< Previouscaterermiddleeast.com October 2020 50 A waiter outlines why he had to leave the UAE and may never be able to return Kitchen Con dential It’s hard to watch your former employer talk about how well their company is doing since coronavirus hit when you know that you and tens of other staff have lost their jobs, and in some cases been forced to leave the country you called home for years, and left with debts you cannot pay. But that’s the reality for many of us in Dubai’s F&B industry. When coronavirus hit and the lockdown was enforced we were instantly put on unpaid leave, with just a couple of hundred dirhams handed out to us to survive each month. I was forced to rely on the charity of others to get by and put food on my plate. Paying rent was an impossibility. Living in an apartment with other F&B staff from other well-known and reputable companies, I know I wasn’t alone in this hardship but that didn’t make it any easier. Particularly during a global pandemic that left me isolated and unable to even meet anyone from outside my building, and therefore restricted me from looking for any other potential job opportunities How do you deal with it when you are getting threatening phone calls and WhatsApp messages from your landlord but you have no way of paying them and no idea when things will get back to normal? You ignore it because you have other concerns such as eating and trying to avoid falling sick to the deadly virus, but of course it’s always there in the back of your mind. We received no communication on when we might hope to get back to work again, and when lockdown ended and restaurants began to open again, our boss decided to keep theirs shut while trying to negotiate a better deal for themselves — but what about us? Successful companies not paying staff wages and allowances they have been owed for months is now the norm in Dubai but has been hidden and not spoken about as we do not have a voice and cannot speak up. Now as they begin to return to normal, or even applaud themselves for earning more money this year than last year, many of us are left with nothing. Back in our own countries having ed Dubai as there was no prospects and just mounting debt. I cannot return as I have bills I was unable to pay and I fear arrest if I y back into the country. I cannot afford legal help. And anyway, my faith in the people there is gone. They would rather make a quick buck for themselves than look after the people who helped them become successful in the rst place. How many of them will try and make it right? TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8 2020 CATERERMIDDLEEAST.COM/AWARDS #CATERERAWARDS FOR SPONSORSHIP REBECCA LOCKWOOD SALES DIRECTOR TEL: +971 55 484 8301 E: REBECCA.LOCKWOOD@ITP.COM FOR EVENT ENQUIRIES DANIEL FEWTRELL DIRECTOR OF AWARDS & MARKETING TEL: +971 4 444 3684 E: DANIEL.FEWTRELL@ITP.COM FOR TABLE BOOKINGS ANTHONY CHANDRAN TABLE SALES EXECUTIVE TEL: +971 4 444 3685 E: ANTHONY.CHANDRAN@ITP.COM MEDIA PARTNERS CATEGORY SPONSORS Laundry Equipment Trading LLC Kitchen &Jebel Ali Free Zone, Gate No 4 - Dubai, P.O.Box: 18022 | Tel: +971 4 808 5447 , Mob: +971 56 686 52 89 | Email: dhs.enquiries@aldanube.com | dhs@aldanube.comNext >