the true story of five nights at freddy's

Mike Schmidt

Personality

Little is known about Mike's character. Why he would continue working at a failing pizzeria for pay below minimum wage can only be attributed to either altruism (so nobody else would have his job), desperation, or thrill-seeking on his part, or money. Considering Freddy's "Toreador March" being one of the themes of the game, and that it deals with thrill-seeking, the latter is slightly more likely.

Trivia

Mike Schmidt's name revealed on his paycheck.

On the 7th Night, the reasons listed for his release are "tampering with the animatronics," "general unprofessionalism," and "odor." This is believed to be in reference to the player's changing of the A.I. difficulty from 0 to 20, panicking and possible screaming, and copious sweating or release of bodily fluids, possibly due to the panicking, respectively.

The date on Mike's check after the 6th night is November 13.

The date on Mike's first check (after the 5th night) is November 12. This date is most likely a Friday, since paydays are commonly on Fridays and Mike just worked for five days, a typical workweek. The year on the check is replaced with "xx", but the game takes place during a year where November 12 falls on a Friday. Possible years between 1990 and 2009 are 1993, 1999, and 2004.

Mike only works for $4 per hour during his employment at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, which is lower than any American state's definition of minimum wage.

This can potentially be refuted since, in the U.S., federal income tax from 1988 to 2001 was 15% for whatever tax bracket Mike would be in with his $120 paycheck. Assuming 15% and that they took out income tax already before paying him, as most businesses do, Mike actually gets ~$141.18 (rounded to nearest cent), which results in a ~$4.71 hourly wage (again, rounded to nearest cent). That's just on federal income tax alone, not to mention state tax, which varies from state to state. Minimum wage was $4.25 from 1991-1995, $4.75 in 1996, and $5.15 from 1997-2006. If other taxes were taken out of his paycheck, it's easy enough to push the year this takes place in as far forward as 1996 and potentially to 2006. Assuming his payday was a Friday, this makes 1993 a viable year based simply on federal income tax and minimum wage at the time. If further taxes were taken out, 1999 and 2004 might become viable as well, as further taxation only means he receives a higher base pay. Any Friday the 12th in November after 2004 is unlikely, as the next is in 2010, where his income tax bracket would have dropped to 10%, making the minimum wage $7.25, too high for what he would be making.

It's possible that Freddy Fazbear's Pizza could legally be paying Mike at a rate that is clearly lower than the federal and state minimum wages today. The U.S. Department of Labor allows some categories of workers to be paid less than the minimum wage, to try and avoid hindering their employability. Examples include young workers under 20, full-time students working in certain sectors, and those with physical or mental disabilities. In either case, certificates are required in order to carry it out- an unlikely scenario, given that Mike would only have had the job for a week, compared to the time or money it would have taken for the restaurant to obtain such a certificate. However, it shows that the sub-minimum pay rate can be legally given in certain circumstances. If the rumor about Mike being the victim of The Bite of '87 is true, then he would be classified as mentally disabled, allowing the company to give Mike the $4.00 hourly wage. The rationale behind the possibility that Mike could have belonged to one of these exceptional cases is that it opens up the year of the game's setting, so the tablet camera feed can make sense, without restricting the game's year to one where $4.00 hourly was actually the federal minimum wage- arguably 1993.

From the Game Over screen, if the image is brightened and enhanced, it can be seen that Mike has blue eyes.

Around the Help Wanted ad Mike responds to, the same paragraph of filler words, taunting, and advice from the creator can be seen nine times. This is also the case for the newspaper in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. It reads as follows:

"Blah. Blah. Blah, Blah. Blah. This ad has nothing to do with anything relevant to the game. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Chances are you won't make it past night three. Blah. Blah. Yackity Smackity. Blah. Blah. This probably isn't the best choice of a summer job, since you most likely won't survive the week. I'd recommend being a cashier, sack boy, or work in a warehouse. They are all very respectable jobs, and you probably won't be killed by them. Well, you might. But it would be unlikely. Blah. Blah."