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Monday, March 3, 2025

Chuck E Cheese’s workers long for reopening

by

1586 days ago
20201029

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

 

They have be­come used to see­ing the hap­py smiles on chil­dren’s faces but since COVID-19, em­ploy­ees of Chuck E Cheese’s have been liv­ing dis­mal lives.

So un­cer­tain are their fu­tures that many have fall­en in­to de­pres­sion as they wait for the re­open­ing of their fran­chise.

But even though Chuck E Cheese’s di­rec­tors have es­tab­lished a 23-page COVID-19 pro­to­col, the es­tab­lish­ment has re­mained closed since Ju­ly.

Dur­ing an ex­clu­sive in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia, Hu­man Re­source Man­ag­er of Chuck E Cheese’s Shel­leyann Collins said 44 em­ploy­ees were af­fect­ed by the clo­sure, with 40 tem­porar­i­ly at home and on­ly four core work­ers get­ting a par­tial in­come.

“Peo­ple are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing fi­nan­cial stress. We are try­ing to help as best as we can. We have reached out to em­ploy­ees and dis­trib­uted some ham­pers. When they ask for as­sis­tance, we try to help as best as pos­si­ble,” Collins said.

Un­like oth­er es­tab­lish­ments, Chuck E Cheese’s de­cid­ed to pre­serve jobs rather than fire work­ers.

“We kept every­one on board. The staff was will­ing to ac­cept re­duced hours and a cut in salary,” she said.

Collins said many were un­able to meet their fi­nan­cial com­mit­ments but are pulling through be­cause of fam­i­ly sup­port.

“There are times when you so frus­trat­ed you just don’t know what to do but you have to re­mem­ber that God is in con­trol,” Collins said, gaz­ing at the emp­ty game room, once filled with the sound of chil­dren’s laugh­ter

In the first three months of the lock­down, Collins said she had to ap­ply for a waiv­er on her loan.

“They call me hot­foot be­cause I like to go out but I had no choice but to cut back on some of the things I did be­fore. Now we live strict­ly by needs,” she said. 

As­sis­tant Gen­er­al Man­ag­er at Chuck E Cheese’s Camille Grant ex­pressed sim­i­lar views.

Chuck E Cheese’s assistant general manager Camille Grant and HR manager Shelley-Ann Collins at the Chaguanas branch.

Chuck E Cheese’s assistant general manager Camille Grant and HR manager Shelley-Ann Collins at the Chaguanas branch.

KRISTISAN DE SILVA

“Words can­not ex­press how things have been for me. I’ve been deal­ing with it day by day. By the grace of God, I am get­ting through,” Grant said.

Say­ing she did not want to be­come emo­tion­al on cam­era, Grant said apart from the fi­nan­cial strug­gles, the psy­cho­log­i­cal agony was of­ten too much to bear.

“At Chuck E Cheese’s we are a fam­i­ly. This is not a reg­u­lar 9-5 job. We are a fam­i­ly and be­ing away from them is heart-break­ing and wor­ry­ing. I have my bat­tles to deal with. They have more things to deal with. If you have kids in this time and age it is dif­fi­cult now more than ever,” she said.

She not­ed that the un­cer­tain­ty was trou­bling.

“It’s a bit over­whelm­ing and scary. You don’t know what is in store for your fu­ture and the un­cer­tain­ty of the hos­pi­tal­i­ty in­dus­try like when will it be open? Will, you still have a job,” Grant said.

She not­ed that un­like oth­er em­ploy­ees she did not have any chil­dren.

“When you are liv­ing with a cer­tain in­come, you bud­get your­self. You have to adapt to what you’re deal­ing with now. You have to re­struc­ture the loans to keep up with pay­ments. At the gro­cery, you have to cut what you once spent. I was blessed that I was moved to a dif­fer­ent de­part­ment so I still have an in­come but a lot of things had to be cut,” Grant said.

She ex­plained that all of the em­ploy­ees have made it through with the help of fam­i­ly and friends.

“I miss work, I miss my col­leagues and I miss meet­ing our old guests,” Grant said.

She not­ed that it was not on­ly Chuck E Cheese’s fran­chise which was af­fect­ed but many oth­er busi­ness places in the hos­pi­tal­i­ty sec­tor.

Grant said while COVID-19 was a se­ri­ous is­sue, the coun­try had to learn to ex­ist with the virus. She not­ed that many es­tab­lish­ments in the hos­pi­tal­i­ty sec­tor had al­ready put COVID-19 guide­lines in place and were ea­ger­ly wait­ing for re­open­ing. 


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