All of us have seen Ronald McDonald, the mascot of the McDonald’s fast food chain, but what many people don’t know about him is that playing this character comes with a truly bizarre set of rules.

One of the main rules about playing the McDonald’s mascot is that Ronald is never allowed to reveal his true personality. Whenever he is in costume, he just has to be Ronald McDonald. In addition, no two Ronald’s are ever allowed to be spotted together because the company likes to uphold the image that there is only one Ronald McDonald.

These are far from the only rules when it comes to playing Ronald McDonald. Back in 1972, McDonalds “Boss Clown” named Aye Jaye was in charge of overseeing the hiring and training of Ronalds. A “Ronald and How” guide book was used to train new employees on the rules.

Here are some of the other strange rules:

• Ronalds are never allowed to hug kids. They’re only supposed to pat the children on the back.
• They have to sign numerous waivers saying that they’ll never reveal what they learned working for the company.
• They have to promote the idea of fun to their customers, they shouldn’t directly promote the food.
• If kids ask, you can’t tell them that burgers come from cows (though McDonald’s won’t add meatless burgers).
• When in character, they’re not allowed to eat McDonald’s food; it could smudge their makeup.
• They have to be fit, or at least have a body that appears to be fit.
• They have to follow a script when answering questions asked by customers. If they don’t have an answer that fits, they are instructed to say, “ask someone wearing normal shoes.”

Who knew all these rules that Ronald McDonald had to follow!