a double ride. They had a blast and the father thanked me as they left, the show closing for the day as the did. I made my rounds cleaning the cars to find a $50 in the car they had been in with "Thank You" written on it.

Height limits are for a reason, mostly because the safety equipment is designed for a person of a certain size. If they are to small they can get hurt. I've seen kids loose teeth because they were to small for the ride and banged their head.

This doesn't stop parents from being pissed with it.
"Can he ride?"
"Does he measure up on the ruler?"
"No."
"Then I'm sorry he can't."
"What if I sit with him?"
"It doesn't make him taller"

Parents are often more of a pain than the kids. I've seen parents do the dumbest things from standing up on moving rides, to trying to literally stretch their kids necks to trying to sneak their extra kids on.

One of the few times I genuinely felt bad doing my job. Normally I would have made an exception in this case but the company CEO was standing all of 10 feet away at the time and I could have lost my job over it. The lady was very understanding about the situation if a little sad.

#1 rule of the carnival, don't fuck with the carnival. When we have ticket style admissions people hand us a ticket when they want to ride. We are then supposed to tear them in half and put them in the trash. This guy decided he would take the tickets and then resell them to people at a reduced cost.

The CEO found out and for a wealthy guy he dresses very plainly, it wouldn't really notice him. So the owner goes to the guys ride and the guy tried to sell him tickets. Not only was he fired on the spot, most of the workers don't have a car so we carpool from place to place. At the time we were on the very end of Cape Cod and in the middle of nowhere. With nobody willing to give him a ride and no car of his own he had to leave with only what he could carry.

Equal parts terrifying and awesome, my direct boss was working with me on a ride. I bumped his fresh cup of coffee, spilling it out over the ground. The conversation went as I showed above. He was one of the best bosses I ever worked for really. So long as you did your job he was a great guy to be around. If you fucked up you would know it. Imagine if Gordon Ramsey was a construction boss.

This actually made the news. As I said before games have a 'trick' to them, a certain way you had to do them to succeed. The game was called 'Tubs of Fun' where you tossed a softball sized ball into a tilted tub. you had to get the right angle and toss it every light our it would pop out. A normal game was $5 for 3 balls. If one stayed in you won a prize. Pretty good odds. However for $20 you could play to win your choice of a Wii, XBOX360 or PS3. You got 10 balls and had to get them all in. He kept playing $20 games again and again and again until he lost $2,600. He was an idiot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32z4ILDjijU

By law, once a ride is in motion we are not allowed to stop it unless there is a risk of injury. Stopping the ride suddenly can cause something to break and risk causing more harm than good.

We also enjoy your suffering. It gives us power.

Easiest job application ever. That was the entire discussion. The show even provided a bus ticket for him to get there.