13th Hour Haunted Hatchets — Attraction in Wharton

A Review From A 10+ Year 13th Hour Employee.

I started as a seasonal haunt actor in 2012, worked other jobs in between seasons. Started full time with the escape rooms and hatchet throwing in 2020. My experience since 2020 has been up and down. I was considered 13th Hour's primary hatchet instructor, but in the off seasons, I'd definitely work the escape rooms more often due to their popularity. The time I worked 2020-2022 was great. I was given decent hours, my other coworkers were always friendly and helpful, I was occasionally learning new things about the details of building a haunt/escape rooms, and there was always opportunity to learn more. It's a bit difficult to describe (in words) exactly how everything went downhill so fast for 13th Hour. Somewhere near the start of 2023, a small group of haunt actors were hired to help run the escape rooms, both part & full time. They were a very talkative bunch, mainly with each other, but also with the owner of 13th hour, Steve. More into 2023, as workplace relationships were developing from this new group, a tidal wave of drama followed in their footsteps. Drama, both work and non-work related, which included talking about others behind their backs, lying, and spreading rumors about them. There are many examples of how this constant drama interferes with work activities, but one notable example was when one female employee was bullied into quitting after a workplace relationship went sideways. The girl who was bullied was a great employee who always did her job efficiently. However, this new group of employees convinced her that nobody else liked her because she didn't do her job well enough, both of which were lies, and she ended up quitting soon after. It bewildered me at first how the owner Steve would allow this kind of bullying to happen, until eventually I found out that he actually encourages, and even participates in the the drama, lying, and spreding of rumors behind his own employees backs. This was definitely a suprise to me because it was NEVER like this before this new group of employees came along. Whenever I tried to air my concerns with Steve about how these new employees bad behavior is interfering with work, his response was: "If you don't like it, you can leave. Don't tell me how to do my job" I obviously found that very strange and definitely should've quit after that, but I stayed a while longer hoping he would come to his senses and things would get a bit better. I'm beyond disappointed to report that this is still the current state of 13th Hour employment. The workplace is filled with lies, rumors, drama, gaslighting, and gossip, to the point where good employees are forced to quit. Newly hired employees are either sucked into the drama and bullied, or they're scared off by the drama and quit.You are always expected to ignore the drama while putting on a friendly face for the customers. You cannot run an escape room in that place without being bombarded with gossip and drama from other employees in the control room, which makes it very difficult to focus on the customer's experience inside the escape rooms. For some mysterious reason, the owner Steve happily participates in the lies and drama, and defends the employees who are the worst culprits of spreading lies and drama, and those bad employees are always given priority despite the fact that they interfere with work activities and ultimately cost the company more money from training new people and ruining customer experience. It is extremely rare for any employee to part with 13th Hour on good terms. If you are currently seeking employment from 13th Hour, I strongly recommend looking elsewhere. 13th Hour is not a proper workplace, and the toxicity makes the job not worth learning. If you are currently employed by 13th Hour, I recommend finding other means of employment instead of subjecting yourself to this terrible environment. I'm saddened that I had to write this review, but I felt like I owe it to the other employees who were too scared and intimidated to speak up...

It was great for my friend's birthday party content wise, but the service was incredibly sub-par.

tl;dr--don't waste your time. spend the same amount at any Bury the Hatchet location and have a significantly better experience.

pros: it was glow in the dark and that was kinda cool, but there are other places who do it better & cheaper.

cons: we waited for 5-10 minutes for someone to come over from a different 13th hour facility to unlock the door for us. There were no axe-room specific staff present. We arrived at 3:15 pm yesterday, during normal operating hours. there was no safety speech given. we were simply taught how to throw the axes, and not even well at that. we did not have waivers available to sign, even though posted signage said that we had to sign wavers before throwing. the employee didn't direct us to anything that would be close to that. it was $36, which is the same price as many Bury the Hatchet locations, and it was certainly not worth it. our attendant frequently was nowhere to be found or busy on his phone, did not engage with the group at all, and again--was not an employee of the hatchet throwing facility. the hatchets we threw were apparently not "regulation", as "regulation hatchets" were brought out in the last ten minutes of our hour of time. there was no way to get up to the second floor other than the concrete stairwell. I just recently got off crutches, and there was no way I would be able to climb those stairs safely if I were still on them.

I'm incredibly disappointed, and do not plan to return in the future. I hope the improvement plan...

Good vibes as soon as you walk in with classic rock playing and cool decor. There was one lady working the facility and she was SO sweet and helpful. She set us up and gave us the rundown. She gave us safety precautions and some good tips before we started. Then, my girlfriend kicked my butt at axe throwing because she’s apparently a natural at this. AND we even bought 30 extra minutes because the vibes were...